Like mayonnaise, coconut oil has a rich and thick consistency that's sometimes used as means of suffocating lice and their nits. However, aside from getting smooth hair out of this treatment, there's little to no evidence that coconut oil will get rid of lice for good.
Of the tested remedies, the team found that pure coconut oil was the only effective treatment. Within 4 hours of applying the oil, an average of 80% of the head lice were dead. The two most effective medicated shampoos killed 97.9% and 90.2% of lice in the same period.
To begin with, coconut oil is considered a natural oil and that's a good thing. But just because it's natural, doesn't mean it is necessarily the best. Coconut oil itself doesn't prevent lice, but oil on a hair shaft does make it harder for those little eggs (called nits) to stick.
Coconut, tea tree oil, lavender, eucalyptus, rosemary, lemon grass, and peppermint are scents popularly believed to repel lice. Using any coconut scented shampoo and conditioner is an easy way to increase your defense. At 1% concentration, tea tree oil killed 100% of head lice after 30 minutes.
Avoid head-to-head (hair-to-hair) contact during play and other activities at home, school, and elsewhere (sports activities, playground, slumber parties, camp). Do not share clothing such as hats, scarves, coats, sports uniforms, hair ribbons, or barrettes. Do not share combs, brushes, or towels.
Lavender oil
Dissolve two drops of the oil in 10 milliliters of water and apply as a hair wash once per week for three weeks. Lavender oil has also proven to be a terrific deterrent against getting lice in the first place.
Olive oil is our choice for the treatment of head lice because it avoids the side effects of other treatments.
Remind your child to avoid head-to-head contact. The smell of tea tree oil has been known to repel lice. Put a couple drops in hair detangler or a water bottle and spritz hair. Also, lice do not like the smell of coconut.
Olive Oil smothers and kills active head lice, making nit removal easier and moisturizing the hair and scalp. Part hair and apply the oil directly onto the scalp. Massage into the entire scalp making sure to saturate the hair. Apply a shower cap.
Like mayonnaise, coconut oil has a rich and thick consistency that's sometimes used as means of suffocating lice and their nits. However, aside from getting smooth hair out of this treatment, there's little to no evidence that coconut oil will get rid of lice for good.
Therefore, even though coconut oil may help with the big guys (adult lice), they do nothing to eliminate the nits. A nit can hatch, evolve into a louse, reproduce (a female louse can lay up to 8 nits per day), and thereby the infestation continues.
Mix five drops of tea tree oil with two tablespoons of coconut oil. Apply this oil mixture all over your hair and massage it into your scalp. Put on a shower cap and leave it on overnight. The next morning, blow dry your hair over the shower cap to suffocate the lice.
Washing, soaking, or drying items at a temperature greater than 130°F can kill both head lice and nits. Dry cleaning also kills head lice and nits. Only items that have been in contact with the head of the infested person in the 48 hours before treatment should be considered for cleaning.
As head lice can live on pillows, you'll need to clean them. Adult lice can only survive for two days without a host. However, they can still lay eggs. If the infected person has had a lice treatment and then picks up stray lice from their pillow, the lice infestation cycle can start all over again.
Adult lice can live up to 30 days on a person's head. To live, adult lice need to feed on blood several times daily. Without blood meals, the louse will die within 1 to 2 days off the host.
Hairspray makes it harder for the louse to grab hold. The smell of hairspray and the use of solvents (sad but true) in them can also deter creepy crawlies from finding their way in. Not to mention that if you're tying longer hair back, you've got a double whammy.
Spinosad topical suspension, 0.9%, was approved by the FDA in 2011. Since it kills live lice as well as unhatched eggs, retreatment is usually not needed. Nit combing is not required. Spinosad topical suspension is approved for the treatment of children 6 months of age and older.
They found vinegar was actually the least effective treatment method for getting rid of lice or suppressing the hatching of nits. Vinegar wasn't the only home remedy that didn't do well. No home treatment prevented lice from laying eggs. Even with prolonged exposure, most home remedies were unable to kill nits.
On its own, tea tree oil was the most effective treatment tested. Tea tree oil and peppermint appeared to be most useful for repelling lice. Tea tree oil and lavender were also found to prevent some feeding by lice on treated skin.
Adults are not immune to head lice. In fact, if you have any close contact with children or even parents of children you can be at risk of catching them if they have them. Lice transfer primarily through head to head contact, so you would have to get close to the other person.
As far as we know, there have not been any clinical studies proving any human population to be immune to head lice. However, head lice can have difficultly attaching their eggs to hair that is thick or coarse; therefore, those individuals may be less likely to experience head lice infestation.
Head lice nits usually take about 8–9 days to hatch. Eggs that are likely to hatch are usually located no more than ¼ inch from the base of the hair shaft. Nits located further than ¼ inch from the base of hair shaft may very well be already hatched, non-viable nits, or empty nits or casings.
It is not usually possible to get rid of lice in one day, as an infestation needs to be treated. However, there are treatments that can help get rid of lice and symptoms caused by lice more quickly. Lice infestations must first be treated by improving the hygiene of the infected person.
Sometimes it will be easier to remove the nits if you wet the hair with white vinegar while you are combing the nits out. Vinegar helps loosen the "glue" that holds the nits to the hair. Separate and comb small sections of hair at a time.
Typically, 10–15 head lice are found. The number of lice often depends on personal hygiene, for example, how often the person bathes, shampoos, or changes and washes his/her clothing.