Head lice are a common problem, no matter how careful you are about personal cleanliness. These unwanted stowaways are typically picked up at school.

Fortunately, in recent years, a number of natural head lice products have become available.

Having lice is a thoroughly miserable experience, as these pests can be hard to get rid of. Because the infestation can be so stubborn, some parents have even resorted to hiring professional “nit pickers” to comb through their child’s hair, looking for unhatched eggs. These professionals are expensive, especially since they often need to treat the entire family.

The standard advice is to buy a chemical treatment kit at the drugstore and apply it to your child’s head. However, there are several drawbacks to this approach.

One downside is that the active ingredients in some of these products, as well as additional chemicals added as “synergists,” to make them more potent. For instance, piperonyl butoxide is found in several formulations. It’s added to supercharge the pyrethrins that work as insecticides. However, piperonyl butoxide has now been shown to cause cancer in laboratory animals.

How to Get Rid of Head Lice Naturally

Aside from the obvious problem of putting these compounds on your child’s head, questions remain about their effectiveness. It appears, according to some reports, that lice are becoming resistant to these products. So you may be faced with needed to start from square one, with a new crop of pesticide-resistant bugs.

This is why many parents prefer non-toxic alternatives, such as the Clearlice treatment shown below.

Natural Head Lice Treatment for Kids

Clearlice contains natural herbal ingredients, essential oils, enzymes, a homeopathic cell salt and neem oil, a botanical that’s been safely used as an insecticide in India for centuries. One of the ingredients is peppermint oil. Although it smells very pleasant to humans, it is noxious for insects.

It’s hard to believe that peppermint oil can have such a powerful effect on bugs. But it’s one of the key ingredients in a lot of the natural insecticides that have hit the market in recent years.

During the spring and summer, peppermint oil is my prime defense against ants and other insects. I wipe down my kitchen counters with a drop or two of peppermint oil every few days, and the pests retreat.

But, anyway, Clearlice contains a number of natural insecticides that appear to be designed to work in synergy. The kit seen here contains everything you need to treat an entire family, as well as the house. There will be no worries about exposing your loved ones to potentially dangerous chemicals, because you won’t find any in this product.

Natural Head Lice Treatment Kit

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Clearlice treatment is designed to kill the lice and nits in one day. But plan to invest some time doing so, which you would need to also do with a chemical-based product.

If you don’t mind mixing, and would prefer a DIY approach, keep reading and I’ll explain how to make your own natural head lice formula with essential oils.

Head Lice Treatment With Essential Oils

Unfortunately, I’m now going to be trying this. We no longer have small children in the house. But my husband recently bought our nephew a crazy hat for Christmas. He gave it to my nephew, and also put it on his own head for pictures.

Now, a few days after Christmas, we just got some bad news. My sister-in-law (the mother of our nephew) just called to tell him her kids have lice. My husband knows what this means. He also told me his head has started to itch.

Here is the essential oil recipe I used. Fortunately, I already own all of the ingredients. Please understand that I’m not a doctor, so I can’t give medical advice. (So consult your own pediatrician before using aromatics.)

All I’m doing is sharing information on what I’m using to treat my husband’s possible case of head lice. I also can’t make any claims that this will work. However, others have reported good success with essential oils. So I decided to try them.

• 2 tbs of carrier oil. I’m using coconut oil (available here)
• 2 drops of lavender oil (available here)
• 2 drops of geranium oil (available here)
• 2 drops of tea tree oil (available here)

Using instructions in found online, we applied this to my husband’s head and let it stay for 30 minutes. Then he shampooed it off. We also washed all his bedding at the same time.

Disclaimer

These statements have not been approved by the FDA. These products are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease. Women who are pregnant or nursing should not use essential oils unless directed to do so by a healthcare professional. Essential oils are generally not recommended for children under the age of two.