Natural homemade remedies for treating and removing Head lice

Head lice are blood-sucking and wingless ectoparasite that lives inside the human hair. This insect when feeding injects saliva into its host, which prevents the blood from clotting.

These blood-sucking parasitic insects live and feed off exclusively on humans. They are mostly found around the head sucking blood in from the nape of the neck and behind the ears.

They can be very contagious and can be found among little children mostly. School children are mostly the easiest to contact them due to personal contact.

Contacting this parasite can be very easy when personal belongings such as combs and brushes are being shared.

Mode of contact and transmission

The transfer of head lice occurs mostly when an infected person shares personal belongings with an uninfected person.

Personal belongings such as combs, brushes, caps, pillows, and many more can also aid the transfer of these parasites from one person to another.

What happens when you contact these parasites on your hair?

These ectoparasites have a life span of about 28 days. Their development is in 3 phases:-

1. The egg phase (also known as the nit),
2. Nymph phase
3. Adult louse phase

When these insects are present in your hair the females lay their eggs closer to your hair scalp. In about 6 to 9 days the eggs hatch and develop into the nymph.

They look very similar to the matured adults and it takes them about 7 days to fully develop into full adults.

Matured adults can live for about 2 weeks and can lay about more than 10 eggs per day.

Symptoms of Head lice infestation

Some symptoms of head lice infestation include:-

• Severe itching of the scalp
• Skin irritation
• Bite marks on the skin especially around the neck region
• Whitish or grayish deposits on the hair
• Presence of sores on the head

Having listed the likely symptoms to look out for how do you now confirm the presence of head lice in your hair?

1. Start by parting the hair into sections as this will help to sport them much easier.
2. Look out for the presence of lice or nits. Nits are mostly characterized by small white or yellow-brown specks. They are mostly spotted around the hair near the scalp, back of the hair, and around the hairline.

How do you prevent Head lice infestation

• Infected persons should avoid sharing personal belongings from combs, caps, brushes, pillows, and pillowcases.
• Also, specially formulated shampoos and hair products should be used for such types of hair. These products make the hair inhabitable for this louse.
• Comb out method can be employed in combing out the nits away from the hair. This is usually quite tasking to do.
• In cases of severe infestation, the person should be isolated from others and also should seek medical attention.
• In conclusion, the right hair regime and hair hygiene should be followed to avoid contact and the spread of these lousy ectoparasites.

Natural homemade remedies that can be used in controlling Head lice infestation

I am sure you must be wondering what things can I use to get rid of these annoying things. Well here are a few homemade natural things that can be used in treating these lice.

Use of the leaves of Azadirachta indicia ( also known as neem )

Neem contains a compound known as azadirachtin. This compound is very rich in anti-bacterial and also acts as an insecticide that prevents lice from surviving on the scalp.

Start by Boiling a cup of fresh neem leaves and blend its juice and leaves into a paste. This can be applied to your hair and left for a while. After about 2 hours it can then be washed off with lukewarm water. Repeat the process every week until u notice a reasonable difference.

Coconut oil

Applying coconut oil on the hair will help suffocate the lice present thereby reducing their population. The coconut oil treatment dries out the waxy outer shell of these hair lice. This then causes fatal dehydration making them less resistant to it and less likely to survive.

Apple cider vinegar rinse

Rinsing your hair with apple cider vinegar mix is also very effective in treating these lice. It works by making their environment very acidic. Due to the acidic nature, it makes them less likely to thrive in such environments.

Essential oils

The use of essential oils in controlling hair lice is very effective. These Essential oils are very toxic to these lice especially tea tree essential oil.

Few drops of essential oils can be applied onto the hair and massaged for a while. The hair should be covered with a shower cap and left for a while (2 – 3 hours) after then it can be rinsed off with warm water. The process can be repeated until they are all gone.