How to get rid of lice

Lice are in season almost the whole year. To remove them from the head, those affected must know exactly how to handle this. Customers can choose between chemically or physically effective remedies.

Lice only live about three weeks, but during that time, the female lice make sure that they leave an ample number of offsprings behind: each female attaches approximately 300 eggs to the hair shafts near the scalp.

After just under ten days the nymphs (compare: larvae) hatch from the eggs. This starts off another reproduction cycle. The eggs’ shells sticking to the hair are called nits. Even though they don’t pose any health hazard, they should be removed for cosmetic reasons.

Questions

• Have you already informed the school and friends of your child about the infection?
• Is this the first time that your child has been infected by lice?
• If the answer is no, which remedy did you cope well with?
• Do you already have a nit comb?
• Do you or does your child have badly scratched patches on your head?
• Is this the first attempt to treat an acute pediculosis (infection with head lice?)

Information

• It is not necessary that you wash or disinfect everything in your home. Lice that are not on the head are too weak to infect a new host.
• Examine all members of your family for lice, which is best done with a nit comb.
• To avoid any pain, it is advisable to use a conditioner first.
• Using the nit comb, thoroughly comb the hair from the roots to the hair-ends, wiping the comb repeatedly on a white cloth. There you should be able to see the lice.
• Make sure that each member of your family has her/his own comb and brush.
• The combs and brushes should be washed with warm water.
• Family members not infested need not be treated.

Additional information

• The hair must not be too wet when applying the anti-lice agent, otherwise the active substance may become too diluted. Some preparations are applied to dry hair.
• Hair and scalp must be well soaked with the respective remedy.
• Make sure that the areas behind the ears as well as the neck are sufficiently covered with the remedy.
• For short hair you will need 25 to 50 ml (milliliters), medium-long hair requires 50 to 75 ml and long hair 75 to 100 ml.
• Treat the hair strand by strand, always from the top down.
• Observe the reaction time.
• When the treatment is finished, comb out the hair with the nit comb and subsequently wash the hair using a normal shampoo.
• You must not forget to repeat the procedure after ten days.
• To be on the safe side you could comb the hair weekly for another three weeks using the nit comb.