How to Kill Lice

Oh dear lord... you caught lice... Now what?!

The stigma of being infested with lice should be motive enough for anyone to kill the buggers, but for some reason they are still rampant all over the world. Don't be the person everyone hates (the one who gave us all lice).

Kill the little bastards before they can spread!
The only acceptable answer is to wipe them out!
Eradicate even the smallest and most pitiful louse!

I'll show you how.

Step 1 An Oz. prevention = Lb. of cure

People can only get lice from other people, but lice can survive away from their host for a few days. Lice require human hosts so your pets won't get lice.

Sharing clothes, hats, pillows and brushes is a no-no if you might have lice. Hugs should be careful and restrained until you are clear. Once lice are discovered, a good idea is to quarantine bed pillows or stuffed animals which might be exposed. Quarantine time should be 14 days. Brushes, combs, and hair doodads can be boiled in water for 1 minute to kill lice and eggs. A cycle in a hot dryer will kill off any lice and eggs on cloth.

There are several products in stores which claim to be for treatment of lice, but most of these, as far as I can tell, are more likely to make you sick than to kill lice.

Lice are one of the hardiest life forms you or I is likely to meet. They fall dright between cockroaches and goats on the hardiness scale, and are, for all practical purposes, immune to all poisons marketed for their destruction.

... so how do I kill them?

Comments

[l8nite]

When my kids were in school we washed their hair once a week with dog shampoo that kills fleas, letting the lather sit for what ever the label said. We still got the occasional call from the school nurse but it was usually just a couple of bugs that had been recently picked up.. and now MY HEAD is itching.....

[SisterMable]

I have four kids... The BEST way to get rid of lice is to buy the cheap version (walmart/walgreens, whatever) of Listerine, though real Listerine will work, and a gallon of white vinegar. Soak the head in the Listerine, use a shower cap or wrap the head in plastic wrap. Wait one hour. Rinse thoroughly. Listerine's ingredients bloat the bodies and kill the lice. Soak the head in white vinegar. Rinse the shower cap and put it back on or re-wrap in plastic wrap. Wait one hour. Rinse completely. White vinegar dissolves the glue that holds the nits (eggs) to the hair shaft. Now use Suave coconut conditioner. Slather the hair with the conditioner and comb out the hair to see if there are any more nits or bugs (there should be n one unless you didn't completely saturate the hair). Rinse and let air dry. Coconut conditioner is best because it repels lice. Adding tea tree, lavender, rosemary, and other strong-smelling essential oils (10 drops of each) to the conditioner heightens the repelling action.l Repeat the Listerine/Vinegar soak every other day for a week to ensure any eggs that got missed in the first go-round don't get a chance to live long enough to hatch and procreate. In the meantime, wash and dry thoroughly all bedding. Put pillows and any stuffed animals that are used in the bed into the dryer for 40 minutes on high heat, daily. Vacuum everywhere, including the couch. Spray couch and chairs with Listerine. Within a week you can breathe easy that the lice aren't coming back, but repeat treatment once a week for a few more weeks to be sure the child doesn't bring lice back again from wherever they caught them. Also continue using the coconut conditioner -- my kids are over 20 and still use it! :) Alternative chemical free head treatments: Soak the head in olive oil or coconut oil. Both of these types of oils dissolves the lice exoskeleton. Leave oil on for an hour. Wash the hair with shampoo (will take several washes). Use Vinegar soak for one hour. Rinse, then use coconut conditioner. Follow directions as above. Because both olive oil and coconut oil penetrate the hair shaft, you will be left with delightfully glossy hair. Good luck!

[SarahRocker101]

Will it really work still even though I dont have coconut conditioner?

[SisterMable]

It will totally work without the coconut conditioner -- that's just extra insurance. If you do the Listerine thing *or* the olive oil or coconut oil soak, every week, you're going to disrupt the growth cycle of the buglies and ensure they can't procreate. Good luck :)

[Chantelle-Lee]

Hi there,

Im in South Africa and my daughter keeps getting it on a yearly basis. I love your solution & will be trying it! Thank you so much Super MOm!

[SisterMable]

You should have plenty of access to coconut oil in South Africa :)

[thatonechickk]

I can relate to some of the comments: last summer I was having an itchy head problem. My mom assumed that I had itchy scalp, but the shampoo didnt work, and it eventually got worse. One week I went to a friends house. They saw me itching and decided to check my head. They didnt see any lice but found some eggs(small case). Luckily they had lice treatment lying around. That whole situation was done, but then 2 months later the itching started up again. No one believed me that I had lice again, and I was doubting it too, until one day I was itching my head and one came out into my finger nail - EW- I treated it again and all was well. But then, one or 2 months later, I got it again! and sadly it was discovered at a friends house): and my two friends got it too, but this time we used RID, and that totally took care of it, but now my heads itching again, and everyone's checking my head and they only see a few eggs, but i see many eggs. And just a couple minutes ago, I found 3 fricking bugs in my hair. yippee. But im scared to tell my mom because every other time I told her, she got very angry. She knows its not my fault but I cant help but feel guilty and helpless. Where do I keep getting it from!!?? the bus? school seats? a friend?( I hug lots of people) And since no one confessed to having it when I got it those 3(now 4) times, I may not know how to prevent it from happening again. so that's 4 times in one year(: fml...

[SarahRocker101]

How old are you?

[bcmcquain]

Lice can be killed by hot dry air. IE,. a hair dryer. My daughter got lice and I did some research and this really works. When I first tried I saw the dead lice come flying out of her head and at first I was afraid they were still alive and I had to kill them but they were dead. The life cycle of the eggs, nits, is 6 to 7 days. I used a hair dryer on my daughters head for 7 days, really close and thorough, to the point that it hurt a couple of times, maybe overkill. But after this treatment for 7 days they were done. We tried the chemical pesticide that can have drastic side effects(do the research, it can be bad) and it DIDN'T work for us. This really works!!!! We suffered for months until I tried this. I even shaved my son's head. I really didn't want to do that to my daughter. IT WORKS!

[Screamo]

Just burn off your hair :D

[ScarletWitch]

ok, one of the reasons i now homeschool my kids is my 10 yr old with wiast long hair kept coming home with lice. i'd get rid of em WITHOUT their freakin chemical BS that KILL kids!! i used tea tree oil shampoo, suave coconut conditioner(something in this conditioer kills the bugs) both the shampoo and conditioner got left on her hair for 15 minutes each. then i would wash everything i thought she might'vce touched with her skull, and sprayed furniture with alcohol. after conditioning, i'd go through her hair dilligently. then i braid her hair send her to bed on clean linens. when she got up & braid her hair tightly and shillack the hell out of her hair!! (read spray it down solid with hairspray) when she came home from school i would bursh through her hair & i'd go over her hair with the robi comb . 8 times in one year we got rid of em...yep..i was not a happy mamma. i have waist long hair as well and funny how niether i nor my son got even 1 bug!! and the school nurse had the nerve to tell me i wasn't getting rid of em? hmmmm...yeah ..so how come she only had big old ones and eggs? hmm? same woman told me african american kids can't get lice. BS!! seen it with me own eyes! GAH!! we don't need to poison our kids to get rid of these lil buggys!! also occasionaly i would do a tea tree hot oil treatment on her hair . works wonders! CHEERS!!

[JessG516]

I would itch and itch all night, for pretty much the whole summer. I went to a dermatologist for what my mom thought was just severe "dry scalp". I was 14 at the time, so we didn't really consider lice. I saw the dermatologist said it was just dry scalp and recommended some shampoo. The first week of school, I squeezed my hair out in the sink and saw a little bug in the water. Then I checked my comb, it was crawling with bugs! My neighbor, who is a nurse, came over said this was months infestation. Then we went back to the dermatologist, who my mother screamed at. The dermatologist checked my head again, and continued to tell my mother still had dry scalp and say the bugs were gone... the flakes were still eggs. Somehow, no one in my family got lice and neither did my neighbor's daughter (I spent the night at her house often).

[annacaygob]

Similar thing happened to me 2 years ago. People checked my hair, found NOTHING. So it went on for a good 4 months. Finally, my mom made me a doctors apt. and low and behold, I HAD LICE. Treated it and it was so gross >< No one else got it in my house and we share pillows and blankets. Just me. And now, 2 years later, about the SAME time, I have it again. -_-

[insomniaSAH]

I had the opposite... hair past my butt in 4th grade, the nurse called home and said I had lice (3rd time in 4 years) and my mom was so angry one of the first things she did when I got home was cut my hair to my shoulders. I cried for hours, and because of all my fussing, she rechecked me after. I had bad dandruff, but no bugs. *sigh* Hair is down to my butt again though :p

[ikeike40]

my intructable has the method the indians used

[pir8p3t3]

Update: I have seen some generic versions of this comb in the last year so you might want to check google before throwing down the $30 for the real deal.

[PCfreak]

Or Dump Some Kerosine on yur hair it worked for me

[virusX]

How bout lighting ur hair on fire? Does the job!

[blue92]

how are goring to do that

[santy22]

do ya know what time is it? NAPALM TIME!

[210DiiVA]

Well if you dont wanna go buy the chemical for killing lice or dont have that much money cause that stuffs like 20 bucks my friend and her daughter had left her baby daddy and moved in wit h her mom and appearantly her family she lived with someone hAD lice and when she came and lived with her baby dady again in my area she brought lice to his house well, anywys she said that hair colo also works very well and its cheaper.

[MissPennyFarthing]

Someone told me that adding a couple of drops of geranium oil to your shampoo gets rid of lice/keeps lice away. I don't know whether this works, or what it might do to your hair (whether the geranium oil would react badly to the chemicals in the shampoo) as I haven't tried it - but it sounds better than using really toxic chemical treatments. I just hope I never need to find out!

[MasterBowyer]

Tee Tree Oli based shampoo also works AFTER treatment to keep them at bay, and for those of you that are sick little puppies dont microwave head lice it doesnt affect them... I sure someone will explain why...

[Hoopajoo]

Occasionally (once every 3 days) rinsing your hair with a solution of 50% white vinegar and 50% water after you shampoo will dissolve lice eggs.

[bronnie1211]

Great tip! they are harder to get out then the actual lice. I'll have to try that.

[bronnie1211]

One thing I find that works better than a hair dryer is a hair straightener. Mine gets to 220C which is 428F so it is definitely hot enough to kill them. THe only problem is, its too hot for my 3yo step daughter so a hair dryer will have to do for her.

[copycat-42]

i just shaved my head, and washed the stubble with bleach. it burns a bit, but i survived. (the lice didn't)

[dchall8]

You are absolutely correct. A comb is THE ONLY way to get rid of lice. Nothing else is permanent. Once you realize you have lice in your family, you are exactly 3 weeks away from getting rid of them. I used a flea comb on my family.

Here is a website with clear information about the life cycle of lice and and explanation of why it takes 3 weeks instead of 2 to get rid of them. It is all natural and works every time.

[Slug]

Thanks man, im so glad to have found this, someone in my home just got lice and luckily we found it recently!