Getting a notice from your child’s school or summer camp that lice have been detected is never fun news, yet it is also not a time to panic or take measures as ridiculous as shaving their head. You can work in many ways to prevent lice, look for an effective head lice treatment, and protect your home and your family if someone brings home lice. Planning to choose the best lice prevention or treatment plan may be confusing, but there is also help for that. Direct Care features a range of lice-prevention shampoos and lice-prevention sprays to help you find the best product for you and your family.
First, What to Know About Head Lice
Therefore, it is necessary to understand what lice are before determining the best way to get rid of head lice.
Lice vs super lice
These tiny bugs feed on the hair of the host, typically near the scalp. Lice cannot jump or fly, but they do transfer easily from person to person by head-to-head contact as well as by shared items, such as clothing, hats, towels, or hairbrushes. They have, over time, become genetically altered and have become resistant to the active ingredients in most over-the-counter lice treatments, thus being called “superlice.”.
Superlice are indistinguishable from “regular” lice. They can only be confirmed by their resistance to conventional lice treatments, meaning you have followed all instructions to treat them and they still live anyway. Since superlice are the dominant species of lice., it is suggested that you purchase lice products which kill both lice and superlice.
The life cycle of lice
Because the rate of lice multiplication is pretty fast, it is something you want to be very careful and on your guard with whenever there is a case of lice in a child or there is an infestation in your community. Lice can survive on your scalp for about 30 days. Female adult lice can lay up to 4 to 8 eggs a day, so you can see how fast that adds up if they live for a month. The eggs take about 8 to 9 days to hatch, and when they do, they reach maturity-that is, become adults capable of breeding in their very first 9 to 12 days of life, thus a lice population can quickly overwhelm someone’s head.
This is why one must perform frequent head checks and treat lice upon discovering them.
Understanding the different types of lice treatment products available
If you are choosing a lice treatment, either to prevent lice or to eradicate lice, then you will want to know the differences between various products.
Prevention Products
Among those are shampoos, conditioners, all-in-one shampoos & conditioners and lice prevention sprays-all promising to help fight and repel lice. Some use essential oils and other ingredients for the hair and scalp, so again the choice is up to your personal preference.
Our head lice treatment products repel and protect against superlice using a combination of essential oils. The products can be applied to other members of your family if a family member in your household is found to have contracted lice, so that the infestation is limited to one person.
Lice treatment products
If any family member has lice, there are several treatments available at Direct Care, including our over-the-counter products. All of them offer different benefits, so conduct research or consult your doctors/pharmacists for any query.
Treatment available over-the-counter, comes in shampoos, creme rinses, lotions, and sprays. Here are the most common lice-fighting ingredients:
Permethrin (treatment of regular lice and nits)
A synthetic insecticide, similar to natural extracts from the chrysanthemum flower, kills lice and other unwanted bugs.
Pesticide-Free Treatment of regular and superlice
The killing agent does not kill, but instead serves to suffocate lice and superlice (the dominant lice species) that cannot be poisoned because they have become resistant to certain pesticides found in some treatments. Here are common pesticide-free solutions available in lice treatment products:
Dimethicone
Coat lice and superlice causes interfere with their ability to manage water, suffocate, and kill them.
Mineral oil
It is an effective non-chemical method. It works by coating the lice and superlice. This blocks the ability of the lice to breathe, thus causing suffocation and death.
The Final Word
The best head lice treatment is the one which works best for you and your child. During prime lice seasons such as back to school, summer camp, or sports camps. It is rather wise to be prepared and maintain some lice prevention and lice treatment products, so you can start treating right away when you are exposed or find evidence of lice.
