Head Lice Treatment

Head lice are very annoying and have been one of the major problems of parents when it comes to their children’s hair and scalp. Kids are prone in having head lice and nits. Head lice are parasites that live in human hairs and draw a very small amount of blood from the scalp to survive. These tiny parasites are very contagious and hard to treat as well because of their ability to multiply rapidly. Though these tiny insects do not spread disease, the itchy feeling on your scalp and the trace of nits in your hair are very embarrassing.

Mature head lice can lay up to 10 eggs each day which will hatch into lice in as short as 7 to 12 days. They need another 7 to 12 days more to become mature and ready to breed. This life cycle of lice makes it difficult to treat them because they can infest a person’s head in a very short time as well as their ability to resist insecticides contained in some head lice medications. However, constant treatment along with patience will help in getting rid of head lice.

Head lice treatment varies from the severity of the infestation. You may use insecticides, wet combing or manually. If your child only has light infestation and you are comfortable in holding lice and nits, you can take it manually from your child’s hairs. But if the sight of head lice horrifies you, you may use wet combing.

Wet combing is another method you can use to treat head lice. It involves the use of fine-toothed comb where the teeth are 0.3mm apart. Using this method will remove the head lice from the hair however, it is best to catch the head lice in a white cloth so you can see the head lice falling from your hair. To stop infesting your hair again and their transfer to other family members, crush the head lice with your thumbnails. Don’t just let the head lice drop on the floor when combing because the chances are they will just find another hair to infest. Make sure you crush the head lice. Though this can be an effective method especially if you do it everyday, wet combing does not remove the nits from your hair so you need to take the nits manually.

Another head lice treatment you can use is the use of insecticides. Insecticides may be bought over-the-counter or may be prescribed by your doctor. Medicated lice treatments are available in shampoo, lotion and liquids. These are either water-based or alcohol-based but the effectiveness is the same. For kids and those with asthma and eczema, water-based treatment is recommended.

Since medicated lice treatments contains insecticides, it is very important to follow the directions for use stated in the product information or label. The recommended use of the product is to apply it twice with seven days interval to kill the newly hatched lice from the eggs after the first treatment. Using these treatments too frequently can cause harm into your hair and scalp.