Parents know them only too well: headlice. They spread quickly through schools, but that doesn’t mean adults don’t get them either. Miyuki McGuffie found herself unfortunately afflicted—and determined to treat them naturally. Here’s how she did it.
Blogger Miyuki McGuffie shares how she rid herself of a case of adult-onset headlice.
Image by Harvest316 via Flickr
Earlier this year I had the misfortune of catching headlice. I don’t know how or where from, but needless to say, it was pretty distressing. After the initial shock of the discovery (and a big cry) I started researching how I would get rid of the tiny monsters.
Trying to sift through all the information about headlice online was hard. I could have just gone to the supermarket and bought some nit shampoo, but it was two in the morning when I found out and I was so determined to eliminate the infestation that I wanted to be sure I was getting the best possible remedy.
What I ended up finding and doing was a predominantly household-item approach, which was nice because it made shopping for products less embarrassing.
Now that this traumatising experience is behind me, I am ready to share it with the world in the hopes that someone else may be able to benefit from the treatment program I devised (thanks internet!) and the product I found (handily available on Trade Me).
My first attack was made using mouthwash and white vinegar. You need lots of these, at least a litre of each. Budget brands will do. The alcohol in the mouthwash kills the live nits. I guess you could use another alcohol source but mouthwash is good because it’s non-toxic (enough), cheap, and smells relatively inoffensive.
Douse your hair with the mouthwash liberally and thoroughly. Put on a showercap and let the minty solution do its thing. To be sure, I let it soak for a couple of hours. One or maybe even less might have sufficed but I wasn’t going to take any chances.
After the soaking period, use a nit or flea comb to get the lice out. I did this over a sink filled with water so I could rinse the comb and see what was coming out easily.
Once you’ve completed combing, it’s vinegar time. Douse, soak and comb as with the mouthwash. Vinegar works by attacking the adhesive that attaches the eggs to the hair shaft. Be very careful not to get any in your eyes!
After this, wash your hair with tea tree oil shampoo (not necessary but it’s supposed to help). If you haven’t had enough combing for one day, throw on some thick conditioner (the conditioner should trap any remaining lice or loose eggs) and comb your hair out again.
I repeated this routine every few days until my Only Emu nit shampoo arrived in the mail. I found some excellent reviews of it on a forum thread and bought it on Trade Me (search “no nits anti headlice soap”). It’s made from all natural products and I highly recommend it. I’ve long since thrown out the instructions, but I’m sure I used it more than necessary while continuing my mouthwash and vinegar routine. Call me paranoid but I wanted to be sure.
One other thing you need to help get rid of nits is a willing friend who can check your hair for lice and eggs throughout the treatment period because it is nigh on impossible to do it yourself. I had a good friend who had been through the headlice palava (along with her two sisters) in her school days so was both unphased and happy to inspect me.
The last thing you need to do is celebrate when they’re gone! All up, I think it took a month to get rid of the infestation completely. I’m absolutely sure I over-treated myself but I was also overly distressed about it and wasn’t going to take any risks.
