What are the symptoms of head lice?
Some of the most common symptoms of head lice is a tickling feeling on the scalp, a moving sensation in the hair, itching, sores, irritability and trouble sleeping. Not much fun for your little one!
How do you check for head lice?
To start, check your child’s scalp by parting their hair in various places with a lice comb. Make sure to check the scalp behind the ears and at the neck! Keep an eye out for any movement in the hair or any rashes from scratching. It’s unlikely that you will see the lice themselves as they move quickly and are very small but you might see the lice eggs (nits). They are tiny white/yellowish eggs that attach to the hair and feel like grains of sand. They are usually attached within a quarter inch of the hair if they haven’t hatched. Be careful not to confuse dandruff with nits. Dandruff comes out easily, whereas nits stick to the hair.
Can you help protect your child from lice?
While we can't actually prevent lice, we can help protect ourselves from them and for this I recommend using the Prevent Shampoo it is designed to create an unattractive environment for lice while still cleaning the hair and leaving it tangle free! It is a gentle formulation suitable for everyday use on children 3 years and over. It is also a great all round organic shampoo to tame curly, coarse and easily tangled hair!
The next step is to use the Daily Leave in Tonic to freshly washed hair before combing. This leave-in conditioner comes in a spray form that smells lovely to us but not to those nasty nits! When sprayed onto dry hair it also reduces the number of fly away hairs which may make it harder for nits to cling on. This is also a great detangler and styling product for braids and pony tails.
How can you treat head lice?
Whenever I get any questions about treating head lice, I always point people straight to the Eco Kid Lice Bomb because it’s the world’s first Certified Organic lice treatment! Certified Organic by the USDA, NOP and ACO, this is a treatment of head lice and their eggs. This lice bomb uses natural ingredients like neem seed oil, coconut oil and tea tree oil instead of harsh chemicals.