Lice: My journey to freedom

[Dria El]

I have this daughter. Boy, is she a daughter! Since she's started school, she's come home with lice NUMEROUS times. I found that Rid and Nix doesn't work and that it damages the hair and scalp. Besides, chemicals... ick! Throughout my searchings, trials and errors I found a remedy AND preventative. It's herbal (thank the God/dess!) and has been working for me for over a year. Must work if I stick with it! :) Let me give you a brief overview of what I found. I tried all sorts of stuff... mayonnaise, vinegar, several kinds of oils (most prominently, olive oil), etc., etc., etc. As I was searching for something NON-chemical to use I discovered that it was widely accepted that Melaleuca (sp?) worked. Checking it out, I found that you had to be a member or 'in' with one and that for a small bottle (probably 8 oz. roughly) it was going to set you back $15 US. Yikes! I'm a single mother of 3 on an EXTREMELY tight budget. No way I could afford that on a regular basis, even if I could afford to become a member/distributor! Besides, there just HAD to be a way to prevent this from happening, even if it was just to lessen it. A friend of mine (who was having the same problem) and I got ahold of a bottle of it and you'll never guess what THE ingredient is that those little buggers don't like! Tea tree oil! Yep, that's right! Tea tree oil! So... we did some searching and lots of reading and came up with a treatment...

Tea Tree Oil Lice Treatment
Rub into the scalp and conjoining 2 inches of hair with the tea tree oil. [I use it full strength but I don't see why equal mixtures of tea tree oil and a carrier wouldn't work] Wrap the head in a towel for half an hour. Then pick through as usual.

The treatment worked great! And still does. Now that got me thinking... There's GOT to be a way to help prevent this. I mean, it's still a huge pain in the @$$ to have to go through this. And I didn't see my daughter finding a new best friend in the near future (that's where she kept getting it). So... it occured to me that if the Melaleuca company could put it in a shampoo... and if those little nasties hated it so... Why couldn't I do something like that to give them an added incentive to find someone else next time? So, I tried it. And by the God/dess it worked! I got several notices from her school saying there was lice going around. But she didn't get it!!!

Tea Tree Oil Preventative Treatment
Add 1/4 oz. Tea Tree Oil to one regular size bottle of shampoo (approximately 16 oz.) Shake well before each use. Shampoo as usual.

Now, keep in mind, she's gotten it since I started using it. I believe that it's because she came from her father's house (ie. 3 days of using regular shampoo, washing out all my hard work!!!) on the day she got infected. You be the judge.

[Emerald Sky]

Thanks Dria El! My oldest isn't in school yet, but from what I hear, lice is a big problem in schools. I'll have to write this one down for the future! :D

[Earth Walker]

Kerosene works very well to get rid of lice and nits...and
crotch crickets too!
Just work it very well into the hair and scalp...leave sit for
about 4 hours, then thoroughly shampoo and condition the
hair.
My grandmother used this on me a time or two.
Avoid using mustard plasters for colds, etc. :eek: :eek: :eek:


To believe what you see is to be deceived.
**********************************
Reject all illusions of social harmony.

[Dria El]

Originally posted by Emerald Sky
Thanks Dria El! My oldest isn't in school yet, but from what I hear, lice is a big problem in schools. I'll have to write this one down for the future! :D

Very welcome! You know, my oldest son has never gotten it from school. And I isolate my daughter when she gets it so the rest of us don't. So, maybe you'll be lucky! :)

[Dria El]

Originally posted by Mystique
Kerosene works very well to get rid of lice and nits...and
crotch crickets too!
Just work it very well into the hair and scalp...leave sit for
about 4 hours, then thoroughly shampoo and condition the
hair.
My grandmother used this on me a time or two.
Avoid using mustard plasters for colds, etc. :eek: :eek: :eek:


To believe what you see is to be deceived.
**********************************
Reject all illusions of social harmony.

Does the kerosene dry out the scalp? My daughter has a real bad problem with dry patches on her scalp (which the tea tree is also good for). It was so bad for awhile that she's got almost bald patches on the top of her head.

Mustard plasters?

[Earth Walker]

It never dried out my scalp. I suppose it would be best to
try a small area first, and if everything is okay, just do it to it.

Mustard plaster. It was placed on the chest when we were
beset with a cold/flu/pneumonia.
I would rather be sick. Oy Vay!


To believe what you see is to be deceived.
**********************************
Reject all illusions of social harmony.

[Dria El]

Originally posted by Mystique
It never dried out my scalp. I suppose it would be best to
try a small area first, and if everything is okay, just do it to it.

Mustard plaster. It was placed on the chest when we were
beset with a cold/flu/pneumonia.
I would rather be sick. Oy Vay!


To believe what you see is to be deceived.
**********************************
Reject all illusions of social harmony.

Cool, thanks!

[idusty88]

Originally posted by Mystique
Kerosene works very well to get rid of lice and nits...and crotch crickets too!
Just work it very well into the hair and scalp...leave sit for about 4 hours, then thoroughly shampoo and condition the hair.

I imagine you would need to do this in a well ventilated area and would you need to cover the saturated hair with a heavy shower cap or something to keep the smell in. N'est pas?

[Lady Tana]

Originally posted by Dria El


Tea Tree Oil Preventative Treatment
Add 1/4 oz. Tea Tree Oil to one regular size bottle of shampoo (approximately 16 oz.) Shake well before each use. Shampoo as usual.


Itsy-bitsy warning for the prevent... DONT get it in your/your child's eyes. You thought regular shampoo burned forever...... this stuff lasts longer....
(but its worth the risk cuz we use it too.. I brought it home from work to my kids YUCK!!! and we couldnt get rid of it with my daughter, I thought we were gonna have to shave off ALL that long hair)

[Faery-Wings]

I love that stuff! :) Another good use for tea tree oil is for cradle cap. My son had icky cradle cap and I tried the olive oil and it just made more of a mess. What i did was buy a little 1 oz bottle of Johnson's baby shampoo and added 3-4 drops of the oil into it. Shook it and rolled it to distribute the oil through out the bottle. Each time I washed his hair, I used it and within a few days, it was gone! A friend of mine had a daughter who scalp was even worse and I think it took a week to improve. Tea tree oil is also really good for excema.

Dria, I use a lot of the Melaleuca stuff- we got sucked in to sign up and we are so glad we did. Their cleaners are really wonderful and so is just about everything else we have tried. If you can, try out some of the stuff through your friend. She probably wouldn't mind if you bought stuff from her required order, that way she wouldn't have to put out as much money each month. That is the part that bites. Some months it is really hard to come up with the money, even though I would have spent it on vitamins ar cleaners anyways.
Anyway, I am babbling again!

I am also an aromatherapist and I have tons of books and info so if anyone ever wants some help, please ask!

Chris

:sunny:

[Sarata]

Hi Folks
Thanks for the info on getting rid of headlice. There's a local co-op where we can get tea tree oil quite inexpensively.
MAJOR word of caution about kerosine. This was a very sad incident which happened in Sonoma County, Calfornia a few years ago. A couple tried this treatment on their little girl. They put her to bed with the kerosine in her hair, hair covered by a shower cap. When they tried to awaken her the next morning they found her dead. Adverse reaction to prolonged exposure to a noxious solvent.It's a hazardous treatment to be used with extreme caution.

[Yvonne Belisle]

Thank-you for the warning. Welcome to Mystic Wicks I hope we see a lot more of you.

[Yvonne Belisle]

bump

[materra]

Tea tree oil soap is very good for the skin as well. It helps with acne and other skin problems. I would use tea tree oil over Kerosene. A mustard plaster is the dry mustard mixed with liquids and heated along with other supporting herbs etc in a large flannel packet. It is put on the chest and or back. There are variations of it in many countries.