Why can't you drown them by taking a long bath or going for a swim? Lice have evolved with humans, and we have always put our heads in water. They are designed to resist it. The louse shuts itself down, it is called sham death, and when you take it out of the water it recovers within five minutes.
Data show that head lice can survive under water for several hours but are unlikely to be spread by the water in a swimming pool. Head lice have been seen to hold tightly to human hair and not let go when submerged under water.
Permethrin lotion 1% is approved by the FDA for the treatment of head lice. Permethrin is safe and effective when used as directed. Permethrin kills live lice but not unhatched eggs.
Washing, soaking, or drying items at a temperature greater than 130°F can kill both head lice and nits. Dry cleaning also kills head lice and nits.
If you try to drown lice, you would need to keep them submerged for more than 8 straight hours in order to ensure they have indeed drowned. No coming up for air. Adult lice can “hold their breath” for up to 8 hours – they close their air holes and stay where they are until they can breathe again.
Body lice, close relatives of head lice, die when exposed for 5 min to a blow dryer delivering air at 50°C. Researchers in Salt Lake City, USA (Brad M Goates and colleagues. Pediatrics 2006;118:1962–70) have assessed six different methods of killing head lice using hot air.
Spinosad (Natroba).
Spinosad is approved for adults and children age 6 months and older. It can be applied to dry hair and rinsed with warm water after 10 minutes. It kills lice and nits and usually doesn't need repeated treatment.
Can someone have nits but no lice? It may be possible to have nits but no lice. If a person cannot find any nymphs or adult lice in the scalp and the nits are more than a quarter of an inch from the scalp, these may be dead and from an old infestation. However, the lice could be in hiding.
Swimming in a chlorinated pool or hot tub will not, unfortunately, kill head lice. Lice are very hearty pests and they can resist most chemicals, including chlorine. One study that submerged lice in chlorinated water for twenty minutes found that it wasn't enough to kill the pests.
However, if you are trying to find out how to get rid of nits using vinegar, you should know that using vinegar to kill nits or lice eggs is totally ineffective. Vinegar has no negative effect on the lice eggs. What it will do is sting like crazy if there is any kind of cut on the scalp.
Petroleum jelly (Vaseline).
Like olive oil, many moms swear by this (other options: styling gel or mayonnaise). The thick jelly supposedly suffocates lice by clogging their breathing holes. For best results, coat the hair and scalp, cover it overnight with a shower cap, and wash out the next morning. Comb for nits.
As previously discussed, hair color may kill the bugs, but with a full-blown infestation, can lice survive hair dye? Yes, they can. You may be successful at getting rid of some of the bugs with hair dye, or you may even use hair dye to get rid of all of them.
Coconut, tea tree oil, lavender, eucalyptus, rosemary, lemon grass, and peppermint are scents popularly believed to repel lice. Using any coconut scented shampoo and conditioner is an easy way to increase your defense. At 1% concentration, tea tree oil killed 100% of head lice after 30 minutes.
Can head lice live on pillows or sheets? Head lice cannot live for long on pillows or sheets. It is possible for a live louse that has come off a person's head to crawl onto another human host who also puts their head on the same pillows or sheets.
By comparison, the researchers found that a normal hair dryer aimed at the base of hair, divided into 20 large sections, killed 55.3% of hatched lice and 97.9% of lice eggs after 30 minutes of blow drying.
Hair gels, hairspray, oils or other non-medicated products do not kill lice or their eggs. Cutting your child's hair or shaving their head to get rid of lice won't keep them away. Lice stick to short and just “grown in” hair too.
Hairspray makes it harder for the louse to grab hold. The smell of hairspray and the use of solvents (sad but true) in them can also deter creepy crawlies from finding their way in. Not to mention that if you're tying longer hair back, you've got a double whammy.
Detection combing can be carried out on dry or wet hair. Dry combing takes less time, but wet combing is more accurate because washing with conditioner stops head lice from moving.
Children can have a few nits without actually having a case of head lice. Usually children have no more than 10 to 20 live lice. Good lighting is important when you are checking. Head lice move fast and are hard to see.
Eggs that still contain a louse embryo are brownish in color, while the empty egg shells are white to grey. As the hair grow approximately 1cm a month, eggs that are about 1cm from the scalp are more than likely to have already hatched or to contain a dead embryo.
Head lice live only on your scalp or behind your ears and at the back of your neck. They can't live for very long anywhere else. But you can have other types of lice on your body, such as body lice or public lice. If you have itchy skin or think you've seen lice on your body, talk to a pharmacist or see your GP.
Not everyone feels lice moving around on their scalp, but some people do. Dr. Garcia says that most of her patients say they “don't feel anything,” but others may get a creepy, tickling sensation as lice move around their head.