I have to be honest and say that I never thought I would be writing about head lice. Head lice hit my home with a vengeance. I am embarrassed to say that I thought it was dandruff. I knew that there had been issues at school and I had been checking my children's hair every few days and never saw anything! Eventually I started noticing little white flakes on my daughter's hair. I told her to start using her dandruff shampoo again.
Then it happened! One night when I was checking her hair, I saw bugs! It took everything in me to stay CALM. I wanted to jump off the bed and run away. I HATE bugs. I calmly called her father into the bedroom and had him check it out. We suspected it was lice. I immediately went to the Internet and began educating myself about these nasty little bugs. It turns out the "dandruff flakes" were really lice eggs (nits). GROSS!!
I started looking up the effectiveness of the OTC solutions to discover that they have limited success at killing lice eggs. Articles went on to say that the lice were becoming resistant to these solutions, just like bacteria was becoming resistant to antibiotics. My husband and I discussed it and decided to try the essential oils first and then if that did not work, we would discuss our next step.
After doing some research, I created my own head lice concoction. I mixed fractionated coconut oil with Lavender, Lemon, Geranium, and Melaleuca essential oils. For every two tablespoons of fractionated coconut oil, I used 5 drops of Lavender, Lemon, Geranium, and Melaleuca each. I made an entire bottle of the mix. I applied the mix to my daughters head and made sure that it was on her entire scalp. I then used a flea comb brush, yes it is for my dog, to start pulling the lice out of her hair. Everything I read, said to leave the mix in for a minimum of a 1/2 hour to an hour. I spent that entire time combing through her hair and pulling out lice. I did not have any success at pulling off the lice eggs (nits). After about an hour she took a shower and used 2 drops of melaleuca mixed in with her shampoo I then put the flea comb through her hair one more time. We of course had to change the sheets, launder the towels, pull the stuffed animals, etc.
Everyday for three days we used the head lice concoction. After I ran out of the first batch, I decided to switch to olive oil instead of fractionated coconut oil, because it is cheaper and I read that it is more effective at drowning the lice. The third night, we purchased a disposable shower cap and had her keep the essential oil mix in her hair all night long.
I am happy to report that this has been a very effective way to treat the head lice. She does not have any active lice and the lice eggs are disappearing. We continue to add melaleuca to her shampoo every night when she showers. We have also had everyone else in the house add melaleuca to their shampoo to prevent the lice from spreading. We will continue to comb through her hair for the next few weeks to ensure no new lice appeared and we will treat with the essential oil mix if needed. Similar to fleas, head lice is very time consuming to eradicate. New eggs take roughly 7-10 days to hatch, so we will be monitoring the situation very closely for the next few weeks.
When we first learned that there was lice in her class, I told her that having her hair in a ponytail makes it harder to get lice. She ignored me or took her hair down during the day at school. Needless to say, she is very eager to get her hair put up every morning now.
I encourage all of you to do your own research and utilize whatever method works best for you. I am so grateful that this worked for my family.
