How to Kill Head Lice 

by Bethanny Davis 

I got the dreaded phone call from day care today: "Come get your daughter. She has head lice." Shoot! Here we go again. If your kids have ever had head lice, you know how hard they are to get rid of. Some of them seem immune to the pesticides. They just won't die! The nits are hard to see and if you don't get them all, they hatch and you have to start all over again. On top of that, if your child has a friend with head lice, they may end up passing it back and forth unless both parents find and treat it at the same time. This isn't the first time my daughter has had head lice. She has long hair and seems to get it every time it goes around school. It's been tempting... but I really don't want to cut her hair. So what do you do? I've accumulated my share of tips. If you follow all of these steps you should have no problem getting rid of them. 

1. Lice Shampoo: Rid and Nix are both effective lice-killing shampoos, but they have different active ingredients. Since some lice become resistant to one pesticide or the other, if you try one shampoo and it does not kill all of the lice, try the other one next time. Store brand shampoos are usually just as effective as their brand name counterparts. Lice-killing mousse is now available as well. 

2. Comb the lice out. The little plastic "nit comb" that comes with the shampoo does not work well on nits. However, it is good for removing lice after shampooing. Don't be alarmed if they are still moving. Sometimes they die slowly. I always kill them when I take them out just to make sure though. If you don't want to squish them, wash them down the drain or flush them down the toilet. They won't bother you again from there! 

3. If it is available in your area, get a can of "Neon Nits." It's a fluorescent spray that makes the eggs easier to see. Spray it on your child's hair, wait a few minutes for it to dry, then brush the child's hair. Most of the color will come out of the hair, but the nits will remain brightly colored. This makes them much easier to find. 

4. Remove the nits. If you use a comb, a metal nit comb works better than plastic. However, the best way to remove nits is to go through the hair a few strands at a time, and remove any hairs that have nits attached. Make sure you are in a well lit area while doing this. The eggs can be brown or clear and are very small. If you don't know what they look like, try to get the person who notified you that your child has lice to show you what they found. 

5. When you're done removing the nits, saturate your child's hair with olive oil or vegetable oil. Leave it in overnight. If any lice have survived the rest of the treatment, the oil smothers them. It will also smother any new hatchlings from nits you have missed. 

6. The next morning, check for nits again. No matter how well you checked the first time, you probably missed some. Keep checking for nits at least once per day until your child has been nit-free for a week. 

7. Repeat the oil treatment each night to ensure that new hatchlings from missed nits do not survive long enough to lay more eggs. 

8. Wash all clothes, bedding and stuffed animals in hot water. 

9. Vacuum all carpeted areas. Use the attachments to vacuum upholstered furniture. 

10. Lice spray - Spray all furniture, especially mattresses. Let the mattresses air out for awhile after spraying. Don't forget to spray the seats in your car. 

11. Try to get into the habit of checking your kids' heads once per week, so you can treat it immediately if they get it. It's much easier to kill them if there aren't too many to start with! 

Here are some other tips you may want to try: 

1. Putting gobs of white conditioner on the child's head is supposed to temporarily paralyze lice and make them easier to see. 

2. Putting regular mayonnaise in the child's hair for three hours, then rinsing with vinegar is said to dissolve dead nits (the clear ones). 

3. There is a lice egg remover gel available that supposedly loosens the nits so you can comb them out with a nit comb instead of picking through the hair. I tried this, but wasn't impressed. The comb didn't pick up any nits even after using the gel. In fact, I found a nit while I was doing this and tried to use the comb to get it out. After a few passes with the comb, the nit was about halfway down the hair strand. I gave up and pulled it out by hand. 

I hope this has been helpful. Even if your children have never had head lice, you might want to save this article for future reference. If they do get it, you'll be ready. Some people think only those who do not bathe frequently get head lice. That is the case with body lice, but not head lice. These little buggers have special claws that help them hold on to the hair strand even while the hair is being washed. Anyone can get them. It can't hurt to be prepared. 

About the author Bethanny Davis lives in Michigan with her two children. She writes articles about money, parenting and relationships. She also enjoys writing short stories and poetry. More of her work can be found at  http://writergirl.stormloader.com/.

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