Safe and Easy Lice Treatment

It is amazing where a person can get lice.  My kiddos got lice after visiting a petting zoo at the fair.  I was watching them hug up on those animals and started itching just watching.

I would never spray Bug spray on my children, so I couldn’t bring myself to applying the lice insecticide on them. 

I searched the internet for  solutions and decided to put together a little bit of everything I learned.  So below is the final answer for Safe and Easy Lice Treatment.

Lice Treatment Supplies  

• Cooking Oil of some type- Olive Oil, Corn oil, Sunflower oil, Canola oil etc. (I used Olive oil and Canola)
• Old T-shirt, and towels
• Shower cap
• Lice combs
• Conditioner
• A couple of good movies…

First Wash Hair

 Use any shampoo and wash their hair very well, then put in the conditioner and leave it in- do NOT wash out conditioner.  This helps with keeping the hair smooth and less likely to tangle.

Lice Combs

Get comfy, watch a video and comb every strand of hair from the scalp/roots to the end.

Wash out conditioner.

Applying Oil

Put the old T-shirt on her and wrap a towel around her neck.  Use a washcloth to catch the drips of oil.

Carefully apply the oil on the head, from scalp to ends.  Make sure the head is fully saturated, but not pouring off her face. Use a wide tooth comb, and comb oil throughout strands

Put on shower cap.

Leave in overnight or at least 5 hours.

Wash hair very well, or just take a full on bath to remove the oil. 

Lice Combs

Apply conditioner again and leave in-do NOT wash out.

Use lice comb again and comb every strand of hair from roots to end again. 

Have a bowl of water and a towel handy to clean all those gross buggies off the lice comb.

Next, wash, wash, wash, the hair.

House Clean UP

Now is the hard part:

Iron the bed to kill any eggs or bugs…keep the heat down or else you could melt the bed or burn it.

Put the comforters and pillows into dryer and dry on high heat for 30 minutes to kill the buggies.

Put the stuffed animals in the dryer on high for 30 minutes, or just bag them and put them away for 2 weeks.

Also iron the couches and dining chairs, to help kill lingering bugs

Repeat Treatment

After 7 days, Repeat the Oil/cap/comb/wash, wash, wash.

After another 7 days repeat: Oil/cap/comb/wash, wash, wash, wash

Important for Lice Treatment Success

These last 2 steps are VERY important because the lice have different stages. 

The adults, lay eggs, the eggs hatch into larvae, larvae grow to adults; see the pattern here? 

If you skip those steps the whole thing has to start again, with the washing clothes, ironing beds etc. 

The oil does not kill the eggs, it only kills the bug that has hatched.  Then once they hatch they grow and lay more eggs. This was something I missed in my initial study of killing lice so we had a re-infestation 2 weeks later.

Let me know how it worked for you.  Oh, by the way my girls have hair down to their waist, so it took forever to comb out, hence the movie, but it can be done safely and easily!