One of the most annoying aspects of school for any parent are the bugs and germs children pick up from other kids. Head lice are most common in children between the ages of 3 and 11, says Alive Magazine, making school the worst place to pick up a lice infestation. Fortunately, there are natural and non-toxic essential oil lice remedies that work.
What are Head Lice?
Head lice, also known as hair lice or nits (in the U.K.) are tiny insects roughly the size of a sesame seed. These little critters are mostly harmless – they don't transmit diseases – but they are less than pleasant. They live on human hair and feed by biting the scalp, causing an itchy and irritating mess.
Lice are very contagious, but only by direct contact with an infected person or their used clothing, such as hats and scarves. Once someone has them, they're difficult to dislodge because they lay eggs (or nits, in the U.S. and Canada) that are "glued" to hairs and hatch within about a week. Worse, they get into bedding, carpets, and clothing that all has to be de-loused.
Natural Hair Lice Treatment with Essential Oils
Lice don't like oils, so one of the easiest - and surprisingly effective – treatments is to bathe the hair in olive oil or coconut oil. And it's possible to up the lice-fighting power of these oils by adding essential oils to the mix.
Essential oils (sometimes called aromatherapy oils) are strong-smelling liquids that are distilled from plants. They contain all the antiviral, antifungal, and powerful healing properties the plants use to protect themselves from disease, and they can be a very potent bug deterrent, to which lice and nits are not exempt.
Caution: Only therapeutic grade essential oils are safe to use on the scalp, hair and skin. See The Real Quality of Essential Oils for detailed safety information.
Using Aromatherapy Oils to Kill Lice
There are several ways to use essential oils to fight nits, from diffusing them into the air to kill lice in the home, to mixing a louse-killing shampoo.
- Use the oils in a 50:50 blend with a base oil like olive or coconut (or more of the base oil) and massage this mixture into the hair and scalp. Leave the oil mixture on the head for at least half an hour before washing it out.
- Add several drops of oil to a regular dose of shampoo, and shampoo it into the hair like normal.
- Mix 20-30 drops of the following oils into a spray bottle of water, and apply liberally to carpets, pillows, and bedding in the home.
One or all of these approaches should be used several times, weekly or twice a week, in order to kill new nits as they hatch.
The best essential oils to use against head lice include:
- Tea tree (Melaleuca alternifolia)
- Lavender
- Thyme
- Geranium
- Ylang ylang
- Anise seed
- Cinnamon
- Peppermint
Precautions should also be taken to kill head lice in the home by washing bedding and clothes in hot water, vacuuming rugs, and sealing anything that can't be washed into plastic bags that can be dumped outside (in the winter) or in the freezer for 24 hours to kill the crawly critters.
Reference
Cooper, Harriet, "There's Nothing Nice About Head Lice," Alive Magazine, Issue 323, September 2009.
Essential Science Publishing (compiled by), Essential Oils Desk Reference, 2nd Edition. USA, Essential Science Publishing, 2001.
Victoria Anisman-Reiner - Victoria Anisman-Reiner is a freelance writer with extensive experience in holistic health care and animal training.
Join the Conversation