Head lice lay six to eight eggs a day, gluing them to hair strands. A week later the eggs hatch leaving empty egg cases commonly called nits. These are white and look dandruff. Since the eggs are fixed to the hairs at their roots, the distance of the nits from the scalp shows how long the eggs have been present.
Head lice can’t jump or fly, nor do they live in bed, furniture or clothes. The only way they can be passed on is by close head-to-head contact. Most of us think that only class rooms are affected but office workers aren’t immune.
Head lice feed on blood using their mouth parts to pierce the scalp. They even inject a local anesthetic to prevent any pain and a thinning chemical to stop blood clotting making it easier for them to feed. Scratching can lead to a secondary bacterial infection, in severe cases; the sticky blood serum mats the hair and forms crusts.
The conventional treatment is often an insecticide lotion which is applied before bed and washed off in the morning. Each family member must be treated at the same time. There are shampoos but they are less effective. To prevent the lice from becoming resistant to the drug, the shampoo and lotion should be used in rotation.
You could kill the lice by soaking hair overnight in oil of lavender. All you had to do put a few drops of the oil in a washbasin of warm water, immerse your hair for several minutes, pat it dry, leave overnight and shampoo it off in the morning. Then repeat the next night to be sure all the lice are dead. The oil is safe, pleasant smelling, and lice are not yet resistant to it. Fellow this treatment by rubbing an infusion or rosemary into his scalp daily, it’s an excellent hair tonic. Aloe Vera gel is a suitable alternative.
When there is crusting many doctors will prescribe antibiotics. Prefer an infusion of comfrey rubbed in and left it the crusting is mild or comfrey ointment when severe. Some naturopaths also recommend applying plain live yoghurt prior to the comfrey.
After treatment, remove the dead lice, eggs and nits with a fine-toothed metal comb, as the teeth on plastic combs are too widely spaced to be effective. People with poor body defense mechanisms seem more prone to head lice and their complication, a fresh whole food diet, regular exercise and sufficient rest and relaxation will ensure the immune system is functioning normally and best defense against parasites and infection.