Head Lice Treatment Options
There are so many treatments to choose from, it really does come down to personal choice but before you read through the following information, there is one really important step you need to follow irrespective of what treatment you buy - you must apply a second treatment 7 days after the first application. The reason for this is that in the first application you will have killed or removed lice but you will not have attacked the lice in eggs that are still to hatch. A second application deals with this problem.
Lice Treatments basically fall into 2 types- licensed products and what are called medical devices. Licensed treatments usually contain insecticides like malathion or permethrin - these work by causing respiratory paralysis. You can check to see if the product is licensed by looking for a PL number on teh packaging. Licensed products have been thoroughly tested using strict clinical trials however, there is evidence of lice becoming resistant to some of these treatments and there are also a number of people who are concerned about putting chemicals on their children's heads- the fact remains however, that generally, these are the most exhaustively researched and tested treatments.
Medical Devices (in Europe, you will be able to identify these as they will have a CE mark on the packaging) often use mechanical rather than chemical methods to kill the lice. The amount of testing required to launch these products on the market is much less than licensed treatments, however some of the larger brands have carried out quite extensive testing. Treatments that contain dimethicone, a silicon type substance, coat the lice preventing them releasing water and effectively drown them. Treatments containing Cyclomethicone dissolve the waxy exoskeleton of the lice killing them through dehydration.
There are other lotions available and these are often very reliant on the comb they are sold with to remove lice. The lotion acts as a combing aid, getting the hair thoroughly wet, tangle free and smooth making combing easy. tTo use products like this, you need a good quality comb. Check comb quality by looking for consistent gaps between the teeth. If the gaps vary, lice can escape, and if the gaps are too narrow, they will
snag the hair which is uncomfortable for the child.
There are also a number of natural treatments, aimed particularly at parents concerned about applying chemicals on their child's head. Scientist in Western Australia have shown that adding a few drops of tea tree oil to your regular conditioner is as effective as some of the licensed treatments. Most of these 'natural' treatments work by thoroughly wetting the lice which causes them to slow down or stop and making the hair slippy so the lice have difficulty gripping, making them easier to comb out.
There are so many studies making so many claims, it's really difficult to say there is one best treatment, after all, if there was, we wouldn't have a head lice problem. All we would say is carefully read the label to identify the active ingredient as described above, then make your choice. Whichever treatment you use, you may well want to thoroughly cleanse and condition the hair after treatment. We offer natural, handmade shampoo and conditioner if you want to pursue this option.
Please contact us if you want to ask any questions or share your lice detection and treatment experience on our blog.
