What Causes Pediculosis ?

Pediculosis occurs when the scalp is infested by small, wingless creatures known as head lice. Contrary to popular myth, head lice cannot jump from person to person. Instead, they are transmitted by close personal contact, or contact with the personal effects or clothing of, someone with the condition.

What Are Head Lice ?

Head lice are tiny, wingless creatures that feed on human blood, spending their whole life on the scalp. They are related to body lice, and more distantly to pubic lice. During their life cycle, female lice lay eggs – commonly called nits – which are attached to human hair using a glue-like substance.

How Does The Condition Present Itself?

The most common symptom is itching on or around the head area, as a result of bites from the lice. Bites may be evident high up on the back of the neck or behind the ears, particularly in long-hair individuals. Close inspection of the hair may reveal moving lice, or nits stuck to the hair shafts.

Treatment of Head Lice

A wide variety of commercially-available products and home-remedies may be used to treat the condition. Commercial preparations containing pyrethrins are usually very effective at killing the lice and eggs, as are a number of home remedies. One such method is mixing mayonnaise, vinegar and a little tea-tree oil and ‘shampooing’ the hair with this mixture. The mayonnaise suffocates the lice, while the vinegar and tea-trea oil kill the eggs. Removal of the lice and nits is also necessary. Smothering the hair with olive oil, hair conditioner or mayonnaise breaks the ‘glue’ holding the eggs to the hair shafts, making them much easier to remove.

How To Prevent Pediculosis

Many schools nowadays have a policy whereby either children with pediculosis are excluded from school or childcare settings until the condition is treated or, at the very least, that the condition must be promptly treated by parents. Outbreaks in families can be prevented from spreading by washing all bedding and towels belonging to the afflicted person. Cleaning the home area as a whole generally isn’t necessary, as lice tend to die quickly once removed from their food source.

Originally posted 2009-12-05 06:55:55. Republished by Old Post Promoter

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The eggs, called nits, are even smaller – almost like a dandruff flake. Lice and nits are easiest to detect at the neckline and behind the ears. Head lice are extremely contagious. Close contact or sharing personal belongings, such as hats or hairbrushes, puts people at risk. Children ages 3-11 and their families get head lice most often. Personal hygiene has nothing to do with getting head lice.

Here is the list of some home remedies which can help you from releiving from head louse:

Half cup white vinegar diluted with one cup water. Wash the hair as usual with shampoo. then thoroughly rinse with water, then rinse hair with vinegar(anti lice) solution. Have a spray bottle handy and pour some in the bottle, spray your hair daily to prevent the lice from coming back.

Kerosene is the old standby. Other than that, shaving of heads can be done.

Shampoo and then condition the hairs with a good brand name. Comb out the little buggers and kill them. This will have to be done over a couple of weeks to get rid of them. Wash hair regularly – daily is ideal at worst every second day.

Stay away from commercial chemical treatments! I have known they are bad for years, but just this past week met a parent whose daughter is suffering from permanent nerve damage as a result of using one of the commercial chemical formulas and finding out too late that it contains a potent pesticide – with guess which side effect!

The white vinegar, supposedly, helps loosen the glue that the lice use to affix the nit to the hair strand.

The essential oils (the combination is best, but if you can only go with one oil use Tea Tree) irritate the lice and repel many of the survivors.

You put mayonaise in your hair then put seram wrap over it then let it sit for 15 minutes. That should work! The doctor

told us that!!

Take a fine tooth comb – (found at drug stores) bend over the cloth and comb through the hair with the kerosene to remove the had lice and the nits which are the eggs of the lice.

Originally posted 2010-01-18 06:50:35. Republished by Old Post Promoter

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3. Head Louse

Any type of common head louse treatment, in order to be thoroughly effective, must include treating the entire house as well. Although a louse does not survive for long after falling from a host, they are still easily passed from person to person, and a missed nit or egg can re-infest the whole household. It isn’t necessary to spend a lot of money or time using commercial products to rid a house of lice.

Here are some easy tricks for ridding your home of lice and their nits:

- Lice cannot survive in a high-heat environment, so all bed linens, including blankets and mattress pads as well as the sheets, should be washed in very hot water. Water hot enough to kill lice and their eggs must be at least 130 degrees Fahrenheit or over 54.4 degrees Celsius. Clothing should also be washed in water of the same temperature and then put in the clothes dryer on the hottest setting for at least 20 minutes. If you have clothing that cannot be washed in this manner, use a dry cleaner instead.

- Any items that cannot be washed and dried or dry-cleaned, such as stuffed animals or plush toys, should be sealed in airtight bags for at least two weeks.

- All carpets and upholstered furniture should be thoroughly vacuumed. Don’t forget the car and any throw rugs you may have.

- Wash hair-care items in very hot water or soak them in medicated shampoo for at least an hour. You may also soak items such as barrettes, headbands, brushes, and combs in rubbing alcohol for an hour to kill head lice.

Another helpful but common head louse treatment tip is to simply wet the hair, which temporarily immobilizes the lice, before thoroughly combing the hair with a special, fine-toothed comb. Some swear by home remedies such as completely saturating the hair with petroleum jelly or mayonnaise, or using natural, herbal oils including lavender, tea tree, eucalyptus, and oil of rosemary.

The following common head louse treatment methods are simple and effective, yet gentle on even sensitive skin and don’t use any harsh or toxic chemicals:

- Mix a teaspoon of garlic paste with an equal amount of lime juice and apply to the scalp. Leave on for about half an hour before thoroughly shampooing.

- Grind almonds into three teaspoons of lime juice, applying to the scalp and hair for half an hour before shampooing.

- Mayonnaise or petroleum jelly may be applied to the scalp and hair in an attempt to suffocate the lice, although both are rather difficult to remove from the hair, requiring several washings.

- Mix a few teaspoons of tea tree oil with olive oil, applying to the hair and scalp and leaving in place for about an hour before rinsing out and shampooing.

Originally posted 2010-01-06 06:51:01. Republished by Old Post Promoter

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You know you have lice when you experience intense bouts of itching on the scalp and the back of the neck and soreness on touch. When you see the scalp, area in and around the nape of the neck, you will see small white eggs called nits attached steadfastly to hair shafts. Unlike dandruff, these nits can be bit stubborn; hence pulling them out with fingers can prove to be difficult.

Easy to prevent, but difficult to treat – good hygiene is the most effective prevention of head lice.
- Avoid sharing personal items like combs, brushes, towels, pillows, hats, headwear, etc.
- Avoid head to head contact with any person.
- Trim your hair to a shorter length as lice can not find suitable environment in short hair.
- Do a regular check in and around the nape of the neck, behind the ears and scalp, especially for children.
- If one member of the family is infected with lice, treat all the members of the family at the same time to prevent lice spreading from one head to another.

To get rid of lice, you should get rid of all its nits or eggs. Nits are difficult to kill by any treatment. Since they attach themselves firmly on the hair shafts, they are also bit difficult to be pulled out… Vigorous brushing of your hair 2-3 times a day using a bristle hair brush will knock off most nits. Try using flea combs instead of lice combs for better results. Try some of these home based treatments to cure lice problem

- Mix ½ cup olive oil with 2-3 tbsp of tea tree oil. Rub into scalp and leave it on for 30 minutes. Wash your hair to remove the oil. Then rinse your hair with vinegar as it loosens the holding properties of the eggs and nits on your hair. Wait for 10 mins and rinse with hot water. Repeat vinegar rinse twice. Comb your hair using lice or flea comb to remove any remaining nits.

- Mix 4-5 drops of tea tree oil with your daily shampoo and use as usual.

- Warm few tbsp of mayonnaise (depending on who is using it either a child or adult). Slather it on the scalp just like shampoo. Wear a shower cap and sit for 30 minutes. Then wash your hair with normal shampoo. Then use fine toothed comb to get the eggs and bugs out. The oils in the mayonnaise provide lubrication to the hair and scalp, eliminating the ability of the eggs to hold on to the hair shafts. The shower cap cuts off any air flow the eggs needed to remain alive.

- Saturate your hair with olive oil and wear a shower cap with clip leaving it overnight. Brush out your hair using nit/flea/lice comb. Then wash your hair as usual with your shampoo and conditioner. Next take plain white vinegar and rinse your hair with it. Use warm water to remove vinegar. This dissolves the eggs. Repeat the vinegar rinse till needed.

- Completely soak hair with olive oil and wrap it in towel for 1-2 hours. Rinse and wash as usual. Work through your hair with fine tooth comb to remove eggs and lice. Repeat in one week.

- Mix any type of edible oil (vegetable, canola or olive) with vinegar in equal proportion. Add 18-20 drops of tea tree oil. Mix all the 3 ingredients well to get a creamy paste. Apply to damp hair. Massage well onto the scalp and comb through the ends of hair. Wrap a plastic bag around your head for 3 hours or more. Lice and nits will suffocate and slide off easily. Do this at least once a week.

Do not leave the young children unattended if you’re covering their heads with plastic bags during any of the above home based treatment – as plastic bags can lead to suffocation.

The reader of this article should exercise all precautions while following instructions on the recipes from this article. Avoid using if you are allergic to something. The responsibility lies with the reader, not the site, and the writer.

Originally posted 2009-11-23 11:50:15. Republished by Old Post Promoter

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