Lice are miniscule insects that live on the human body. Lice are especially common on schoolchildren and can cause itching and red bumps on the skin. Treating a lice infestation can be difficult. Lice and their eggs are very small, making it hard to be sure you've removed them all from your hair. Most doctors prescribe chemical pesticides to treat lice, but you can also try treating lice on yourself or your child at home using natural remedies before consulting your doctor.
Mayonnaise
The Safe Natural Cures website claims that mayonnaise can be used to kill lice. It's important that you use real mayonnaise and not a low fat whipped salad dressing that is used to replace mayonnaise. If your child has a lice infestation, use a jar of room temperature mayonnaise to cover all of her hair. Be sure to cover the areas behind her ears and on the back of her neck. Place a shower cap over her hair once saturated with mayonnaise to prevent a mess. Leave the shower cap in place for two hours. During this time, the mayonnaise will smother any lice that are living in the hair or on the scalp. Rinse the hair after two hours, shampooing repeatedly to remove all of the mayonnaise.
Petroleum Jelly
According to the Safe Natural Cures website, you can use petroleum jelly to kill lice, although it can be a messy process. If you treat your child's lice infestation with mayonnaise and see no results, consider trying petroleum jelly. Apply the petroleum jelly to your child's hair in the same manner as the mayonnaise, then cover with a shower cap and leave the treatment on for at least two hours or as long as overnight. To remove all of the petroleum jelly from your child's hair, you must first saturate the hair with baby oil, then wash his hair several times with dish soap.
Homemade Lice Shampoo
The Mamaherb website has a recipe for making your own lice-killing shampoo at home. To make the shampoo, mix your regular shampoo with 3 tbsp. olive oil, 1 tsp. tea tree oil and 1 tsp. eucalyptus oil. You can find tea tree and eucalyptus oils at natural grocery stores or health food stores. According to the Mamaherb site, olive oil dissolves the exoskeletons of head lice while the tea tree and eucalyptus oils suffocate the lice. If you suffer from a lice infestation, apply the shampoo to your hair and let the treatment sit for an hour under a shower cap. After the hour, you can wash out the mixture, as all lice should be killed within 30 minutes of application.
Vinegar
The Safe Natural Cures website says that nits, the eggs lice lay in hair, are frequently let behind after lice treatment. MayoClinic.com suggests using vinegar to remove remaining nits from the hair shaft. You can use a cloth soaked in vinegar to wipe each segment of your hair, effectively removing nits as you go, or you can soak your entire head with vinegar for a few minutes before combing out remaining nits.
