Listerine for Lice

Both of my boys were sent home from school earlier this week with head lice. The checklist given to me by the school nurse said that in order for them to return to school, I must treat their scalps with an insecticide.

I used a head lice treatment containing permethrin and it was completely ineffective, both children were refused readmission to school and I was instructed to reapply the insecticide that day in direct opposition to the package instructions which state that treatments should be spaced at least 7 days apart.

I took them home and washed their hair, towel-dried it, then saturated it with Listerine and covered their heads with shower caps. I left the shower caps on for 2 hours, then we removed them and I combed with a lice comb.

The next day they washed their hair, toweled it dry and I sprayed their hair with Listerine and combed.

The lice are gone, and the infestation was severe, prior to the Listerine I combed hundreds of lice from their hair.

MUCH more effective than the insecticide for us.

Be sure and use Original Listerine and not one of the flavored varieties. The flavored varieties contain sugar which makes a sticky mess after the treatment!

I have lice. I have tried everything I could think of to get rid of them! Non-Toxic, insecticides, and permethrin treatments do not work! I recently tried listerin and voila! They are mostly gone! I do, however, still need to comb through it more to fully get rid of the nits, but ALL bugs are dead!

After getting headlice on several occasions from some neighbor children and spending alot of money to remove it I was advised to wash my hair with "Newkirks Castille Oil Soap" it worked perfectly for me and the children who had it.
Saturating the hair with mayonaise or other similar sandwich spread putting on a cap or grocerystore plastic bag and sleeping in t also works. To get the oiliness out wash hair in dishsoap

my daughter continued to get headlice over and over. i would spend 100.00's of dollars just to try and get rid of them, but nothing seem to work. i saw your article in the paper and thouht i am going to try this. what can i lose, $5.00? look at what i had been spending! so i did and it was great they are all gone and she is very happy.

thank u she says

Another lice treatment an elderly woman told me at our school. She said that in her day, her mom would have her walk to the store and get a plug of chewing tobacco. They would make a rinse out of it, and although it dyed the hair auburn, they got rid of the lice!

I too have had my children endure countless treatments with over-the-counter shampoos that were supposed to kill lice to NO avail. I spent hours on the internet to find out what others are using and successfully rid my daughter's hair of ALL lice AND nits using this protocol:

1) Washed hair with generous amount of therapeutic denorex (previously called "extra strength"). You want to use the one that contains "coal tar". Allow the denorex to remain on the hair for 30 minutes and rinse. Comb out using a lice/nit comb.

2) Saturate the hair in Listerine and wrap head several times around in plastic wrap to form an air-tight seal. Cover in shower cap over night. Wash Listerine out with denorex and again, comb out. You should see little or no lice and/or nits.

3) At night, saturate hair in olive oil and again wrap hair several times around with plastic wrap. Do not rinse out till morning. Use Dawn dishwashing soap to remove olive oil the next morning. May take several washings.

This should be the end of the lice. Two days total. I poured some Listerine into a spray bottle and continued to lightly spray the hair to prevent any possible re-infestation.

**Meticulous combing is a MUST. Every nit must be manually removed or the process will begin all over again. Good luck!

I wish I would have had this information when my kids, now adults, were going to school. One method that I used which was very effective was white vinegar. Maybe they didn't like the smell, I don't know, but it worked and kept the lice away. The products that are out there to treat lice have very scary ingredients in them so it is nice to know that a 'safe' method is available. I'm going to pass on this information to the local health dept as school has started again so I'm sure the lice will make their rounds.

I tried everything I could. Here I am 29 yrs old and I caught head lice! Embarrassing as it was I couldn't take the scratching from my head any longer. I saturated my head with vinegar (it does smell pretty awful, I warn) and covered my head with saran wrap, then put a tight shower cap on my head and slept with it on overnight. The next morning, I found all the bugs dead right on the saran wrap! It works, you may want to try one or two more treatments to kill any newly hatched lice. Also try Red Wine Vinegar, or Listerine. Good Luck!

So my downstairs neighbors have been fighting lice since school started. They told me they were clean, came up to spend the night, and then a week ago my son started with an itchy head. I looked and looked and didn't see ANYTHING. Today (Thanksgiving morning), we are trying to leave and he is itch itch itch itch itch!!! I look, bugs! Oh. My. God.

At work I asked my friend what she recommends to her patients who can't afford the lice treatment. She immediatly said Listerine. OK, so Walmart is closed and everything else, I have mint-flavored Listerine in the house. I sprayed his hair and left it there while we continued to get ready. Washed out what I could, he really smells minty. I found 4 other bugs and they were all dead! Thank god!!! I plan to buy some Plain flavored today, but we will see just how well it works!!

I have been using Listerine for a week now and little by little the bugs are diminishing. I retreated with RID... but then as a preventitive used the Listerine... and once it dries it doesn't smell bad. KUDOS to this treatment! Now only if the psychological itching would stop!

I've had lice 3 times in the past 4-5 months!!! I've washed my bed sheets, pillow cases, everything that I thought could contain eggs or lice. I'm getting tired of it, what should I do?

My daughter had lice 3 times in one year; I found tradional shampoo for lice did not work but, I found out by reading your article that listerine works. To prevent lice from coming back, wash hair with tea tree oil every day. When hair is wet, mix listerine antiseptic and water, 2 eye drops full of tree tea oil in water bottle. Spray on scalp, and lice wion't come back--they hate that stuff.
Mom from El Cajon ca

Tuesday I picked my 3 year old daughter up from daycare to find she had a very bad case of head lice. I went straight to the store and bought a thirty dollar rid treatment, did every thing as follows, wash clothes, bed sheets etc... next morning, more lice. I then spent all wednesday from eight in the morning until eleven at night trying dawn dish soap which someone had told me, I also tried the mayonnaise treatment 4 times. Now it is Thursday, finally took her to her pediatrician, for prescribed medication. Came home, did that, and they are still there. Tiny tiny nits.

I'm so frustrated. I have already cut 5 inches off of her hair, have spent numerous hours on her. I don't know what else to do. I am reading all of these articles on listerine... so I might just give that a try, what do I have to lose?

I am a kindergarten teacher, and on occasion pick up lice from my students. The best home remedy I've ever used to kill lice and easily remove nits is coconut oil. I completely saturate my hair with the oil, and cover my head with a shower cap. Leave on overnight, and wash out with regular shampoo the next morning. Leaves hair silky and smooth without lice. Depending on the size of the infestation, I will do this again a second night. It really works!

Meticulous use of a nit comb is imperative no matter what treatment you use. You must remove every nit to prevent reinfestation.

My daughter and I went through the usual over-the-counter products, but it did not get rid of the lice. Mayonnaise and the nit comb worked on my daughter, but because I didn't have anyone to comb my hair, the lice were still present.

I read somewhere that you can get rid of lice by soaking your hair and scalp in vinegar, covering with a shower cap and leaving it on for 20 minutes a day for 10 days. I did this and the lice were gone! As a precaution I treated my hair with vinegar once a week for a month after just to make sure the little boogers were gone for good. The fumes were fairly strong, but it was OK after the hair was under the shower cap. Also, I was careful not to get it in my eyes.

My daughter has had lice 3 times and the Rid and Nix brands DO NOT kill the lice. This last time I tried Listerine. I doused her head and scalp and put on a shower cap for 2 hours. The problem was solved! She didn't have to be exposed to harsh chemicals and the Listerine is about 1/4 of the price of the "treatments" that don't even work!!!

Thank you for your article... although her hair smelled like Listerine for a couple of weeks (no kidding) we were all breathing a sigh of relief!

Listerine really works!!!!! When my child came home with lice I immediately soaked the head in listerine and put a shower cap on them. Make sure you have them sleep in the cap all night. In the morning you are guaranteed to find dead lice. I then soaked the head in vinegar as this loosens the glue of the nits and makes it much easier to comb out. However the comb is not as good as sectioning the hair and manually going through it yourself. I repeated this every other day just in case I missed a nit, this way no live bugs will be able to lay new eggs and reinfest the head.

My daughter caught lice from a friend. We tried the insectiside. The lice were still alive. I didn't want to put the insectiside on her scalp again, especially once I understood exactly how toxic it was.

I read about the Listerine on the internet and decided to give it a try. I used the blue kind. Anyway, she leaned back over the tub and I drenched (and I mean drenched) her head in Listerine. Then I covered her head with a shower cap and kept it on overnight. The next morning, the lice were DEAD!!!! Whoopee!!

I combed and combed and combed and combed. I repeated the process every 3 or four days for two weeks, because I was paranoid that I missed one. But I don't know how necessary that was.

My daughter had VERY long and thick hair and the combing took forever. I would make it easier for her by making some popcorn and putting in a good movie.

If you or your child has lice, PLEASE consider using this method before putting on those dangerous pesticides on their tender scalps. Remember, chemicals can and are absorbed through the skin, thus the effectiveness of the medicinal patches.

This worked for us, and I am going to intending to follow the suggestion of a previous comment to spray Listerine on their hair Sunday before school. What a great idea!!

I would NOT sleep with listerine in your hair.. My whole family used it.. we ALL got lice from my daughter who picked it up from a neighbor. We used Listerine full strength and let our hair soak in it under a plastic shower cap for about 2 hours. Then we washed with Denorex with a couple of drops of tea tree oil, did a comb out the next couple of days and never saw another nit or bug again.

I can personally tell you that Listerine works wonders. But be careful, if you're blonde you should never use the green, it can dye your hair. Always use green for brunettes and yellow for blondes and redheads.

Listerine is an old army secret, and it certainly beats olive oil and mayonaise. These are messy and time consuming.

Listerine works fast and you don't have to keep it in over night either a good rinse, leave it on a bit and then rinse out and shampoo, than I always took conditioner, inundated the hair in it and than combed out the stragglers. Good luck! Now MY head itches after reading all these..lol.

I am trying the listerine ritual at this very moment. On myself. I am hoping this works. Thank you all for the advice

This entry will be difficult to imagine, but it may help others suffering with the problem I had. My scalp had been feeling itchy. I also had felt that something was crawling under my scalp too. Someone suggested using Listerine. For a few weeks I was continually washing my hair and after rinsing out my shampoo, pour about a medium size container of Listerine on my hair, rub it in and leave the listerine on my hair and scalp. I was really saturating my hair and scalp. After a few days some type of bug or mite ended up on my towel when I got out of the shower. It was about a quarter inch in length and was black with yellow markings. It also had lots of "pointers." Bear in mind, I am not sure how safe listerine is to use in this way. Check with a doctor to make sure saturating the scalp with Listerine would not cause other problems on the scalp.

I picked up lice from relatives when I visited Guyana, South America. I tried the RID treatment and thought I took care of the suckers. 3 months later, they are still there. I am trying the listerine treatment as we speak. I hope it works!

My baby girl 3 has lice today, im pretty stressed because I have no idea how she got it, Im a work at home mom and she doesnt attend daycare. Im even more stressed after reading the articles. I bought the nix stuff, she sat there for 4 hours the comb is useless she has super fine blonde hair, I know I didnt get all the nits out she fell asleep in my lap. Im going to have my husband go out and get the listerine and try that tomorrow. Does anyone know a better comb? i bought the seperate metal combs and they still dont help, not one iota.

I never thought to use Listerine. We tried it and it worked. I also purchased some Paul Mitchell Tea Tree Shampoo and Conditioner and my daughter uses it once a week. I guess the lice don't like the smell of that either, we had no further outbreaks.I am so glad I decided to go online, medication for head lice is costly and don't work. The combs are worthless. Happy Head in Maui Hawaii. We call head lice "Ukus"

My daughter has been fighting lice since Nov. 2007. This has been ongoing since. Every two weeks I treat her hair with the recommended OTC lice treatments. I have tried them all. They do not work. I am tired of spending $30 every two weeks to treat her and the whole family. She picked it up from kids in her class at school and there are a couple to attend the same church. I'm fed up with bugs and will definitely give the Listerine a good try. Thank you for your comments. I hope this works.

After the radio program this morning, I found your site and read about the gin and raisins to see if I could help my husband who has arthritis in his back. Cruising around after reading on that topic, I checked out the other home remedies. Useful info there. In reading about the lice remedies, I was glad to see that folks were avoiding the commercial lice treatment kits due to their toxicity. I have not used Listerine, but do know that Octagon Soap (in the old-fashioned label) is great for lice on people and fleas on animals. Octagon is lye soap in a large bar. With people or animals, you lather up and let the suds stay in place for 15 minutes or longer. You sometimes need more than one application. It is still easy, less fumes than Listerine, and is fairly cheap for all the benefits. I am happy to learn about Listerine, too, as Octagon is sometimes hard to find, while every drugstore has Listerine.
Dianne, who is old and wise.

I came across this site when I was at my wits' end with trying to get rid of my 12 year old daughter's head lice. She has had head lice on and off since February. After spending 100's of dollars on the RID, I tried the Listerine, and I couldn't believe it. I soaked her hair in the Listerine, kept a shower cap on for two hours. I must have found at least 10-15 lice, but dead. In all the other treatments I never once came across a dead one.

I hope this is the end of this nightmare.

We have also been battling the bugs off and on for a year with my 11 y/o. ( Sadly:( we suspect her best friend is the source of the the infestations. ) Frustrating to say the least. OTC don't work, but we hit them with the oil again and that killed most. BUT I am definitely going to try the Listerine. I am encouraged by those who have posted favorable results with it.

I have to warn you that this is not a plug for Listerine for lice since I never heard about it until today.

My daughter and I wound up with what we thought was an allergy to a shampoo during May and June of 2003. She got it first and even taking her to the doctor didn't reveal a lice problem. So we kept switching shampoos and scratching up a storm. And I mean scratching! We both had long hair and our backs and shoulders looked like we had Chicken Pox or something!

When we finally realized that it WAS lice in late July, we tried everything. And nothing worked--until I found something online about Denorex shampoo.

We lathered our hair up, wound a towels around our heads and left it on for 30 minutes, as the writer suggested. And let me tell you, it gets seriously warm on your scalp.

So warm, in fact, it must have fried both the lice and the eggs because we never had another problem with them!

And I'm glad. But it's pretty sad when you get your first-and only!-case of head lice at 43 years old!

I work with kids and have been fighting lice for some time now. I have used denorex and listerine which I think work sometimes but inevitably a couple weeks or month later more show up. I wash everything and vacuum. I don't know if I don't comb it enough or what. I live alone though and it is embarassing to ask a friend to do it especially when it seems to reinfest or happen so often. Also, my head gets dry from all of this and irritates it as well. I am kind of feeling hopeless with all this. Any advice?

My aunt had headlice, she got it from some other family members, she tried listerine and it really does work.

The children I do daycare for 5 days a week have it as well and I am doing everything I can not to do it as I am getting married in September and need to get my hair done in a salon. My hair is thick, curly and down to my butt and if I end up with it i will probably have to cut it off.

If I do the listerine trick, will it ruin my hair since I dye it?

I have spent over 2 hundred dollars and my daughter and i just can't seem to get rid of it and they keep coming back so i'm right now trying the listorine thingy and i'm not sure are you supposed to keep it in your hair while you sleep or just for two hours? please respond before the 2 hours!

Another treatment that works well is to cover the entire head with the Listerine, cover with shower or swimming cap for an hour-1 1/2 hours. Then cover with white vinegar (this helps take away the glue on the eggs & lice), let it sit an hour. Wash with denorex shampoo. WORKS WONDERS!!!

I got head lice from my work [i work at a daycare] and brought it home to my brother and sister. The RID shampoo didn't work, so out came the razor! my mom shaved both my head and my brothers. my sister however, treated her head with listerine and bam! the lice was gone! and although i am a girl, i kinda like the shaved head idea! lol
thanks for suggesting listerine!

My two young grandaughters have been infested with head lice for quite some time and it did not matter what I used or how often the problem never went away. My daughter came home the other day and told me that she had heard of using Listerene to treat head lice over the radio. I had some on hand, put it in a spray bottle and I'll be darned if the little buggers didn't come right out of their hair. Thanks for letting people know about this advice. I will definitely be spreading the word myself.

i am a 12 year old girl, and i got lice from my friend. believe me when i say that I've tried 2 different lice treatments such as RID and a major brand and they DO NOT work. 2 hours after a 3 hour combing and drenching, i am itching. i have asked my mom to go to the store to buy some listerine. i hope it works!
My hair is so thick and i hate spending 20 minutes combing through 1 section of hair! Listerine...I've heard it works really good. Please i tell you, PLEASE do NOT waste precious time and money into these "voted #1 lice killer" stuff they give you. IT DOES NOT WORK!

My family got lice that was resistant to every insecticide shampoo I could find. I did not know about listerine at the time, but I tried suffocating the lice with mayonaise, and other home remedies. In desperation I tried applying rubbing alcohol to the hair and combing it out, repeating this once a day for three days. It worked. It killed all the lice and all the eggs.
Listerine smells a whole lot better. But I bet the original Listerine (yellow) works best because it has the highest alcohol content.

Using Listerine and White Vinegar treatment was AWESOME! Worked better than the OTC toxic treatments, Mayo, blow drying to death, and nit picking! All the adults were killed and I would say a good 70% of the nits on our daughter's head combed right out! Did the treatment again the next day and all but a few nits remain. I am telling everyone I know about the use of Listerine on lice.

I tried the Listerine on my daughter last night. I'm hoping that it works. This has been a terrible battle with us. I've treated her 4 times with an OTC treatment and nothing worked. Every night I comb through her hair with a nit comb and I still get them. I'll let you know of the outcome!!

LISTERINE WORKS!!! I got rid of it in 2 days flat (one night). I'm a teacher. I'm around it ALL the time. Listerine is amazing!!!!...I also follow mine with vinegar ...no more lice! they wash out in the tub.

Here in Houston it seems alot of kiddos get lice...mine are included. I tried the original Listerine...It worked beautifully!!!!
Soak the hair and scalp with Listerine (squeeze out), then put a showercap over their head for 2 hours. Wash out, then comb out with a fine toothed comb. You'll see dead lice.
After the hair drys, part hair and add (with a cotton ball) some rubbing alcohol to the scalp and about 2 inches out in the hair. The nits will come out easier. Comb out with a nit comb. My favorite nit comb is the one that looks like a little rake. Be sure to part hair in little sections, through out the hair...
Then take a lighted magnified glass and search through the hair, to make sure all the nits are gone. Lighted magnified glassed can be bought at Walmart around the optical places. They're wonderful!!!
Treat every 3 days...just to make sure...It sure worked for me!!!!

Okay, so I'm like, 13. And my aunt, asked me to brush my cousins hair, and i thought nothing of it. Bam, two weeks later, the family finds out that she has MAD head lice. So now, I have it too, and I'm sitting here typing with Listerine on my head. We've had lice here before, and tried Rid and Nix and it's all garbage. Listerine works, and so does mayo. But I'm not about to put mayo on my head, gross. I'm leaving it on for 2 hours, then rinsing, then spraying vinegar on it, then combing. I'd definitely suggest Listerine though.
it works.

Our kids (3 of them) have had head lice off and on for months. We have literally spent over $200 on Rid and the others that do not work. You comb out the bugs and they are still alive. We found some Tea Tree Leave in conditioner. It is in a spray bottle and works great. Bugs come out dead. For me I just used Listerine and all the bugs were dead that I combed out. Leaves my scalp feeling fresh too! I did not put on a shower cap, just soaked my head over the sink and combed. Works great. We are also using a coconut shampoo on the kids.

WORKS UNBELIEVABLY!! We have struggled with head lice for at least 6 years. We have 5 children and have never been successful at getting rid of the problem until 8 months ago. I used Listerine first soaking scalp then used Lice comb to comb through hair. Second wash hair using Dawn dish soap and then Extra-Strength Denorex. We washed all bedding and clothing adding Listerine and dawn dish soap. Vacuumed all carpet, upholstery, mattress sprinkling with Borax first. I still have the kids shampoo their hair once or twice a week with Denorex. We were rid of the lice immediately and are still lice free.

I have dreadlocks, and this is my first case of nits, argh!

I am going to use blue Listerine and a showercap for 2 hours, then rinse with dish soap(dawn).

Then I am going to use white vinegar and a shower cap for 2 hours, then rinse and shampoo with tea tree oil shampoo.

Then spray my hair with a combination of neem oil, tea tree oil, lavender oil and rose geranium oil, and spray it on my hair everyday and not rinse out.

Out of all my research this will be the only thing I can do, for I have dreadlocks and can't comb.

I will comment back in a week and let you know how I do. If this works I am spreading the word for all those out there with dreadlocks or those with small kids who simply can't sit still to get their hair combed.

I use Listerine original in a spray bottle with water, wet hair through and put a shower cap on the head ( 1 to 2 hours) depending on how bad the out break is. Rinse hair with warm water and put coconut conditioner (suave like .99) and comb through hair with lice comb to get the ones that did not fall out or rinse out. You can also use tea tree deep conditioner as a prevention. The bugs do not like the oils in it.

Ahhh! We are lice free with Listerine, Alcohol, vinegar, and Denorex! We sprayed 4 heads every night with LISTERINE before bed then combed and combed and combed every inch...and the lice were gone in 3 days. However, we continued this ritual for 7 more days in order to kill off any newly hatched eggs each day. I soaked the 4 separate nit combs in rubbing ALCOHOL between uses and dipped them periodically in the alcohol as I combed. We also used VINEGAR on one severely affected head to loosen nits, then extra strength DENOREX. Sure, it was labor intensive, but it was also cheap, safe and effective. Thanks for the tips, everyone!

My 10 year old daughter seems to get lice every time we turn around. I am trying the Listerine and vinegar as I type this. We have spent lots of money on the OTC lice killers and they DO NOT work!! I am tired of this and I know my daughter is too. I really hope this works. Thanks to all the people who has recommended this treatment.

We have been struggling with an outbreak of headlice for a week now. I have done everything I could think of. I finally got wise and searched for suggestions online. I am trying the listerine now. Trying to get a 5 and 6 year old to sit still for any length of time is not an easy task. Once I rinse out the Listerine I am going to use a tea tree oil conditioner and comb thru. I really hope this works. I also bought some coconut shampoo to have on hand. I read on another site that the lice does not like the coconut either. I will let you know how it goes.

Years back, when my kids were young, we had several bouts with lice. It was exhausting trying to deal with not only their heads but the laundry and toy 'quarantines'. After talking with several other moms, one of them suggested blow drying my children's hair as a preventative. She said the bugs couldn't take the heat from the dryer. I'm not sure if that's what did it or not, but it was simple and we never had another outbreak.

I have twin 2 yr old girls. One has gotten lice twice from daycare and the other twin, the bugs don't like her. I have tried the listerine remedy and it has worked great. However, I did have a question: my mom says that the listerine can soak into the kids' scalp and cause possible damage. Is this tru.

PEOPLE'S PHARMACY RESPONSE: WE HAVEN'T SEEN ANYTHING TO SUGGEST LISTERINE ON THE SCALP WOULD BE HARMFUL.

I am a nurse for a program in which I visit families pertaining health/nutrition. One training and assistance I do is "Head Lice". For those with reoccurring issue's- I recently put together a check list based on my own experience with my children in the past and with training I've received over the years in this program.

It is best to remove ALL "nits" for you do not know may be live eggs. Vacuum all vehicles/car seats child was in, notify persons children were with (give them a check list), make sure all hair items have been removed of hair in them and sanitized. (try boiling them if it will w/ stand this.) Heat can kill them... Utilize a hot clothes drier for items that can be used in them. Don't listen to the bag your items for 2 days, leave it bagged up to a month.

Make sure your home doesn't have folded clean clothes just left in several boxes/baskets (clutter)lying around. These things can lie in the darnedest places. Once you've vacuumed or nit picked, take bags outside immediately to trash. Sauve coconut shampoo/conditioner I've heard may be a preventative measure as well. Use hair spray/mouse as a preventative measure. (Harder for them to travel) Good luck. These critters are a pain and very hard to get rid of. I'm checking out the listerine... this would be another great tool to add to my bag of "tricks". My best to all.

OK!! I really am sad that I didn't find this article sooner!! My girls have had these harsh treatments to their heads several times! They have had to miss sooo much school because of this! We have done everything to the house and to our heads, we get them gone, kids go back to school, and not quite a month later they are back and usually worse then before!

We have spent sooo much money on useless products and have asked so many people. We even cut the girl's hair (short) to get rid of them! I will be picking up Listerine tomorrow! Thank You for this article!

Bonnie I am the same way. My girls re-infested within a month because the kid who started the initial infestations mom didn't pick the nits out and my girls school doesn't have a no nit policy.

I have treated several times with the chemicals and picked for over 4 hours a child. I was starting to worry about the chemicals so I had heard about the Listerine treatment. I have 2 kids sitting with Listerine and a shower cap as we speak! I didn't see about getting the original kind until after I put it on so they should smell minty fresh when I'm done. Hopefully this will do the trick for my 2 girls with very thick and very curly long hair. It's either that or pray the flapper hair style comes back in style!

Great advice, however, where did you find coconut oil and how did you treat your house/bedding, etc?

Worse yet, first time after all these years! I'm 56 years YOUNG. I plan on trying the Listerine after reading all of the comments on it.

Does the Listerine treatment dry out your hair? How about the white vinegar?

I used hair grease to kill them but that took forever to get out of our hair, but it did make it easier to comb the nits out! Once out I have been using the Listerine every other day just to be sure they don't come back. I am unable to comb through my own hair and my husband did it but who knows how good he really did it.

SO my hopes are if we did miss any the Listerine will kill the new ones. I ordered some tea tree oil and am going to add that to my shampoo to use on a regular bases and will make a spray out of it to put on furniture and carpets and such.

We had a terrible encounter with lice we got on vacation, but we have no idea who we got it from. We tried the RID & it didn't work, we tried the walgreens brand of lice treatment & it didn't work. Then I went online to see what else we could do & found out about the Listerine & I have it on my head right now. It kinda burns, maybe that's a good thing? Kills the bugs, hopefully.

the comments on this site were very helpful.

thank you.

I was concerned about the listerine and vinegar damaging my hair being that I have long extremely thick curly hair and it is professionally highlighted. However, when I weighed out the lesser of the 2 evils... being infested with lice and nits and suffering through itching and bites all over my scalp compared to drying my hair out or needing to have my hair colored and conditioned professionally again (and possibly cut) at the end of all of this... the treating my hair and being lice free is the top option in my eyes.

3 of my 4 children have come down with lice and I found out after I began having severe itching. At first I thought it was dandruff because I have never suffered from lice or dandruff and had no clue. I had my husband check my head for a week and he kept telling me he saw nothing there, not even dandruff flakes. Then he spotted the nits at the base of the hair on the neck. I immediately checked my kids heads with a magnifying glass and sure enough there they were!

I felt horrible that I didn't pick up on it sooner, especially with my one daughter weeks earlier when I noticed a little scabbing in her part line of her piggytails... I though maybe she bumped her head or got a little sunburn on her part and scratched at it. I called the pharmacist and she recommended NIX. I was up until 4:30 a.m. treating the kids heads and then my husbands and then my own, as well as vacuuming the couches, beds, rugs, lysoling the playroom and every content of it, turning the water heater on full blast and washing every towel, bedding and clothing that came in contact with us.

I then called the pediatrician the next day to ask what more could be done. The nurse there recommended vinegar and warm water rinses to remove the nits, however we still have some lice and nits. I am going to do the Listerine treatment on myself and the kids tonight when my hubby arrives home from work and then follow up with the vinegar treatment again tomorrow. I am concerned about how not to get reinfected- my 3 little ones are EVERYWHERE- they are 5 and twin 2 year olds.

I am treating and then stripping beds in the morning, vacuuming and lysoling pillows, mattresses and then rewashing bed sheets, ect. However, is this enough? I mean, my twins still nap once during the day- the kids are all over the house and I am feeling quite overwhelmed with this whole situation. I have vacuumed my minivan and their carseats and have washed their carseat covers in the extremely hot water too. I do not want to use the RIT spray on my couches, ect. because of the toxins... is vacuuming and lysol enough? I am just scared and feel disgusting and want these things out of my home!

We are in the midst of a lice infestation. I have tried a few things. The Listerine and vinegar work wonders. It is easier and more cost efficient. It does take more time, but worth while.

I am going to try the denorex today also. My girls have long, thick hair and all the cleaning, laundry is making me crazy and overwhelmed.

Good luck to everyone

I've done two treatments with the OTC stuff. My husband has checked me every night for 3 weeks. We keep finding a few nits each night, but they are generally at least one inch from the scalp. Then last night, he found 5-6 that were only about 1/4-1/2" from the scalp....Are these new nits?

When we lived in South Carolina a friend of mine was an R.N. We had five children in school, and she had this advice after two of our kids got lice. Take a bar of either octagon or fels napthaa soap and wash their hair once a week and rinse with vinegar and voila no more lice!!

I found lice in my daughter's hair & tried the OTC treatments. Did everything they recommended: Vacuumed, laundered everything in sight, froze all of our brushes & combs and found less but still an active infestation. We continued picking and cleaning etc. but even after the 2nd treatment we were finding live bugs. This was very frustrating.

We tried Vaseline. It worked but it was messy and took days to wash out.

Then we found it again. A friend told us about Listerine. We picked through her hair and used it. The next day I found only one.

The smell has lasted for over a week but I would take that over bugs and nits.

It worked & I will recommend it to anybody.

OK, so my daughter is 2 years old and I just found out today that she is loaded with lice. Now I haven't had it in like 10 years, and just found out that I have it as well! What should I do? I don't want to try mouth wash or mayo ...(that could hurt her right?) I haven't the slightest idea what to do. HELP ME PLZZZZ.

PEOPLE'S PHARMACY RESPONSE: WE WOULD TRY AN ALTERNATIVE SUCH AS MAYONNAISE OR OLIVE OIL ON HER SCALP BEFORE GOING WITH A PRESCRIPTION PEDICULICIDE LIKE OVIDE. CONSCIENTIOUS NIT-COMBING EVERY DAY WILL BE VERY IMPORTANT.

ALTHOUGH LICE ARE GROSS, THEY ARE NOT DANGEROUS, SO YOU CAN TAKE A DEEP BREATH AND SEARCH FOR A REMEDY THAT SEEMS REASONABLE TO YOU. STAY AWAY FROM ALCOHOL OR KEROSENE: THESE OLD-FASHIONED REMEDIES REALLY CAN BE HAZARDOUS.

My boyfriend and I have been battling lice for awhile. We've been doing the Tea Tree Oil mixed with some coconut shampoo and while that may work, it has done nothing compared to Listerine. Plus, I don't know about you but the smell of Tea Tree Oil makes me sicker than a dog. And you can never get rid of the smell. I let the Listerine sit for about forty five minutes and then I combed through it and all the bugs I picked out (and there were like a million!) were dead. I suppose I should've left it in longer but time is limited, I don't mind dealing with it for a few days until it's gone. Who has time these days?!