Head Lice Treatment

Our girls aged 6 and 7 had just joined us in bed for some saturday morning fun. They both had beautiful long hair. Suddenly I noticed what I thought was a common fly on one of there heads! On closer inspection I discovered little tiny things crawling along her scalp and in her hair! I jumped out of bed dragging my daughter with me! We headed to the bathroom and after another look I discovered that my daughter had head lice!

This was my first encounter with this problem and I must say I did feel a bit embaressed. Did I not keep my daughters hair clean? How did she manage to get these nasties! Imagine having to tell people my daughter had head lice!

I soon found out that it can be a common problem at school and these little creatures love a clean head. After a chat with my daughter I discovered that she had been letting other kids brush her long hair with their combs and so the spread of the head lice in school.

My husband was then promptly sent of to the local pharmacy to purchase combs chemicals and shampoos to help get rid of this plague! Since then there have been many other good treatments available to buy and also less toxic products for treating head lice at home.

Head lice have a life span of about three weeks and when they fall from the head they are dying and unable to breed.

Healthy head lice do not deliberately transfer onto clothing, bedding or soft toys.

Lice don't spread disease, but they are infectous and can just be extremely irritating. Their bites may cause a child's scalp to become red and itchy and inflamed, and consant scratching may lead to skin irritation and infection.

It's wise to treat head lice quickly once you know thats what it is because they can spread easily from one person to another.

After it has been confirmed that your child has head lice you can treat the lice at home by wet combing the hair using a head lice comb or by using medicated lotion.

However, neither will protect against re-infestation if contact is made with someone with head lice during the treatment period.

The wet combing method involves removing the head lice by systematically combing the hair using a special fine-toothed comb.

Combs are available from pharmacies or you can order them online.

For wet combing to be effective, it involves regular and thorough combing.

• First wash the hair using ordinary shampoo and also use conditioner.
• Use an ordinary comb to detangle the hair.
• When the hair is free from tangles change to the fine comb.
• Start combing from the roots.
• Move the comb along the hair checking for lice as you comb to the ends of the hair
• Remove lice by wiping comb.
• Work through hair in sections till the whole head has been combed.
• Rinse and repeat again.
• This should be done every day for two weeks.

It will depend on the length and type of hair as to how long this procedure will take