How to Get Rid of Lice

Medically reviewed by Luba Lee, FNP-BC, MS

Lice can be super itchy and annoying, but they’re not uncommon, especially if you have any school-aged children in your home. You may have heard all sorts of home remedies for lice such as mayonnaise and olive oil, but many of these haven’t been shown to be effective. Fortunately, there are things you can do to get rid of lice and keep them from coming back.

Here are 12 proven ways to get rid of lice for good.

1

Check other people in your home for head lice.

If 1 person has them, chances are someone else may, too. Look through the hair of any other adults or children in your household for active lice or small, dark eggs (also known as nits). It’s important to treat anyone who may have lice to keep them from spreading and to keep them from coming back.^{[1]
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- You may also want to notify your children’s school and any friends or family members who may have been in close contact recently so they can check for lice as well.

2

Remove your clothing before you apply lice medication.

Take off anything that could get wet or stained. Some lice medication could potentially discolor your clothing. Plus, the clothes you’re wearing could have a few loose lice that fell from your head. Better to take them off before you apply the medication, just to be safe. Wash them on a hot water cycle to kill any lice that may be on them.^{[2]
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- If you’re treating your children, you may want to remove their clothing to prevent stains.

3

Spread pediculicide throughout your hair.

Apply the lice medicine according to the directions on the packaging. Pediculicide is an effective chemical treatment for lice and comes as a cream, shampoo, or paste. Pick some up over the counter at your local pharmacy and check the application instructions on the packaging. Follow the directions carefully and apply the product throughout all of your hair.^{[3]
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- A few common pediculicide products include Nix, Ovide, and RID.

4

Try essential oils as a natural alternative.

Aniseed, cinnamon leaf, tea tree, peppermint, or nutmeg may be effective. If you’re looking for a more natural solution, studies suggest that some essential oils were found to be an effective treatment against lice. Choose one of these essential oils in an alcoholic solution and spray it onto your hair. Leave the essential oil in your hair overnight and rinse it out in the morning.^{[4]
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5

Check your hair 8-12 hours after treatment.

If none of the lice are dead, talk to your doctor. Give your lice treatment plenty of time to work its magic. After about 8 hours, inspect your scalp for dead lice. If the lice are alive but moving more slowly, don’t retreat your hair. The medicine may just need some more time to kill them. If you see lice that appear to be unharmed, then your treatment may not have been effective, which isn’t uncommon. Contact your doctor and they’ll be able to recommend another treatment or prescribe medication to help you get rid of the lice.^{[5]
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- Don’t retreat your hair with another lice medication until you talk to your doctor first.

6

Avoid shampooing your hair for 1-2 days.

Let the medication work to kill the lice. It’s alright to rinse your hair, and many lice medications actually recommend that you do. But if you wash it with shampoo and conditioner, it could remove the medication and affect how well it works.^{[6]
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7

Use a nit comb to remove lice eggs.

Comb through your hair every 2-3 days to keep the lice from coming back. A nit comb is a special hair comb with teeth that are super close together. It’s designed to collect lice eggs when you run it through your hair. After you treat your hair for lice, run a nit comb through it every other day or so to remove any remaining lice eggs before they get a chance to hatch.^{[7]
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- Lice tend to leave really close to the skin, so be sure to run your nit comb along your scalp as well.

8

Wash items that touch the head in hot water.

Hats, pillows, and similar things can contain head lice. While lice can’t live for more than a few days if they aren’t on your body, that’s still plenty of time for them to spread. If you or someone in your home has lice, wash everything that could potentially come in contact with their head, such as hair brushes, bedsheets, pillows, and hats.^{[8]
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- If you have clothing or items that can’t be machine-washed, you can either dry clean them or place them in a plastic back and store them for 2 weeks so the lice die.^{[9]
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  Go to source}

9

Vacuum your floors and furniture.

Suck up any lice that may have fallen onto them. It’s not uncommon for lice to fall out of someone’s hair, and they could potentially spread to other people in your home. Vacuum your carpet, furniture, and anywhere else that other people may sit or lie down to keep them from spreading.^{[10]
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Main public health institute for the US, run by the Dept. of Health and Human Services
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10

Apply another treatment about a week later.

Retreatment will help ensure all of the lice are dead. Usually, 1 treatment isn’t enough to fully eliminate all of the lice and nits that are in your hair. After about a week after your first treatment, do another one to wipe out any remaining lice and their eggs.^{[11]
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11

Avoid hugging or close contact until the lice are gone.

Lice can easily spread from one person to another. Lice actually can’t “jump” or make their way to another person without direct physical contact. If you or a family member has lice, avoid touching or coming into close contact with another person so the lice don’t spread.^{[12]
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Johns Hopkins Medicine
Official resource database of the world-leading Johns Hopkins Hospital
Go to source}

12

Cut your hair short for extreme cases.

Lice can’t survive if your hair is too short. You may want to consider cutting your hair really short or even shaving your head. The less hair you have, the less room the lice have to live and the easier it’ll be for you to get rid of them.^{[13]
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Johns Hopkins Medicine
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Go to source}
- If you have long hair, you don't need to cut all of your hair off because of lice. Just keep using the treatments and talk to your doctor if you're struggling to get rid of them. However, if you already sport fairly short hair, getting it clipped a little shorter to help get rid of lice faster isn't a bad idea.

Expert Q&A
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Question

What are the most effective home remedies to get rid of head lice?

Mitzi Scotten, MD
Board Certified Pediatrician
Dr. Scotten is a board certified Pediatrician in Arizona. She received her MD from the University of Kansas in 1993 and completed her Pediatric residency at Kosair Children’s Hospital. Dr. Scotten was the director of the Pediatric Cystic Fibrosis clinic at the University of Kansas, was voted as a Kansas City Star “Top Doc” for 5 years, and has been selected to the National Board of Medical Examiners.

Mitzi Scotten, MD

Board Certified Pediatrician

Expert Answer

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There are not any studies comparing one treatment to another so it is difficult to know which home remedies are best. Home remedy treatments are divided into three main categories: substances that suffocate the lice such as olive, baby and coconut oil; natural oils that kill lice like tea tree oil, and substances that directly kill the lice such as vinegar and salt.
Question

Does mayonnaise really work?

Mitzi Scotten, MD
Board Certified Pediatrician
Dr. Scotten is a board certified Pediatrician in Arizona. She received her MD from the University of Kansas in 1993 and completed her Pediatric residency at Kosair Children’s Hospital. Dr. Scotten was the director of the Pediatric Cystic Fibrosis clinic at the University of Kansas, was voted as a Kansas City Star “Top Doc” for 5 years, and has been selected to the National Board of Medical Examiners.

Mitzi Scotten, MD

Board Certified Pediatrician

Expert Answer

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Yes. Mayonnaise contains large amounts of oil that can suffocate the lice and possibly stop them from moving around. One downside is that mayonnaise may be "messier" than other oils such as baby oil and olive oil and may be harder to completely rinse out of your hair.
Question

Can lice become immune to lice shampoo?

Mitzi Scotten, MD
Board Certified Pediatrician
Dr. Scotten is a board certified Pediatrician in Arizona. She received her MD from the University of Kansas in 1993 and completed her Pediatric residency at Kosair Children’s Hospital. Dr. Scotten was the director of the Pediatric Cystic Fibrosis clinic at the University of Kansas, was voted as a Kansas City Star “Top Doc” for 5 years, and has been selected to the National Board of Medical Examiners.

Mitzi Scotten, MD

Board Certified Pediatrician

Expert Answer

Support wikiHow by unlocking this expert answer.

Yes. The medicines that are sold over the counter use the substance permethrin to kill the lice. A large percentage of lice now carry a gene that makes them resistant to this medicine. This is why is it important to talk with a physician about all the treatment options that are available for lice. Since the growing resistance was first noted, there have been a lot of new prescription treatments created for getting rid of lice.