A Head louse is perhaps the most common problem in young children. Contrary to what many believe, head lice does not indicate the hygiene practices followed by the child at home or by his or her parents. A bane for parents, head lice are tiny parasite insects that cling to the strands of hair and feed on the very little amount of blood they get from biting the scalp of the person. They are more common among young children particularly in girls. Just as common as they are, head lice prevention is also a very simple practice.

Head lice and lice nits though might not be dangerous nor cause any serious disease but they can definitely be very annoying and irritating. The bites will make the child’s scalp itchy. If no immediate action is taken, it might inflammation of the scalp too which can lead to infections.

They spread through direct contact. They are very contagious and spread among school going children who tend to get close while playing together. The cannot fly or jump, they transfer to another person by walking over the hair strands that come in their contact. There are several home remedies that you can follow to get rid of the them. But head lice prevention is essential to avoid the return back. Here are some natural head lice treatment methods that can help you prevent them from creating trouble in your hair.

• Mixing essential oils like the tea tree oil in your shampoo will create a strong smell that will repel them. You may either mix the oil in the shampoo or buy a shampoo that already contains tea tree extracts.

• Another good idea is to mix 10 drops of tea tree oil in a spray bottle with water. You can then spray this water over the hair of your child before school or playtime. This is a very good head lice prevention method.

• You can even mix tea tree oil with a leave-on conditioner or hair gel to get the same outcome.

These parasites can only live on humans. Once they are removed from the human scalp, there is a very little time that they can survive. It is because of lack of hydration and food. They multiply very quickly. After the female louse mates, it lays eggs which hatch in about 7 days leaving an empty shiny eggshell (nit) which stays on the hair. Head lice prevention includes preventing louse and nits too.

It is very difficult to find louse in hair as they move very quickly and hide among the strands of hair. However, you can get a nit comb or a lice comb that is specially designed to detect them. This fine-toothed comb of spacing less than 0.3 mm will pass through each strand making detection and removing them easier. If home remedies don’t work, you can opt for some medical lotions and medical gels that can be applied over the hair and the scalp for effective head lice prevention.