Nits invade the peace of every young family at some point. They are tiny blood-sucking parasites and they don’t discriminate between dirty or clean hair.
Nits don’t have wings or knees so they cannot fly or jump – only crawl. They breed at an amazingly fast rate. Once the eggs are laid, they hatch within a week, then grow to maturity in another two weeks. They then start laying more eggs, and the cycle begins again.
TREATMENT OPTIONS:
CONDITIONER METHOD
Apply a large amount of conditioner to wet hair, rubbing it into the scalp and along the length of the hair. Leave the conditioner on for 15 minutes, then comb the hair thoroughly with a double or triple row lice comb. Wipe the comb clean on a tissue frequently, checking the tissue for eggs or lice. This method must be repeated every day for two weeks, until you reach a stage of seeing no lice on the entire scalp.
ESSENTIAL OIL TREATMENTS
These treatments (such as Ego Moov and Neutralice) are a blend of many plant-based chemicals found in the essential oils that kill the live lice. Apply to the hair for 15 minutes and then wash out. This method needs to be repeated every week for three weeks, as it does not kill the eggs. This may explain why many people say the treatment doesn’t work, as the eggs are not affected and hatch after the treatment. This results in the nits coming back of course, giving the false impression that the treatment hasn’t worked.
CHEMICAL BASED TREATMENTS
Maldison and permethrin are the common anti-lice treatments, but resistance to these chemicals is common (up to 50% in some studies), so it may be worth trying the other two options first.
As always, let’s talk in the pharmacy. I’d love to know if you managed to read this without scratching your head…
Pharmacy & Nutrition by Diana Boot
