Using Vinegar For Head Lice Removal – How to Un-Stick Nits!

It is that moment in every caring parent’s life that you dread. I’m talking about the day that the light of your life arrives home from school with a head full of lice! Home remedies for treating these annoying little parasites are getting a lot of attention at the moment. Using vinegar for head lice removal is one that many people get confused with. Keep reading to learn just what vinegar can do to help treat your lice problem.

Dealing with head lice if you haven’t had to deal with them before is a little worrying when you first discover them. But if you start treating them as soon as you realise it is lice that your child has it can be fairly easy to get rid of them.

How can you be sure it is head lice?

The most characteristic symptoms of lice are the urge to constantly scratch at your scalp. They bite you so they can feed on small amounts of your blood. Their saliva leaves a residue that causes your scalp to become irritated and culminates in you wanting to scratch continuously.

You’ll know if you see one because it will look like a sesame seed with 6 little legs crawling around. They usually live on your scalp but can also be found on the hair itself. They favour the back of your neck and behind your ears so make sure you check around those areas first.

The female louse can lay up to 4 eggs per day and these are more often known to as “nits.” The incubation period of a nit is around 7 days and they hatch into the young louse known as a nymph. They become fully mature and ready to lay eggs in around 10 days.

Nits are creamy whitish in colour, about the size of a pinhead and are usually found about 2 to 3 cm up the hair shaft. They stick to the hair quite firmly and can it be a real job to shift them. They are quite often confused with bits of flaked skin such as dandruff. If you brush through the hair and they seem to come off easily it’s most likely dandruff. If they don’t seem to be shifting – it’s a nit!

Unnecessary treatment with lice shampoos and creams is something that you want to avoid. They are chemically based insecticides and should only be used (if that is what you want to use) once you are certain that it is lice you have found. But once you are sure it is lice (by following what I described above), you can get on with the process of removing our unwanted little guests!

Most people automatically turn to over the counter tried and trusted treatments such as pesticide shampoos and various chemical based creams without realising that there are some very effective natural alternatives to look at. Home remedies seem to be “flavour of the month” at the moment and using vinegar to treat lice is one of the most popular ones.

Vinegar isn’t the best product for killing lice but it is however excellent for removing nits. The acidic properties within vinegar are very efficient at dissolving the glue that holds them firmly to the hair. You would mix 1 part vinegar (apple cider vinegar seems to be one that has shown the best results) to approximately 10 parts water. Warm it up slightly and completely drench the affected person’s hair. Cover it with a plastic cap and leave it to dissolve the glue for at least 2 hours. Rinse off and comb through from the root of the hair to the tip with a metal toothed lice comb.

Using vinegar for head lice removal is just one part of the process required to completely rid you of these insects. Remember, vinegar is really only useful for dislodging the nits, you will need to use a treatment to kill the live lice as well. Don’t forget to use a dedicated lice comb to remove any dead lice or destroyed eggs or you will soon find yourself fighting yet another infestation sooner than you think!