Head lice treatment that works

They’re tiny, itchy and live on your child’s scalp. Head lice can be a nuisance because they spread very easily from child to child. Here are some practical solutions to get rid of them.

It can be quite distressing to find out that your child has head lice – the thought of creepy crawlies living in your little one’s hair leading to understandable feelings of revulsion. However, you should take some comfort in the knowledge that head lice are a common childhood complaint – it is estimated that around one in five children have them at any one time.  They pose no real health threat and can be eradicated relatively easily through a number of different methods.

What are head lice?

Head lice are parasitical insects that live on the human head and feed by sucking blood from the scalp. They are small, wingless and grey or brown in colour, making them difficult to detect in human hair.  Adult head lice attach their eggs to the bases of strands of hair using their saliva which – once dried – makes the eggs very difficult to remove.

How can I tell if my child has head lice?

Head lice are very well camouflaged in hair and can be difficult to detect. One of the first signs of your child having head lice is them complaining of having an itchy scalp. It is not uncommon for older children to scratch their irritated scalps so vigorously that they break the teeth on their combs. However, head lice can in fact live on a head without causing any itching for up to three months. Other tell-tale signs for head lice include:

• Shiny, whitish or yellowish egg casings (commonly referred to as ‘nits’ stuck to the hair. These are typically close to the scalp, often behind the ears and at the back of the neck, but may also be located further along the hair shaft
• live adult head lice visible on the scalp or crawling along hair shafts
•  a rash on the back of the neck caused by irritation from louse droppings

If you suspect head lice but can’t see any evidence on inspection, you can try using a fine-toothed comb and combing the hair over a white tissue where they can be more easily seen. However, this method isn’t reliable, as the lice can detect disturbances and move down the shaft of the hair and away from the comb. If you are concerned that your child has lice but can’t find any evidence of them, make an appointment with your doctor.

How do I get rid of head lice?

There are two methods of getting rid of head lice. You can use either chemical treatments which poison the lice or a physical bug-busting method that removes them by repeated wet-combing, which interrupts their life.

Chemical treatments

Chemical treatments use either an insecticide or other chemical solution to kill lice. The treatment involves applying the chemical to your child’s head and leaving it in place for anything 10 minutes and 12 hours, depending on the solution you are using. After the instructed amount of time has elapsed, the hair needs to be rinsed and wet-combed to remove any dead lice. This method kills live lice (providing they are not resistant to the chemical) but it won’t necessarily destroy all the eggs, which means that the procedure needs to be repeated a week later to kill any newly hatched lice. The disadvantages with chemical treatments are:

•  they are relatively expensive
•  some lice are resistant to certain treatments and won’t be killed
•  some treatments cannot be repeated more than three times as they are skin irritants
•  they won’t prevent your child becoming re-infested between treatments
• they may not be suitable for children under one year old or for children with asthma or allergies. They may also not be suitable if you are pregnant or breastfeeding

Other methods

• Natural methods: Hair treatment and lotions containing natural oils, such as tea tree oil, are sometimes recommended, but there is no scientific evidence to prove that they are effective. Although they may be natural, these treatments can be strong and may cause scalp irritation.

Can my child still mix with other children?

Your child should not mix with others once you have first detected head lice, but as soon as you start actively treating their hair, they can recommence close socialising again. This is because it is only the adult lice that can move from head to head – newly-hatched nymphs will stay on your child’s head for around six days. Once you have started treating your child’s hair, you will be eliminating the adult lice, so your child will not be posing a risk to others. As soon as you first detect head lice on your child’s head it’s important to actively treat the whole family in order to prevent the risk of the infestation spreading.