You may have heard claims that petroleum jelly, mayonnaise, butter, margarine, or olive oil can suffocate lice. None of these has been found to be effective.
Cover the infested head liberally in Vaseline. Place a shower cap over the entire head for the night (or an eight-hour period). Then shampoo the Vaseline out of the hair. This treatment is reported to “smother” the lice.
First off, here's what not to do: don't shave your or your child's head, or coat it with petroleum jelly or mayonnaise or anything else designed to “suffocate” the parasite. You'll probably end up with greasy, smelly, lice-infested hair.
A couple of weeks ago, someone wrote to you about persistent lice in a child's hair, regardless of what lice treatment was used. You suggested coating the child's hair with mayonnaise or Vaseline. DO NOT USE Vaseline! Vaseline is not water-soluble, nor does it respond to any soap or shampoo on the market.
All you need to do is apply a thick layer of petroleum jelly to the scalp and leave it overnight. Cover your head with a towel or a shower cap. In the morning use some baby oil to remove the petroleum jelly. Comb your hair thoroughly to remove the lice.
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.
It is not usually possible to get rid of lice in one day, as an infestation needs to be treated. However, there are treatments that can help get rid of lice and symptoms caused by lice more quickly. Lice infestations must first be treated by improving the hygiene of the infected person.
HAND SANITIZER "STUNS" LIVE LICE FOR A SHORT PERIOD OF TIME MAKING IT EASY TO BE REMOVED WITH NIT COMB. HAND SANITIZER WILL DISSOLVE THE "GLUE" THAT HOLDS NITS TO THE HAIR MAKING THEM EASY TO REMOVE WITH A NIT COMB.
Sometimes it will be easier to remove the nits if you wet the hair with white vinegar while you are combing the nits out. Vinegar helps loosen the "glue" that holds the nits to the hair. Separate and comb small sections of hair at a time.
Suffocate the Lice
Soak your child's head in olive oil or coconut oil. Cover with a shower cap for at least 2 hours (or preferably overnight). When ready, remove the shower cap, and separate the hair into small sections, then use a metal nit comb to carefully remove the lice and eggs. Rinse the hair well with shampoo.
Vinegar contains properties that kill and get rid of nits and lice. This mixture should be applied directly to the whole scalp. Mix 1 cup of vinegar with 1 cup of warm water. Next, distribute this mixture onto the scalp and cover your hair with a hair cap.
Aniseed, cinnamon leaf, and tea tree oil have shown promising results. Mixing a few drops of any of these essential oils in coconut oil could help kill the lice and neutralize their eggs.
This will take a long time but it helps “seal in” and suffocate the live lice. Put a shower cap, head wrap or skull cap on and leave the dried lotion on for at least 8 hours. It's easiest to do this overnight. Wash with your regular shampoo 8 hours later.
If lice are not completely covered by oil, they may not die but the oil will slow them down allowing them to be caught in the nit comb.
The conditioner does not kill lice but stuns them for about 20 minutes enabling easier removal. The long toothed metal comb will remove nits and the stunned head lice. Wipe the comb on a white tissue and check for any lice or nits. Keep combing until no more appear on the tissue.
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.
To soften the cement adhering the nit to the hair, soak the hair in vinegar/ conditioner for 30 minutes then nit pick. Keep long hair pulled in a pony tail and spray with hair spray for school during infestations. Washing with tea tree oil/peppermint oil shampoos will also deter lice infestations.
Typically, 10–15 head lice are found. The number of lice often depends on personal hygiene, for example, how often the person bathes, shampoos, or changes and washes his/her clothing.
Lice and nits can live on pillows and sheets. Lice glue their eggs to the hair strands of their host. However, if a piece of hair with an egg falls out while the lice host is sleeping, an egg could end up on pillows or sheets.
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.
The vapours of methylated spirits (and any insecticide containing methyl- ated spirits) and tar oil were effective as insecticides. Some drugs were found to stupefy the lice, which on their removal to fresh air recovered at varying intervals up to 4 hours, even though they looked quite dead when first removed.
Heat Method:
There are recent studies that show that treatment of lice with heat can be quite effective in killing head lice. Products such as Lousebuster are very effective but even a home hairdryer can successfully treat lice.
If you begin to find that the nits are further away from the scalp, they may not be viable. Using a magnifying lens will make it easier to search for nits close to the scalp. You'll want to make sure that there are no clusters of nits close to your child's scalp for at least two weeks before you are in the clear.
Because the active ingredients have remained the same all these years, new generations of head lice have become immune to them. Once lice become immune, the product no longer works. Scientists call this resistance.
Check with your child's doctor before beginning any head lice treatment. The most effective way to treat head lice is with head lice medicine. After each treatment, using the comb-out method every 2 to 3 days for 2 to 3 weeks may help remove the nits and eggs.