Head lice are small insects that thrive on the human scalp. In addition to this, they can also spread easily through close contact with others. While head lice can survive up to a month living on anyone’s head, their eggs require around two weeks to develop before hatching. Typically, those in need of natural treatment of head lice are school children, with an estimated six to 12 billion cases of annual head lice treatment occurring in children between three and 11 years old.

Dealing with head lice

The most common way for head lice to spread is through either direct contact or contact with items exposed to a person with lice. This means sharing towels, hats, scarves, head rests, and pillows is the most common reason why a lot of people are looking for a natural treatment of head lice. Since a lot of people are looking for treatment for head lice, the pharmaceutical industry has been churning out various drugs to take care of the problem. Unfortunately, many of the medications commonly used for treating head lice can be quite harsh, pushing people instead to seek out natural treatment of head lice. Natural treatment of head lice is, after all, gentler yet just as effective. You’re mostly dealing with kids so it’s really important that natural treatment of head lice doesn’t hurt.

Natural treatment of head lice

Natural lice treatment usually entails using natural essential oils, like lavender, oregano, anise seed, cinnamon leaf bergamot, clary sage, spearmint, benzoin, pennyroyal, caraway seed, tea tree, Roman chamomile, lemongrass, and eucalyptus. Just pick out your choice of essential oil and make sure to leave on the natural treatment for head lice overnight on the scalp to give it enough time to work and then shampoo it off in the morning. You can also combine the oils if you want. This natural treatment of head lice should be effective enough to kill both adult lice and eggs to take care of the problem. Should there be lice left, you can follow through by combing a fine-toothed comb through your child’s hair. Repeat combing every few days to ensure all of the lice are gone. Repeat using essential oils when necessary.

Preventing re-infestation

While it’s certainly good news that you can take advantage of natural treatment of head lice, as you can see from the different remedies on this site, you can avoid the need for even the gentlest natural treatment of head lice by preventing an infestation in the first place. You can also be diligent about prevention as a means of avoiding re-infestation after a round of natural treatment of head lice. After using natural treatment of head lice, consider the following:

• Machine washing all clothing, linen, and other times that may have come into contact with an infected person two days before undergoing natural treatment of head lice using hot water. For the drying cycle, high heat should be used as well. All items that aren’t washable should be dry-cleaned. If immediate washing is not possible, seal everything in plastic bags and store for two weeks after that round of natural treatment of head lice.

• Soaking all brushes and combs used before natural treatment of head lice in hot water for at least five minutes.

• Vacuuming the area where the infected person stayed prior to natural treatment of head lice. While lice will die after one or two days of not feeding, there is still the chance of re-infestation if surviving lice find a host again.

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