BY CLAIR WHITTY
It’s that time of the year when the dreaded note about head lice comes home in the school bag, telling you that you will need to check your children’s hair.
Lice are small insects that measure about 3mm – they can be yellow, brown, or white in colour. Nits are the empty cases left behind when their eggs hatch. Head lice are very common and spread easily through head-to-head contact. They have no preference, the hair can be washed or unwashed, they don’t care. Everyone in the home should be checked if you find anyone has lice.
As not all children will have the itchy scalps that come along with the lice, the best way to check is to run a fine-tooth comb through their hair, using a piece of brown paper or a wet wipe, to enable you to see the lice and nits clearly. You don’t have to keep your child at home if they have lice, but it would be a good idea to inform the school so that they can send out that dreaded letter!
Tying your child’s hair up, spraying their hair with head lice repellent, as well as regular checking can help prevent them from spreading.
There are also natural head lice treatments that you can use to treat and kill the lice. Puressential Head Lice 2-in-1 Treatment Shampoo is a natural solution for treating head lice and comes with fine-toothed comb for checking the hair. It is easy to use, it’s natural, safe, and kind to the scalp and hair. Lice cannot develop resistance to this product and it is safe to use on children from 18 months’ old. You will need to repeat the application after 3 days, and then again after 7 days of the first application to ensure that all eggs are also cleared from the hair.
Another helpful product, the Puressential Lice Repellent Spray, acts as a preventative, helping to repel head lice. During an outbreak of lice, you would spray it every day on the hair and/or clothing. It is natural and synthetic, fragrance, and pesticide free, while being kind to the scalp and hair and it is suitable from ages 3+.
Both of these products are ideal solutions to help you deal with any head lice invasions!
Natural Health Store, Market Cross Shopping Centre
Phone: 056 7764538
Email: info@naturalhealthstore.ie
