Q: Are there natural remedies to eliminate head lice?

This is a big concern for parents of school age children; the idea of putting the chemicals found in lice shampoos on their children is worrisome. Many of these shampoos contain neurotoxins, which work by targeting the central nervous system of the adult bug.  Neither the younger bugs, referred to as “nymphs”, nor the eggs (“nits”) have a central nervous system that is susceptible to the toxins in the lice shampoos, so the shampoo treatment must be repeated to kill them after they mature. Plus, we are now learning about “super lice”, lice that have become resistant to the chemicals found in those treatments. 

Drown ‘em?

Head lice have been around for thousands of years; they are mentioned in the Bible and found on ancient mummies in Egypt.  People have been battling this pest for a long time with a host of treatments including Vaseline, olive oil, pomade, mayonnaise, butter, kerosene and lately, essential oils.  With natural and home remedies, the phrase you hear most is “it drowns the bugs.”   A client told me that she knew someone who made her kids with lice swim in the pool most of the day thinking that would help! (It didn’t.)  One problem with these home remedies it that it takes a very long time to kill the lice, over eight hours.  This is because the bugs can go into a sort of suspended animation where their oxygen requirements are so low that they don't need to breathe. It’s tricky to drown something that can hold its breath that long!


Another problem with some home remedies is that they are not of the correct viscosity to properly coat the bugs for the time needed to suffocate them.  Add to this the toasty temperature of a head of hair and how this affects the substance being used, i.e. will the substance melt and get thinner over time? This is a great segue to a large problem with these remedies, the mess.  Most parents would cringe at the idea of sending their child to bed with a head full of olive oil under a shower cap.

One needs to be careful with essential oils, such as tea tree oil, and other herbal products, because they are not regulated by the FDA for safety or strength.  According to the CA Dept of Public Health, there is no conclusive scientific data that these products are effective at killing head lice.  Speaking of science, there is a small community of scientists that research lice, and you can find PDF versions of pertinent research studies on the FAQ page of my website. One study done on natural remedies to kill head lice found none of remedies mentioned here were effective, but of all those studied, Vaseline performed the best.  However, the survival rate of the lice was still too high to eradicate the lice.

Heat?

Since my LouseBuster^TM Device uses heat to dehydrate lice, I do get asked “why not just use a hairdryer”?  The problem with a hairdryer is that the temperature is too high for most people (especially children) to tolerate for any length of time, and the end of the hair dryer can heat up and possibly burn the scalp.  The air flow also mats the hair down and ends up protecting the lice instead of exposing
them. 

Some people wonder about using their curling/flat iron to kill the lice, but the safety concern is getting too close to the scalp.  Lice lay their eggs near the scalp (1/4 inch up) for heat and humidity.  The eggs or nits stay attached in that spot and grow with the hair if not removed. Nits found further away from the scalp have hatched and are probably empty or were never viable.  So the nits you worry about are close to the scalp. Thus, a curling/flat iron method seems to be a recipe for burns.

Fine Toothed Comb

It always comes back to the comb.  I suspect that the success stories you hear from people about the natural remedy they used is really because of the combing. The best combs are metal; stainless steel combs are the industry standard.  The comb needs to be sturdy and should not bend.  You can sanitize the comb in boiling water if you are sharing between family members.  It’s worthwhile to invest in a good comb, because to avoid future problems with head lice, it’s recommended to head check and comb your children every week until they go off to college!  Luckily lice and nits can be seen with the naked eye and if one takes enough time, you can get them all out.

You can find more information and photos about head lice and lice removal at
www.licewrangler.com