Hair Fairies~ How to treat head lice. {Partnered Post}

About the author: 

Maria Botham is the President of Hair Fairies and founded the company 13 years ago. With a degree in Physiology from Long Beach University, Maria has been an entrepreneur her entire career. She has developed numerous companies and credits that experience to aiding her in each project she takes on. Maria is committed to understanding head lice and its effects and continuing her research and development into managing head lice effectively is a lifelong goal.

How to Treat Head Lice
Head lice are annoying, but luckily modern medicine has finally caught up to the resilient bugs and provided solutions less drastic than a completely shaven head. Never use folk-remedies such as gasoline and kerosene to treat head lice. Although they are popular traditional remedies, flammable liquids are very dangerous and should not be anywhere close to someone’s head. Although rare, deaths have occurred from attempts to treat head lice with these liquids.

The two main over-the-counter remedies are natural head lice treatments including shampoos and cream rinses. They both kill any residing lice, but leave about a quarter of the eggs intact and viable. The cream rinses are designed to leave a small amount of residue on the scalp to kill lice emerging from the remaining eggs.

For the actual treatment process, first moisten the hair with conditioner and brush it over a sink. Brushing and combing the hair will get rid of some of the live lice, and moistening the hair keeps the lice from spreading to the person holding the brush. Next, wash the hair with shampoo. It is very important to use plain shampoo, not any products that also contain conditioner. Many children’s shampoos are 2-in-1 shampoo/conditioners, so read the labels carefully. Towel-dry hair until damp and then apply the head lice treatment shampoo or cream that you have chosen. Make sure the hair is completely soaked in the treatment and leave it on for ten minutes. After ten minutes, rinse the hair out over a sink.

Unfortunately, we’re not quite done. This treatment process needs to be repeated in a week, so mark your calendar. You particular treatment product may recommend an additional treatment after two weeks, so be sure to read and follow those instructions. Also, the hair will need to be combed daily to see if any lice have appeared. If large, full-grown lice are still appearing, the situation warrants a visit to a hair lice salon.