Head lice: they’re every parent’s worst nightmare. For that matter, they’re almost anyone’s worst nightmare, whether or not they have children. They’ve just gotten a reputation for infesting children, due to the fact that schools provide an easy way for lice to jump from head to head. As disgusting as they are, it isn’t so much the physical effects of lice that frighten people — it’s head lice removal that makes them scary, mainly in that most people don’t know how to do it effectively. If done ineffectively, head lice removal not only from your head but your home can take weeks or even months. This means a lot of time wasted while the infestation only gets worse. Furthermore, many treatments for lice are not only ineffective but potentially hazardous to your health. If you’ve found yourself dealing with a lice issue, don’t feel hopeless. There are natural lice remedies that can make head lice removal a lot simpler and a lot healthier. By looing into natural lice treatments, you’ll find yourself and your home heading back to normal in no time. You just need to be careful, be determined, and be ready to get creative.

Head Lice: Prevention Comes First

Perhaps you don’t have head lice, and are looking into prevention — if so, consider yourself lucky. Thousands of Americans deal with head lice each year, and many have lice for days before realizing that they’ve been infested. It could even take weeks, as people usually don’t develop an allergic reaction to lice bites — that is, what causes the itching — until they’ve been bitten at least 10,000 times. This amount of bites can take up to four weeks to accrue. Indeed, a recent study among students revealed that 60% of students with lice didn’t even know that they had them. The people most likely to be infested with lice were pre-school to elementary school-aged children age three to 10 and their families. Typically, if one child gets lice, it’s fairly easy for them to pass the infestation on to their siblings. It’s almost inevitable in cases like these that the parents get them as well. Don’t let your children share hats or clothes with any child at their school. And certainly, if you hear of a lice problem in your child’s school, you should not allow any sleepovers. Of course, you should also try to prevent the transfer of lice from one of your children to the other, if at all possible. Try to prevent the sharing of combs, brushes, and towels. After an infected person has used such items, disinfect them by soaking them in hot water at a temperature of 130 degrees Fahrenheit for five to 10 minutes. If you’ve already experienced an infestation, though, how do you proceed with head lice removal.

Head Lice Removal: Natural Remedies

It’s understandable that in the case of lice infestations, people want to remove lice as quickly as possible. This can lead to them using unhealthy, chemical-based remedies. This can lead to negative health effects. Of course, the chemical remedies are not only used to remove head lice directly from the body, but from the home as well. Head lice can easily burrow down into beds and furniture. This means that you have to clean those areas as well in order to prevent continued infestation. By breathing in chemicals, you’ll find yourself experiencing negative side effects — and the fact is that these treatments aren’t even guaranteed to be successful. Some treatments become less effective if you simply swim or wash your hair within one to two days of the original treatment. Furthermore, a recent study indicates that only 25% of children treated with conventional head lice removal methods were “cured”, while in comparison almost all of the children treated with tree oil and lavender were lice-free.

Be careful when approaching lice removal. Act carefully, not rashly, and you’ll have much better results.