How to Get Rid of Lice Naturally in One Day – 7 Methods Hairstylist Mama Approved
How to Get Rid of Lice Naturally in One Day – 7 Methods Hairstylist Mama Approved
Back to School is upon us and lice are just waiting to spread!
The Exquisite Find contains affiliate links and is a member of Amazon Services LLC Associates Program. If you make a purchase using one of the links listed in our posts, we may receive compensation at no extra cost to you. We only recommend products and services we use and trust. Please read our disclaimer for more information.
There are a few ways to affectively get rid of lice naturally in one day.
My favorite is rosemary. But we’ll get into that shortly. There are ways to ‘get rid of lice naturally’ correctly and incorrectly.
And for these little buggers, you want to do it right.
How to Get Rid of Lice Naturally
- Olive Oil
- Coconut Oil
- Vinegar
- Salt
- Garlic
- Rosemary Shampoo
- Tea Tree
Part II – AFTER TREATMENT (don’t skip this step!)
- Heat
- Continued prevention
Alright, let’s break these down and make this quick and easy, because I’m sure you want to get right to your treatment.
How to Get Rid of Lice with Olive Oil
Olive oil suffocates the lice. A louse breathes through cavities in their abdomen, so if these are coated with something thick, like a heavy oil (such as olive oil) it cannot reproduce will die.
👉 In a sink and with a towel around your (or your child’s) neck, liberally apply olive oil to the scalp. Sectioning the hair into parts helps.
👉 Massage the oil thoroughly through the scalp and then through the rest of the hair.
👉 Apply a shower cap and leave for at least 8 hours (so overnight preferably, especially if this is your first resort for treatment)
👉 Rinse the oil out in a sink thoroughly with Rosemary or Tea Tree shampoo (we’ll get to treating lice with those in a minute, but for this treatment, it’s a prevention measure for having to treat lice again tomorrow or later this week) and conditioner.
Some have used Dawn Dish soap to wash the olive oil out of their child’s hair to get rid of lice. It’s not a bad method but in the long run doesn’t help prevent lice later on.
* Using a sink is preferable for rinsing oil out because a bathtub or shower would be dangerously slippery after rinsing this much oil out. *
👏 👏 Blow dry and FLAT IRON the hair after performing this treatment from scalp to ends. (Make sure that the hair is 100% dry, and the iron is not set to the highest setting!) The high heat will kill the nits (eggs) left on the hair. 👏 👏
* As a precaution, I recommend repeating one of these treatments 7 – 10 days later just in case there is a lingering one or two in the hair, or if any of the nits were missed they would have hatched by day 7 and can be exterminated before they lay their own nits.
👉 Continue using the rosemary or tea tree shampoo and conditioner.
If you want, it wouldn’t hurt to add a drop of rosemary essential oil to the olive oil before pouring the mixture into the hair. This is an optional step, it’s not necessary for the treatment to be affective.
Note- Once the lice have laid eggs (nits) the olive oil doesn’t suffocate them, but it can loosen them so that they can be combed out. Which is a tedious and expensive event.
How to Get Rid of Lice With Coconut Oil
How coconut oil is different than olive oil is that it hardens once it becomes cool.
However, the scalp is warm enough to prevent the oil from hardening. But again, lice breathe through their abdomen and coconut oil is still thick enough to suffocate the buggers.
The difference between using olive oil and the coconut oil is that you mix apple cider vinegar with the coconut oil.
Mix a ratio of about 1:1. So 1 cup ACV, 1 cup coconut oil.
👉 In a sink and with a towel around your (or your child’s) neck, liberally apply coconut oil to the scalp. Sectioning the hair into parts helps.
👉 Massage the oil thoroughly through the scalp and then through the rest of the hair.
👉 Apply a shower cap and leave for at least 4 hours (if you’ve added the vinegar)
👉 Rinse the oil out in a sink thoroughly with Rosemary or Tea Tree shampoo and conditioner.
* Using a sink is preferable for rinsing oil out because a bathtub or shower would be dangerously slippery after rinsing this much oil out. *
👏 👏 Blow dry and FLAT IRON the hair after performing this treatment from scalp to ends. (Make sure that the hair is 100% dry, and the iron is not set to the highest setting!) The high heat will kill the nits (eggs) left on the hair. 👏 👏
👉 Continue using the rosemary or tea tree shampoo and conditioner.
Note- Once the lice have laid eggs (nits) oil doesn’t suffocate them, but it can loosen them so that they can be combed out. Which is a tedious and expensive event. There are better methods for getting rid of the nits.
How to Get Rid of Lice Naturally with Vinegar
Mixing an oil and vinegar doubles your chances of getting rid of lice in one day with one treatment.
Either apple cider vinegar or white vinegar. Avoid the others (red wine vinegar, balsamic etc. because of the sugars, that’s not what we’re looking for.)
👉 Using one part vinegar and one part oil blend until the mixture is smooth and fully mixed.
👉 In a sink and with a towel around your (or your child’s) neck, liberally apply the mixture to the scalp. Sectioning the hair into parts helps.
👉 Massage the mixture thoroughly through the scalp and then through the rest of the hair.
👉 Apply a shower cap and leave for at least 4 hours
👉 Rinse the mixture out in a sink thoroughly with Rosemary or Tea Tree shampoo and conditioner.
👏 👏 Blow dry and FLAT IRON the hair after performing this treatment from scalp to ends. (Make sure that the hair is 100% dry, and the iron is not set to the highest setting!) The high heat will kill the nits (eggs) left on the hair. 👏 👏
👉 Continue using the rosemary or tea tree shampoo and conditioner.
How to Get Rid of Head Lice with Salt
Since lice breathe through their thorax (abdomen) salt will dry them out. This is NOT a method that can work effectively in eliminating lice permanently in 24 hours.
But we’re going to go over it anyway just in case you want to try it.
👉 Mix epsom salt (the best) or table salt with enough water (or vinegar) until it’s fully dissolved and still liquid-y but not quite a paste.
👉 In a sink and with a towel around your (or your child’s) neck, liberally apply the mixture to the scalp. Sectioning the hair into parts helps.
👉 Massage the mixture thoroughly through the scalp and then through the rest of the hair.
👉 Apply a shower cap and leave for at least 1 hour
👉 Rinse the mixture out in a sink thoroughly with Rosemary or Tea Tree shampoo and conditioner.
👏 👏 Blow dry and FLAT IRON the hair after performing this treatment from scalp to ends. (Make sure that the hair is 100% dry, and the iron is not set to the highest setting!) The high heat will kill the nits (eggs) left on the hair. 👏 👏
👉 Continue using the rosemary or tea tree shampoo and conditioner.
Be careful to use enough conditioner, or even apply a fingertips worth of oil to the scalp after using this method so that it doesn’t dry out the scalp and itch or cause other issues due to dryness.
How to Get Rid of Head Lice with Garlic
There are a few different ways to use garlic to get rid of lice. Sometimes garlic is too strong to put in your hair or can burn the scalp. But sometimes it works great.
Lice like clean hair, placing garlic in the hair makes the lice think that the hair is dirty and detach themselves from the hair.
👉 Grind 8-10 garlic cloves into a paste with water and a splash of vinegar.
* Garlic oil will suffice as well if the cloves are too strong to be put directly on the scalp. Some will mix it into a paste with lemon juice, but vinegar would be more affective.
👉 In a sink and with a towel around your (or your child’s) neck, liberally apply the mixture to the scalp. Sectioning the hair into parts helps.
👉 Massage the mixture thoroughly through the sections on scalp and then massage through the rest of the hair.
👉 Apply a shower cap and leave for at least 30 minutes, you don’t have to leave it longer than 90 minutes.
👉 Rinse the mixture out in a sink thoroughly with Rosemary or Tea Tree shampoo and conditioner.
👏 👏 Blow dry and FLAT IRON the hair after performing this treatment from scalp to ends. (Make sure that the hair is 100% dry, and the iron is not set to the highest setting!) The high heat will kill the nits (eggs) left on the hair. 👏 👏
👉 Continue using the rosemary or tea tree shampoo and conditioner.
Note: If the garlic is too strong and begins to burn the scalp, RINSE IT OUT! There are other methods and treatments to treat lice, if the scalp becomes irritated there will be further problems to have to treat after the fact.
Rosemary Shampoo to Get Rid of Lice
There are 3 Rosemary Shampoo methods I would professionally recommend.
- Fairytales Rosemary Repel
- Original Sprout Shampoo and Conditioner
- DIY Conditioner at home with Rosemary Essential oil
FairyTales Lice Rosemary Repel Lice Treatment Kit for $32.95
👉 Leave the shampoo in the hair for 5 minutes. Rinse and apply conditioner and let it sit for 5 minutes also. After the hair is clean blow dry and flat iron (on medium heat) scalp to ends, to prevent any lingering bugs, and mist on the leave in conditioner.
Original Sprout Classic Shampoo & Deep Conditioner for $45.11
👉 Simply wash and condition the hair with these products and leave the shampoo on for 15 minutes, and the conditioner for 30.
👉 If you want an extra kick to this treatment use the leave in conditioner before the blow dry, then flat iron the hair on medium heat, scalp to ends, to prevent any leftover stubborn bugs or nits, and apply a dab more of the leave in conditioner.
Original Sprout Leave in Conditioner for $18.48
Rosemary Essential Oil DIY Conditioner at Home
By mixing and matching products that you already own in your kitchen, you can safely create your own conditioner with rosemary oil to treat and prevent lice.
👉 Add 5 – 7 drops of this Rosemary Essential Oil to your olive oil and apple cider vinegar shampoo when treating lice.
Apple Cider Vinegar Hair Rinse – Quick Mask Recipe Hair Cleanser
👉 For regular use and DIY conditioner, choose some of the ingredients listed in this article and add 2 drops of Rosemary Essential Oil to prevent further issues with lice.
Aliver Rosemary Essential Oil 2 oz for $7.99
How to Make Homemade Conditioner for Hair – 21 Ingredients found in your Kitchen
👉 Once again, blow dry the hair after the treatment and make sure it is 100% dry, then flat iron the hair on medium heat, scalp to ends, to ensure that there are no nits left over.
Treating Lice with Tea Tree
Some say that tea tree is the best and only way to affectively treat lice, but that’s simply not true.
Affective, yes, but the only way, no.
Similar to the above instructions for the Rosemary Oil, you can simply add Tea Tree oil in its place.
OR use a tea tree shampoo, like the one offered by Paul Mitchell will be strong enough to repel lice and discourage them to make themselves at home on your hair again.
1 Liter Each Tea Tree Shampoo and Conditioner Set for $62.00
How to Get Rid of Nits (Eggs)
- Olive oil will make the sticky glue-like substance that allow the nits stick to the hair loosen and can be combed out with a specialized comb
Billirare Lice Removal Comb Stainless Steel 4 Pack for $5.58
- 👏 Heat 👏
Heat is probably the most affective way of getting rid of nits because it kills them immediately. It is not necessary to have the iron on its highest setting and risk damaging the hair, a medium setting is plenty hot enough to kill an unborn louse.
Heat should be used after every louse treatment anyway to ensure that there is none left.
- Treat the hair again after 7 – 10 days once they’ve hatched. NO LONGER than 10 days or else you risk starting the process all over again waiting for nits once more
By using the Fairytales Lice Treatment Kit, Rosemary Repel Shampoo, Conditioner, and Conditioning Spray this will truly treat the nits and prevent later issues.
FairyTales Lice Rosemary Repel Lice Treatment Kit for $32.95
- Or Original Sprout Vegan Shampoo and Conditioner
My personal favorite because it doesn’t smell like herbs or chemicals, is gluten, soy, and dairy free vegan product, as well as pH balanced with the skin and hair, this rosemary containing product will prevent further issues with any louse that even looks your direction.
Original Sprout Classic Shampoo & Deep Conditioner for $45.11
Original Sprout Leave in Conditioner for $18.48
Other Methods that Have Been Tried to Get Rid of Lice
Dawn Dish Soap
Mix with a mask (like vinegar or salt but not the chips!) and leave for 30 minutes.
You can also use Dawn Dish soap to rinse the other masks out of the hair.
This method however will not prevent further risks of attracting lice. The creatures love clean hair, so as a professional, I highly recommend regularly using a tea tree or rosemary shampoo and conditioner for prevention.
Hair Color
Chemically coloring your hair will most definitely get rid of lice. By sealing the cuticle and coating the hair with the thick cream paste that the color is, it would definitely suffocate the lice, and discourage their stay. It will not however kill the nits.
Rubbing Alcohol or Vodka
Yes, the strong alcohol smell will discourage the lice, as well as dry out their crusty bodies, similar to the salt treatment. But it is not 100% affective on its own.
Can’t Get Rid of Lice Tried Everything
Don’t despair!
After repeating the olive oil and vinegar routine twice, and the buggers are still there, and you have tried getting a prescription medicated treatment Spinosad (Natroba), it might be time to see a specialist to get them combed out entirely and treated in a clinic.
🛑 DO NOT go to a hair salon! They legally are not permitted to treat lice. A stylist there would probably give you a recommendation for one of the products listed above. 🛑
Consider if the methods have been working but they are being reintroduced by some other method. Perhaps the hairbrush was used, or a hat shared or put on again without being sanitized.
Check –
- Bedsheets and pillows
- Hats
- Helmets
- Hairbrushes
- Towels
- Hairbands
- Shower caps
- Reworn clothes
- Old laundry
Simply use hot water and a few drops of tea tree oil to wash bedsheets, clothes and other soft items.
Use heat to treat the other items too such as helmets, hairbrushes. You can use a blowdryer on the highest setting, or even put them in a plastic bag and set them in the sun for a day.
How do you Get Rid of Lice Eggs Permanently at Home
Heat! And a fine tooth comb like the one listed above.
By treating the nits with heat you will 100% kill the nits and the comb will remove them permanently from your hair.
Continued treatment with rosemary and or tea tree shampoo and conditioner will prevent further problems with lice and permanently get rid of lice eggs.
Conclusion for How to Get Rid of Lice Naturally In One Day
There is no need to panic when lice break out. It’s a lot of work but treatment is simple, and prevention is not difficult either.
And if it happens again, you have plenty of experience and know what works and what doesn’t for your hair or your child. And how to prevent it from spreading in your home.
14 Backpacking Hairstyles – Cute and Easy
Camping Hairstyles – Easy Hair Tips for Camping
Camping Hairstyles Part II – More Easy Tips and Tricks for Camping
Hiking Hairstyles – 22 Quick and Simple Tips for Hiking Hair