How to Get Rid of Lice without Chemicals!

So, this morning, I had plans. I was going to sit on my eldest kid’s “Holiday Around the World” presentation, go to the gym and then finish up my writing for the week. Unfortunately my plans quickly changed, I saw lice in my daughter’s hair before leaving school. If your kids have had lice before, you know this means you have to leave IMMEDIATELY and get this situation under control. But, if you have this before, you know it will take ALL DAY!

Fortunately for you and for my family, I discovered a nontoxic way to treat my children and remove the lice from my household. Here’s what you do:

Cover your kid’s shoulders with a towel.

Use a good metal lice comb to comb out as many nits as possible before you start. It is VERY IMPORTANT that it is a lice comb, or you will not get all the nits (lice eggs.)
Section your kid’s hair of in very small sections; it’s extremely important that you coat every strand of hair, and apply the Cetaphil directly to their scalp at each part you make in your hair so that you lessen the chance of missing even ONE louse on your kid’s head! Use Cetaphil liberally and massage, massage, massage it in. Even ONE louse left uncoated may survive to reproduce.
Use a regular (but sturdy comb) to begin combing out the excess lotion. You may need to use a wide toothed comb first, if hair is thick or very long. Comb until you have removed as much of the excess Cetaphil as possible.
Use a hair dryer to dry your hair. This is the only really time consuming part of the process, as the Cetaphil takes much, much longer to dry than water.

What will happen is that the Cetaphil will dry on your kid’s head, hair and most importantly on the lice, cutting off their source of oxygen, therefore smothering them. Lice can literally survive for hours without breathing, so this must be left on the hair for a minimum of 8 hours. This can be done before bed, so that the ‘smothering’ process can take place during sleep. You must make SURE that your hair is completely dry in order for the lice to be totally encased in the dried Cetaphil, and therefore be unable to breathe.

After 8 hours, wash and dry your hair normally. Use the metal lice comb once again, to comb out any surviving live nits. For best results, you must repeat this treatment three times in one-week intervals to make sure that newly matching lice do not survive to begin the hatching/reproducing cycle again.

Note: All bedding should be washed after each treatment, as well as any clothing, pajamas or towels used during lice infestation. Combs and brushes should be run through the wash cycle, or can be put in the freezer over night. Carpeting and furniture should be vacuumed; however lice cannot survive away from human heads for longer than 20 hours. There is no need to be overly concerned about lice that have fallen to the floor or carpet. Lice also cannot hop, jump or fly, and are only transmitted via head to head contact, or by using a comb or brush used by someone with head lice. However, they do crawl, so they may crawl from pillow to pillow in a shared bed.

I hope this helps you as much as it has helped us. Today might not have gone as planned, but during this time, I had some great chats with my daughter, and that is time that I treasure. 🙂