Lice [Show Notes]
Myth #1: Having lice means that you’re dirty
Truth: Lice like clean hair. When you shampoo, the soap strips your hair of its natural oil. So while you think your hair is clean, it is also very grippy. Thus, lice can hang on better to move around.
Solution: Don’t wash your hair – ha! At least allow your natural oils to stay in your hair, or use a leave in conditioner or other product that makes the hair “slippery”.
Will dry shampoo attract lice if you’re not washing your hair?
Dry shampoo works like baby powder – it absorbs the excess oil and moisture, but doesn’t dry out the roots of your hair as soapy, foamy shampoos.
Jump on the no ‘poo bandwagon!
Myth #2: Live for a long time off your hair
Truth: Lice require a warm place and a blood supply for survival. They like to hang out at the base of the head and neck and around your ears. They may fall off on couches backpacks, and car seats, but they rarely survive there long enough to transfer to someone else. It is mostly spread by head to head contact (sharing a bed, sharing a hairbrush).
Myth #3: Pets can carry lice
Truth: They are only spread human to human. Other parasites that like humans (i.e. mosquitos, fleas, ticks) can be spread by pets, but lice cannot.
What to do?
The overuse of over the counter pesticide products that kill lice is encouraging them to build up resistance. Critters, large and small, will change and mutate to ensure their survival. This is why the news talked about them as “super lice”.
Good news: They’re not resistant to vinegar. Diluted vinegar is not harsh on your hair and doesn’t strip oils, but it can dissolve the glue that hold the eggs, or nits, onto the hair shaft. This will allow the eggs to wash out or be combed out easily.
Tea tree oil is intended to suffocate them or repel them completely. No proof that it’s really effective, but it can be mixed with the vinegar to help your hair smell better.
Some of the standard chemical products can be very strong and not intended to be used on children under a certain age. Some of the chemicals work by disrupting the parasite’s DNA and neural system, humans are just way bigger than lice so it would take way more to hurt humans, but the risk is there.
Lice furniture spray – intended to be used on furniture that has long exposure (4+ hours) with the infected person.
If there are positive signs of lice, it may take more than one round of treatment and combing to get any new ones that hatch.
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Music Credits: “Radio Martini” Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/