How to Get Rid of Lice

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Lice are a problem that can plague people from all walks of life - rich and poor, young and old. Lice don't discriminate, and they can be an awful problem! Here's how to get rid of the little buggers.

Steps

1. Be prepared to fight a long battle. Adult lice and immature lice are pretty easy to get rid of, but their eggs are much harder to get rid of, and it is with these that the most problems crop up. People can think that they are rid of lice, but then get another case of lice from just a couple of eggs. Constant vigilance will be necessary to win this battle.
   
2. Get a good nit comb and thick conditioner and find a room with lots of light. Good nit combs are metal and typically cost ~$12 or more (e.g. LiceMeister or Nit Free Terminator comb). Without a good nit comb you will not be able to remove the eggs. Sit the subject down on a firm chair and cover the neck and upper body with a towel to prevent too much mess.
   
3. Look for the living adult lice, which have pinchers in front, and scuttle around. The small, white "crawly" things are the little immature lice and the white/brown microscopic things attached to the hair shaft are the eggs.
   
4. Disperse thick conditioner thoroughly through the hair of the affected person. Doing so will make the hair silky and much easier to comb through with fine tooth combs,and will also loosen the eggs so that they slide right off the strands.
   
5. Separate and clip the hair up into four sections and start combing, stopping to wipe the lice and eggs on a towel every few strokes. Continue until all the sections are done.
   
6. Repeat, wash the combs, and start again. You should comb through the hair until not a single egg or nit shows up! This will probably take an hour or so.
   
7. Pour a cup of white vinegar into a pitcher of water. Vinegar is also supposed to help loosen the eggs. Wash the hair out with the vinegar rinse and then with water.
   
8. Clean all of the infected person's contaminated belongings: clothes, towels, and bedding will need to be washed in hot water, and their mattress and room vacuumed thoroughly. Use the hottest setting on the dryer and dry for the longest time you can without harming the fabric.
   
9. Wait a day, and then repeat the process, sitting down, putting in the conditioner and combing through the hair. You could be be surprised after the last comb-through that the little parasites are back; although if they are, they should be back in greatly decreased numbers.
   
10. Again, comb through the hair until not one of the lice shows up. Repeat again. And again. And yet again. Usually two weeks will pass until all the lice are gone.
    

Tips

• Instead of starting with conditioner, you can douse the hair in olive oil or mayonnaise, which dissolves the exoskeletons of the lice and their nits. Wrap the hair in a plastic bag and let set for 4-6 hours. You can also try a 50-50 solution of mineral oil and vinegar.
  
• You may want to wash the hair with dish soap instead of regular shampoo because it will more easily remove the oil and vinegar.
  
• Remember: vigilance, constant vigilance. You can defeat this problem; you just have to stick to the combing! It takes a couple of weeks, but it is well worth it.
  
• If an item cannot be washed in hot water or dried in a hot dryer - don't worry - just wash and dry the item and quarantine it in a sealed plastic bag (squeeze out as much air as you can before sealing) for at least two weeks, and the lice will die from lack of air.
  
• Brushes and hair ties should be boiled or thrown out. People who live with the affected person should be inspected as well.
  
• An additional tactic can be to blow-dry the hair with very hot air whenever it feels itchy.
  
• If all else fails, and the lice don't go away after three weeks or more, you can always dye your hair - or, rather, bleach it. Doing so will completely fry your locks, but the ammonia will possibly kill off the lice.
  
• To prevent future infections, consider quarantining anything suspect - like a hat from the thrift store - in a sealed plastic bag for at least two weeks before letting it into your home. Placing things in a plastic bag in a freezer is also said to work. Avoid trying on hats at yard sales or thrift stores, or hanging your coat or hat on a hook in a public place that may be contaminated.
  
• Lice have a 7-10 day reproductive cycle, so it's a good idea to redo the combing/moisturizer exercise every six days or so until they've absolutely permanently disappeared.
  
• In the summer, another technique is to go outside, apply plenty of conditioner, and use the strongest stream you can get from a garden hose to wash lice and nits out of your hair. Follow up with a nit comb for the stragglers.
  
• Items that can't go through a dryer can be placed in black plastic bags and left in the sun for a day or so. Even if it's not that hot outside, the interior of the bag will heat up and kill the lice.
  
• Because lice can travel from one item of clothing to another, it can be helpful to quarantine clothes that have been worn, however briefly, from those that are clean.
  
• If you are male (or a progressive female), consider shaving your head bald with disposable clippers and razor blades. Keep your head clean and shaved for at least two weeks.
  
• Use Mayonnaise at roots and saturate throughout hair. Place a bag or shower cap over head and keep mayonnaise in for 2-6 hours. DO NOT KEEP IN OVERNIGHT. Mayonnaise turns poisonous if not kept in the fridge and you may accidently ingest it as you sleep. Rinse head and shampoo in the morning. Comb hair with special Nit comb and if need be repeat the following night. The Mayonnaise smothers them (and makes the hair shiny too).
  
• Covering the hair in conditioner and leaving it to dry leaves a very uncomfortable environment for lice and nits. It smothers their movement and can help to prevent being infested with headlice, as they prefer 'clean' hair where they can get a better grip. This also helps with combing and can be left in throughout the day and night, with no damage to the hair.
  

Warnings

• Do not leave anything in your hair longer than instructed. This will cause permanent scalp damage, far worse than a little lice poo can do.
  
• Do not keep mayonnaise in your hair overnight.
  

Related wikiHows

• How to Get Rid of Lice and Their Nits Naturally
  
• How to Clean Hairbrushes and Combs
  
• How to Get Gum out of Your Hair
  
• How to Remove Hair Build up Naturally
  
• How to Shave Your Head
  
• How to Untangle Matted Hair
  

Sources and Citations

• Treating Head Lice Infestation Fact Sheet - Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (US government)
  
• How to Get Rid of Lice @ GetRidofThings.com
  

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