Lice.
When my oldest brought home the note from school informing us that her classmate had been found with lice, I could not shake the sense of dread. Memories of losing my stuffed animals to garbage bags for weeks, painful combings, and stinky chemicals filled my head. But to have to spearhead a battle against those invasive little critters? Ugh.
A couple of weeks passed without incident so I was fairly sure we had dodged the bullet. Until one afternoon when I found myself scratching my head often enough to notice. I called out to my daughter, half-joking, “Hey, is your head itchy, too?”
“Yeah, a lot,” was the response.
I called her over, please do not have lice, please do not have lice, pleasedonothavelice, running through my head. It did not take more than a minute to see the problem. Eggs. Crawling things. Double Ugh.
[Disclaimer: This post may contain affiliate links. Please see below for more details]
Commence panic mode. I sent her off to the shower, even though I knew it wouldn’t get the lice out. I grabbed my husband and went into full-on general mode, issuing orders and strategizing on the fly.
Stuffed animals and pillows were bagged and tossed outside. Carpets and furniture were vacuumed. Heads were checked. Every piece of clothing, sheet, towel, and blanket that had been used in the last six months was put on the floor of the kitchen to await its turn in the washer. Okay, maybe not six months, but it felt like that. Laundry for days.
I ran off to the store for some lice treatments. I grabbed some Nix for us and headed home. By the end of the week, everyone in the family had gotten the little buggers except my husband and 6-year old son, most likely because their super-short hair was not an amenable environment. Crew cuts for all? No, that was the panic talking.
Unfortunately for us, the lice seemed to be resistant to the Nix I used on myself and my older girls. Palm, meet forehead.
My mother was on the case and did some research on natural remedies. She emailed me a few options and some advice from my sister (who’d dealt with this recently), and I went in search of ingredients.
Now, you may be wondering why we did not just go to the doctor and get a prescription. This all occurred at the same time as we were switching our insurance, only there was a delay because of some extra documentation that was needed. The lice moved in while we were in insurance limbo. Paying out of pocket was a last resort.
Luckily for us, the natural remedies we used worked great. Here’s what we did:
- Peppermint oil. I poured about 30 drop of peppermint essential oil into each load of laundry, along with hot water and detergent. Tea tree oil is also recommended but the smell is not as pleasant. I also added the oil to all of our shampoo bottles. The amount depended on how much was still in the bottles.
- These oils repel the lice so it was mostly a preventative measure for the boys without lice and for us once the treatments were over. (One exception: I did not add any oil to our 1-year-old’s shampoo. I tried to do as little to her things as possible without sacrificing effectiveness.)
- Apple Cider Vinegar. I doused all of our hair with apple cider vinegar. Once it was soaked, I wrung out the excess and pinned it up to keep it from dripping. Once it was semi-dry, we took it down to let it fully dry. The smell is pretty strong, but then again, so is the smell of the chemical treatments.
- Tip: If possible, do not do this standing up in the shower. I did and every scratch and sensitive area between my head and my toes started to sting. Big ouch. Learn from my mistakes. Have your kids hang their heads over the sink and, for yourself, hold your head upside-down in the shower.
- Olive Oil. Once our hair was dry, I covered our scalps and hair with olive oil. Then it was pinned up and put under shower caps.
- Tip: You will want to do this at night so that the oil can stay on for 8+ hours. We waited for 10-12. The reason is that the vinegar breaks up the glue holding the eggs to the hair shaft and the oil blocks the breathing holes on the live lice, effectively suffocating them. But those guys can hold their breath for a long time so doing this overnight is best.
In the morning, comb out the hair, removing the lice (hopefully all dead) and the eggs. Clean the comb frequently on a tissue and place the tissue in a sealed Ziplock bag, especially if there is a live one walking around on it.
Tip: Place the nit comb, as well as all combs, brushes, hair ties, and pins, in boiling water to clean them and kill any bugs. I left ours in there for nearly a month.
Now hit the showers to wash (and wash, and wash) away the oil in your hair.
Side bonus: My hair was very silky and well-conditioned after I washed out the oil, which was really nice since the air is dry and the water hard where I live.
The treatment will have to be repeated one a week for two more weeks to take care of anything that was missed and later hatches. By week three, you should be free and clear. At this point, you can un-quarantine the bagged pillows and stuffed animals. I kept our long hair braided throughout the days that we were being treated, just in case. I also vacuumed every day and twice took my car to the gas station to use their super strong vacuum to clean the kids’ car seats and carpets. Better safe than sorry was my mantra.
One thing I want to point out is that I did not use the oil and vinegar on my baby and 2-year-old. I knew they would not be able to wear a shower cap all night (nor did I think it was safe for the baby) so I used Nix on them. I had success, perhaps because their hair was short and thin and because I was able to get full coverage of the scalp, something that I struggled with in my daughter’s long and full head of hair. So maybe the lice were not resistant to the Nix as I first thought, but rather it worked better on certain people than on others.
So this was how we rid our house of lice with minimal use of chemicals. My sister swears by star anise oil in the hair, but I could not find any or I would have given that a try. There are tons of other options out there, too, if you want to try your own way or a mixture of them. But this was effective and I would definitely do it again. Though, hopefully, I will never have to.
Psst… don’t forget to grab your free Step-by-Step guide to making your home lice-free here!
Do you have any tips or remedies for getting rid of lice that have worked for you? I’d love to find out some other successful methods. You can never have too many when combating those nasty little things! Let me know in the comments…
[Disclaimer: I am a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for me to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites. This post contains affiliate links, which means that if you click on one of the product links, I’ll receive a commission, at no additional cost to you. All opinions are my own and I never recommend anything I haven’t used myself and loved.]
Leave a Reply