What Are Effective Ways to Get Rid of Lice?

What are effective ways to get rid of lice? Lice are very small insects that live in the hair and on the scalp. They feed exclusively on human blood, and they are bound to die quickly if they fall off the body. They are highly contagious from person to person. What are effective ways to get rid of lice? They are most common in children, and infestations can begin with even a small number of eggs. What are effective ways to get rid of lice? How can you effectively and efficiently get rid of lice and their eggs? Here are some easy tips you can follow:

1. Confirm that it is lice.

What are effective ways to get rid of lice? Sometimes, the itchiness in your scalp may be caused by other reasons such as dandruff or dry skin. So before beginning your de-lousing, make sure first that lice or their eggs are indeed present. Otherwise, the effort would be wasted.

Inspect the scalp under the light to make sure of the infestation. Lice appear as grayish brown insects the roughly the size of sesame seeds and should be visible on the scalp. Their eggs attach to the root of the hair, around an inch from the scalp. To more easily spot the eggs, wet the hair. They appear like shiny tiny dots.

2. Consult with a doctor for more information about the process.

Lice treatments typically use mild pesticides since, well, lice are essentially parasites. Though the mild pesticides are generally safe for use, they are still a bit toxic, so children in particular would have to be carefully supervised during the de-lousing process.

If you have a history of skin allergies or other such reactions to topical products and special shampoos, consulting with a doctor is highly recommended before using lice treatments.

Adult female lice are a bit bigger than the males and they lay about 6 eggs a day. At this rate, a small lice infestation could so easily and quickly transform into a much larger one. So it is really crucial to get rid of both the adult lice and their eggs. Special shampoos call ovicides kill both of them to eliminate the infestation.

3. Use a de-lousing shampoo.

There are a variety of de-lousing shampoo available over the counter. Some of them may require being used and massaged on the scalp for several minutes for better results. Read the instructions carefully before proceeding.

The infected person should wear clean clothes after shampooing the hair. The clothes should be machine washed with hot water and then dried in a hot dryer to kill the lice that might have fallen on them.

4. Keep the treatment regular.

What are effective ways to get rid of lice? Lice treatments won’t work if you do them just once. You would have to do them over the course of several days, repeating the process after the first application. You would also need to check the scalp every 8 to 12 hours to see if the lice are dead or dying as they should be.

If you see the lice still moving about, contact your doctor. You may be in need of a different treatment if the lice are resistant to your current one.

5. Comb out all nits.

What are effective ways to get rid of lice? If the treatment does not include killing all the lice eggs, you can use a fine-toothed nit comb to clear off the nits yourself. This may or may not be included in the treatment package. Comb from the crown of the head, working down to the neck and one side of the head, then repeat on the other side.

Using the nit comb is still recommended even if the treatment does promise to kill the eggs. It will help speed up the process and help reduce the risk of reinfestation too. For more effective egg removal, use the nit comb on the scalp daily for at least 7 days.

6. Clean the sources of contagion.

To lessen and remove the risks of reinfestation, you have to wash items like hats and pillow cases that have come into contact with the head. Though the lice die quickly after falling off a human head, they could still linger in objects that have head recent contact with the person, thus increasing likelihood of the lice spreading.

What are effective ways to get rid of lice? Sure, washing and rewashing things may seem frustrating and time-consuming, but it is necessary to prevent another infestation. It is better to exert the effort now than go through the same thing again in the future.