If you’ve found lice on your child’s head, I’m happy to share our experience with getting rid of it that is non-toxic, cheap, and easy with this at-home remedy.
I’ve got quite the traumatized history with head lice. It haunted me for years, because I had it as a child, in middle school, and I feared ever getting it again, or worse, my kids getting it. Well, fast forward to my oldest daughter in kindergarten. Something about girls and long hair and constant hugging, it happened.
Surely you all know that the misconception of dirty hair or dirty home is what attracts the little critters. Quite the opposite! It can happen to anyone anywhere, but the last time it happened to us, I was cool and collected, because I knew just how to combat the epidemic.
I was scarred by my childhood, but we did all the things. Bought the poison, and after month after vicious month of it not going away for good, I found a Listerine treatment, then using Clearasil, I don’t even know how it eventually went away that time, but literally months later (of lulls that I thought it was away then it came back) it finally went away.
{The below picture was in the middle of our lice battle, circa 2010, this is our 2nd sons baptism day}
Head Lice
Fast forward again to my 2nd daughters kindergarten year, head lice struck again. {I HATE that word}
Ugh! It had been too long, and I couldn’t remember exactly what we did, except Listerine. I searched online, tried that method again, but it didn’t get rid of the problem for good.
It had been a few weeks of frustration when I NEEDED a quick solution because my husband and I were going out of town with our oldest on a Pioneer Trek, and I was leaving my 3 younger kids with a friend. It was not ok with me to put that on my friend, nor take it to the Trek, so I shelled out the big bucks for the Lice Doctor to come to our home. Like $500 for all of us, big bucks.
And in case it isn’t clear, each time my girls got it, I got it too. I mean, I HUG my kids OFTEN, that’s how it happens! Of course there are sharing brushes and things, but people don’t realize that after 24 hours, those LIVE suckers die if they aren’t on flesh. So throwing away sheets/pillows/stuffed animals is completely unnecessary. Some say to put it on HOT in the drier, you could, or wash them, but no need to sterilize the house because they just die on their own, so leave stuff or put it in a bag or quarantined room, but no need to go bat crazy (like we are all feeling in our minds). I mean, a good vacuum around the house is a good idea.
The investment was definitely worth it with the lice doctor, because I found this fail proof solution for treating lice.
At that moment, the Lice Doctor declared us free of LIVE lice for the next 5 or so days. But she said that it’s possible she missed an egg or two, and if they aren’t caught, it starts all over again.
WHAT???? All of that for just a 5 day guarantee?
But I had the secret: The secret is in the oil. It suffocates the live ones.
Olive oil.
A huge VAT of olive oil.
It still takes 3 weeks though, but doesn’t require sifting through the head for hours with the comb.
It’s all about killing the vicious life cycle of those nasty little heathens.
How to Get rid of Lice:
- Saturate head/scalp in olive oil (using a bottle with spout helps)
- Wrap head in towel or shower cap overnight (or 6 hours)
- Wash hair with DAWN dish soap to get all of the oils out (other brands don’t work as well and may leave hair greasy)
- Repeat once a week for 3 weeks (I did a bonus 4th week to be sure)
That’s it! Though 3 weeks is a long time, you aren’t actually living with lice for that long, but maybe 1 days at the end of the life cycle. This kills the live lice before they lay eggs. The olive oil doesn’t kill the eggs.
If you wanted to do the oil more than once a week, it can surely help. What the lice doctors actually said was:
- 1st week: do oil/dawn every day for a week
- 2nd week: do oil/dawn every other day for a week
- 3rd week: do oil/dawn every 3 days
You can do that, but it was still time intensive to saturate and wash, I opted to go the once a week route. We were traveling during this time, and every day for a week was just not possible.
I am SOOOOOO relieved to have finally found an absolute CURE!
Yeah, the time frame is a pain, but it doesn’t require any picking with those awful combs (that really are next to impossible to find everything anyway).
So there you have it, how to get rid of head lice!
Questions or comments on what worked for you??
Good luck, it’s extremely frustrating to deal with, and I hope my pain and experience can help someone else! Please feel free to message, DM, reach out, I’m happy to hold your hand without judgement!
{PIN the first image to SAVE for later!}
