Children and Headlice

Hi Jen, I'm sure many parents have had to conquer headlice at some time or another. I have 4 children, 3 girls and 1 boy. I have found that once one child (usually the youngest) comes home with it, they spread like wildfire due to our co-sleeping household. Sometimes before I even know 1 has it, 2-3 have it. It is the hardest, most time consuming thing to get rid of them from my large, working, schooling household.

So, my question is obvious. Is there an oil or a blend of oils that you KNOW to have worked before. I have tried everything over the years and thought we were done with the problem, since we have not had to deal with it for quite a while. But no, we have another case and I just don't find anything to be working.

I need something that is first of all SAFE for my kiddies, and effective!! This is a hard thing to find! Also the little mites become resistant and we have to move on to another treatment. I learned this the hard way living in a tropical environment where they breed them bigger and hardier than ever! One application can make a treatment redundant!

Can you help Jen?

Thanks
Lorna :-)

ANSWER:

Hi Lorna
Thanks for your question. I believe there are two parts to this answer.

Firstly, as you know a lot of the over-the-counter head lice treatments contain a lot of chemcials, and even the ones claiming to be "natural" are made with standard essential oils, and isolated essental oil components not therapeutic grade essential oils, which as you suggest seem only to work for one treatment.

Some standard essential oils may have missing chemcial constiuents because they have been distilled at a high temperature and high pressure and may also contain concentrated pesticide/herbicide residue. This is definitely something you do not want to put on your kid's head!

So suggest a blend of:

• Eucalyptus radiata


• lavender


• geranium

You can dilute this 50:50 with a pure vegetable oil (I use Young Living's V6 vegetable oil*), use a fine tooth comb to comb through the hair and then massage into the scalp and leave for 1/2 hour.

Then shampoo and rinse well. Repeat the next day if necessary.

There is lots more information about head lice and more in the Esential Oils Desk Reference. It has an A-Z ailments section and specifically written for Young Living Essential Oils.

I also wash all the bed linen, towels etc in a capful of Thieves Cleaner.* Thieves Cleaner is a blend of clove, cinnamon, rosemary, eucalyptus and lemon essential oils in a non-toxic, biodegradable base.

The second part of the answer involves prevention. You can use the same blend above in a glass spray bottle mixed with water and lightly mist the hair before the kids go to school.

The other thing that I have found to be AWESOME is the Young Living shampoo and conditioner range. Our family use the Lemonsage range and my son has not had any head lice since we have been using it...and it has been over 3 years. Again it is pure, therapeutic grade essential oils in a non-toxic, biodegradable base.

I know this recipes works for me and there are also a number of testimonials at the Oils Testimonials Website. Check out the searchable database by entering "head lice". Of course, you can use this database for any issue that you would like to get information about essential oil success stories.

Of course, I only use and recommend Young Living Essential Oils. *These products are only available from Young Living Essential Oils. Please visit my store for more information.

I hope you find this information helpful and your kids' heads become lice free!

Best wishes to you and your family

Jen
Essential Oil Goddess