It is a subject that parents avoid at all costs. No one wants to even think about the sheer possibility of their children getting head lice, much less talk about it with other people. Plus, bugs are icky! Especially bugs that live and breed on your scalp.
Feeling itchy yet?
I will bravely admit that we have had head lice in our house. Twice. Matthew, Isabella and Noah have all had it. Bella had it twice. It is a myth that lice like dirty, unclean hair. Quite the opposite. They like nice, clean hair to lay their eggs on and chill out in. That’s not very comforting, is it?
Signs of lice on your child would be a suddenly very itchy head, and small, red little bumps on the nape of their neck and/or behind their ears.
The first time the kids got lice, we went with the heavy duty chemicals. You know, those crazy overpriced cans of poison that you are supposed to let sit on your child’s scalp as it supposedly fries the bugs and their eggs? The crazy thing was, even with they heavy duty poison, the bugs were still happily crawling around the head. It was the actual individual hand removal of each bug and egg that finally ended the lice reign.
The second time the kids were infected, it was just Bella and Noah. I say “just”, but the second time was equally as horrifying to me.
I decided to look online for less toxic ways to rid the growing bug populations on my kids cabezas. There are tons of home remedies, anything from smothering the head with mayonaise, hair color, or even blow drying the critters to death. I decided not to color my kids hair or scald their heads with the blow dryer, and the mayo, well, that just sounded disgusting to me.
I read that you could use Listerine. Yes, the mouth wash. As I researched more about this method, I learned a nifty hint about using the Listerine. If your kids have light hair, do not use blue or green Listerine! It will dye their hair! I went with the yellow, stinky, original Listerine for my blonde babies.
The treatment consisted of soaking the hair and scalp with the Listerine for about 30 minutes. Then rinse and begin the nit picking. That’s where you have to literally go through your child’s head of hair, one strand at a time, inspecting for the bugs or the eggs. It is time consuming, but necessary. We had a nit comb from the previous infestation, but a flea comb would also work well.
You know what I noticed with the Listerine? The lice stopped moving right away, where as with the “poison” treatments, they were still happliy frolicking around even after the thirty minutes had passed. We found no live bugs.
You can use the Listerine as a preventive spray as well, but I’ll tell you, it stinks. Like, p-u. And every time the hair gets wet again, the smell is freshened, for quite awhile. It fades, once it’s dry, but I don’t dig that funky smell.
What I like to use for a preventive spray is a few drops of lavender oil in a small spray bottle filled with water. Before the kids head out the door to school in the morning, they get their heads and necks sprayed with the lavender oil mixture. It smells nice, and so far, knock wood, there have been no recurrences. Another thing that is supposed to prevent lice is coconut scented shampoo/conditioner. The scent is not so yummy to the creepy crawlies, and they tend to move on to a differently scented head.
Lice are gross. If you have kids, they will probably get it at least once in their lives. As totally grody as that is, it is pretty easily treatable. And you do not have to use that crazy, expensive poison. The heebie jeebies last longer than the outbreak. Seriously, is your head as itchy as mine is right now?
i’m afraid to type it out loud, but (knock on wood) we haven’t experienced lice yet. that listerine tip is really interesting, i will definitely file that one away!! have you heard of fairy tales hair care for kids? it supposedly repells lice. i buy the commercial size bottles of shampoo, conditioner, detangler and hair shield for during the school year. so, basically i spend hundreds of dollars on organic haircare products for my six year old while i stick with .99 cent suave for myself o_O
Hi, im kimberly and ive suffered from head lice for over two months, I hate it, I was perfectly find a year ago, no itching, no stress, NOW I am embarrased of always scratching, I feel hopeless of scratching every second! I hate to see other girls with beautiful hair and im thw only one with lice :/ , I want to know can you use to any conditioner for that home remedie? PLEASE REPLY, IM HOPELESS:(.
Hi Kimberly!
I am so sorry to hear about your suffering!
I can tell you that using the Listerine treatment that I mentioned above works wonders!! Soak your head really well with it and repeat as needed. The important thing to remember is to really be diligent in the treatment and to definitely invest in either a nit comb or a flea comb and comb through every single strand of hair to get every single egg and live (or dying) bug out of your hair. It is a lot of work, but it works!! For further prevention, once you have removed all of the live bugs and eggs, you can add some listerine to a spray bottle and spray your head daily for protection. As far as conditioner, it will not work alone, but you can use a coconut shampoo and conditioner to also help prevent another outbreak. (The little buggers hate the smell.)
It takes a lot of time and dedication to get rid of them, but once they are gone, it should be much easier to prevent a further outbreak.
Best of luck to you!
Angie
I apologize for the late response! I realized that I have to get a specific color for my hair, I have dark brown hair, what color listerine should I buy? If you dont mind me asking how often do I use this? How should I put it on my hair? How long? I also want to know if you 100 percent guarantee me that this will work? Please response ASAP!
If you have dark brown hair, the color of Listerine should not matter. It would only matter if you had light hair, as the darker dyes could discolor the hair. I cannot 100% guarantee anything, I’m only sharing a home remedy that I found to work well for my family. I wish you the best of luck!
For at least 3 weeks my head had been an itchy mess. I had asked my mom to look at my scalp, but she didn’t see any lice. Less than half an hour ago I was scratching my head and looked at my hand to find a bug. I screamed and killed it. Had mom look again and she found another and some nits. Right away she put me in the shower and doused my head with listerine. I’ve been sitting here for 10 minutes looking at different remedies and permanent solutions. This is so gross And I want the buggers gone. Idk how all it’s gonna work but I’m going to let this sit for another 20 minutes then dry them to death. Moms going to go through with a comb after and pick them out. Thanks for the article. Awesome tips. But cannot wait to get rid of these.
Hi Sarah!
I’m sorry to hear that you are dealing with this right now, I know how nasty these little bugs are! It definitely takes a lot of time and patience to get rid of them, but I’m sure you’ll be itch free before you know it!
Best of luck!
Angie