Headlice: 10 Ways To Remove Nits Without Shaving Your Head

Headlice.

Nits.

LITTLE BLOOD-SUCKING B#$TARDS.

I already can’t stop itching at the thought of them.

Up until recently, I hadn’t had nits for a long time.

When I was a young child, my parents had to cut my hair really short, having discovered a London-sized population of critters living in my barnet.

I remember the day I got my beautiful golden brown, thick, long hair cut into an 80s choppy bowl-cut.

I hated it, obvs.

The Headlice Are Back!

A couple of months back, my son came home from school with a similar army of insects living in his buzz cut.

I was a bit niave, I didn’t think nits liked clean, short hair, but turns out headlice and nits don’t discriminate.

I didn’t realise how traumatic having headlice living in your childs hair would be, and turns out my own hair, too…

Yes, the bed-sharing situation at the time (he kept having nightmares and stowing away in our bed in the early hours) had spread the blood-sucking vampires far and wide, leaving only my hubby free of lice due to his bald head situation.

The fact that I am sharing these gory deets makes me feel embarassed, but turns out it’s very common situation to be in!

There are a gazillion methods of removing headlice from hair, but here are 10 of the best.

None of these 10 ways include shaving your head, so you’re safe from the clippers for now!

I’ve included some products that I rate very, very highly, and am stocked right up of incase the lice hit us again!

1. Use a headlice detection comb

These are underrated in my opinion.

They are so good at sweeping away loose eggs and the live bugs without the need for chemicals.

Keep one handy and give hair a comb through weekly so you’re always one step ahead of the little critters.

I use a Hedrin one, who have some great tips on checking for headlice, here.

2. Smother the lice in olive oil

“Lice supposedly suffocate and die when the ooze plugs their breathing holes, but it needs to be applied overnight under a shower cap because lice can survive without breathing for hours. You’ll also have to comb to remove nits, but the olive oil should help loosen them from the hair shafts.”

Check out more on this method, here.

3. Blast with a hairdryer

Supposedly, the heat from a hairdryer will kill a large proportion of the eggs, but not the live lice.

This is a good method for keeping the little critters at bay if you can’t get to the shops for a while.

Read the important details of this method, here.

You can then remove the stubborn dead eggs with a really good egg-removing product from Hedrin, called Stubborn Egg Removal Kit.

“Hedrin Stubborn Egg Removal Kit is 10 times more effective at removing nits than combing alone.”

4. Suffocate the headlice with hair gel

This works much like smothering with olive oil, but hair gel is easier to wash out. Read up on the details here.

“The goo supposedly suffocates the bugs by clogging their breathing holes.”

5. Spray with vinegar

Some people believe vinegar will dissolve the sticky glue that the female louse uses to attach her eggs to hair shafts.

Get the lowdown on this method, here.

6. Use a headlice killing product invented to do the job

I wanted to try to find a natural remedy for killing lice and their eggs, but I also didn’t want to have to keep trying, especially when my son’s school friends were also riddled with the buggers.

I first used a well-known pharmacy’s own brand of bug busting lotion, but it failed miserably.

Then having seen the adverts on the tv, I reached for the market leader, Hedrin.

Boy did it bust those bugs, and it did it the first time without the need to repeat the treatment.

7. Douse with tea tree oil

“One study published in Parasitology Research suggests that tea tree oil can kill lice in the nymph and adult stages of life. Tea tree oil treatments also reduced the number of lice eggs that hatched.”

More details on the tea tree treatment, here.

8. Spread on some garlic

Not just for keeping vampires at bay, garlic can apparently keep the blood-sucking lice away, too!

According to this list of headlice-killing natural remedies, the strong fragrance of garlic can suffocate lice, ultimately killing them.

9. Slather on mayonnaise

Though you will need to be very patient and vigilant with natural remedies, reports do show that they can work at eradicating headlice.

It’s not for those that don’t have time to repeat lots of treatments, though.

“Mayonnaise contains a lot of oil, which has viscosity properties that will suffocate live head lice.”

10. Once a week, take a peek!

I now use a product from the Hedrin range called Protect & Go, as I am all about the prevention to stop having a situation like I mentioned before on our hands (and heads) again.

“Using Hedrin Protect & Go twice a week can help safeguard children from head lice. It works by breaking the life-cycle of head lice, stopping them from breeding and migrating. The spray is also ideal for times when the risk of infection increases such as the beginning of a new school term, at children’s parties and sleepovers.”

Take a closer look at the full Hedrin range here.

There really is a reason why it’s the UK’s number-one-selling brand.

Now I need to go and wash my hair, I feel itchy af!

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Last Updated on July 1, 2023 by Lucy Clarke