Home made recipe for treating head lice

Research shows that one in five children have head lice at any given time. Head lice are becoming immune to conventional treatments. Head lice are not dangerous, but they are highly irritating and can lead to infection if your child scratches too much.

Orthodox treatment for head lice is permathrin. The definition reads, “Eye and skin irritant. Can cause sudden swelling of face, eyelids, lips, mouth, and throat tissues, as well as hay fever-like symptoms. Carcinogenic. Neurotoxic.” Using a conventional treatment is not only toxic for your child, it is toxic for the environment too.

Fortunately there are many ways to treat head lice without compromising the health of your child or the planet. There are natural, sustainable and much more ethical ways to fight the lice!

As with all things in life, prevention is better than cure. I don’t always listen to my own advice, however and was horrified to find Little Miss Green violently scratching her head the other month. I felt like the worst mother in the world when I started combing through her hair to discover a lice infestation. How could I have missed that?

Her hair was coated with sticky eggs which I couldn’t get out apart from doing my Mother Gorilla impression. So she sat with a pad of paper and some crayons while I meticulously scraped as many of the eggs off as I could with my nails and therapeutically plunged them into boiling water.

After combing out what I could, I made the following.

Home made recipe for Head lice treatment

10 mls of neem oil
90 mls of sesame oil
20 drops each of rosemary, lavender, eucalyptus, lemon, bergamot and geranium essential oils.

This is a very strong mix, but it was a bad infestation and better than organophosphates. For a child younger than 5, or with sensitive skin, halve the drops of essential oils.

I combed it through her hair and she went to bed that night with a couple of old towels to lie her head on. She looked divine the next morning – rather like a sweaty Albert Einstein. We left the oil on until late afternoon and gave her a bath. Two shampoos later and her hair was shiny, brimming with health and lice free!

Another remedy, that I have not tried, involves the use of quassia chips.

Home made recipe for head lice using quassia chips

Infuse 1 oz quassia chips in 1 pint boiling water for 10 minutes.
Cool, strain and massage onto the hair and scalp.
Leave for 5 minutes, comb through with a lice comb and rinse with hot water.

This mixture can also be used to wash bedding and clothes if required.

Her hair is now combed through every day and we have not had an infestation since. The odd visiting louse can be combed out before she has chance to lay her eggs. Any remaining eggs are not fertile, so don’t be alarmed if you still see eggs still in your child’s hair after this treatment.

If the child is old enough to feel disgust or feel ‘contaminated’, then give them Crab Apple Bach flower remedy to help alleviate these feelings. Although, do point out to them, that head lice are nothing to be ashamed about.

For preventative measures, tie up long hair, especially when your child is with other children or keep the hair very short. Put a drop of lavender on your child’s hairbrush each time you comb through their hair to deter lice and make sure you comb through your child’s hair with a nit comb twice a week to spot any lice before they start laying eggs.