Ever heard about the DIY treatment of using a hair dryer for lice?
They must be driving you crazy if you are frantically searching for the best, most effective yet affordable method to get rid of them for good.
Lice is not an uncommon infestation as we can think of someone or the other who is suffering or has suffered at some point in their lives. It is not just an embarrassment, but also very irritating!
If you have kids, then they are especially painful and most easily spread by them. They often get it at school and if you find lice on one of your kids, a full crackdown on these bugs by sealing off your house is a must.
In a matter of one night or a few, these head bugs can spread from one head to all your family members. And before you know it, you will have carried it to your friends, family and others who you interact with.
Anyone can easily become a lovely host to these pesky little bugs.
In this article, we will tell you exactly how to use hair dryer for lice treatment and its effectiveness.
Feeling itchy?
Don’t get too uncomfortable, we will cover exactly what are lice, some facts about them and the ways to get rid of them.
Let’s begin!
Table of Contents
LICE: What Are They? An Introduction To These Little Head Bugs
Lice, or to be more accurate head lice are commonly known in all households. They have a reputation for wreaking havoc when infected.
There are many myths surrounding what they are, how they are caused and how to get rid of them. We will do a fact check to make sure you know only the truth about LICE.
These Are The Facts About Lice
- They are not a danger to your life – they are just annoying & gross!
- They are very tiny and can easily be missed if since they are brown in color and if you have darker hair it makes it most difficult. You will be able to spot them cruising around your hair.
- Lice are the bugs and they leave behind egg cases known as Nits
- Nits are not a male or female counterpart; they are simply the eggs or egg cases which stick to the root of your hair while the lice roam about
- Lice can infect anyone of any age or gender regardless of how clean or dirty the person keeps their hair
- You are not more likely to catch it with longer hair, it is just more difficult to get rid of them and they thrive in longer hair
- Nits and Lice can only walk on your hair; they cannot fly or fling from one head to another but they can travel from one head to another if they are in close contact
- Lice can live on other surfaces such as pillow cases, bedding, sofa etc. for a short time until it finds another head to make it home
- You may get allergic reactions from the bits or feces of the lice
- Many people with a head full of lice may not feel any itchiness as the bites do not cause an allergic reaction on their scalp
- Believe it or not, lice treatment is a million-dollar industry globally and a guaranteed solution doesn’t exist
LICE Treatment: The Cure & The Risks
Now that you know all about lice, can you imagine how you can get rid of these irritating, creepy, crawlers without breaking the bank?
It is true that the haircare industry globally is part of an unbelievable amount of money. A large part of that is the treatment for lice apart from the usual suspects such as hair loss, etc.
Some of the chemicals or medicated shampoos, oils, lotions and herbal products cost a fortune!
Since lice are so stubborn and hard to fully get rid of, victims have to try some of these methods for months and the costs only add up without any guarantee as to how effective the treatment will prove to be.
All this without any assurance of whether they’ll even work!
It is true that lice are not a life-threatening infestation and it is unlikely to kill anyone. But having an idea of how they survive and thrive on your head is part of the solution to get rid of the problem.
Pharmaceutical companies use chemical solutions and products to kill them and get rid of them but they keep coming back. While you will be itching your heads, you will be spending money.
Also, these chemical products like shampoos or tonics are not safe to be used by children or those with sensitive skin conditions or other allergies. Often many of these powerful medicated shampoos can cause hair loss, hair thinning, etc.
For those with scalp allergies, or skin sensitivity other severe side effects is also a concern.
As a result, most parents are not keen on using powerful medicated chemical shampoos on the heads of young kids and for good reason!
Even if you risk using such chemicals, what doesn’t kill these bugs makes them stronger as they become resistant to some of these chemicals.
This is the reason, we are always in the hunt for a safe, chemical free solution for getting rid of lice. The most effective one being – combing!
Yes, the safest and the most effective way is to physically comb away lice and nits from your hair. There are specially designed nit combs or head lice combs available for this grueling task.
But you will have to spend hours and hours simply brushing away!
Just imagine having any child sit down with you every day for hours letting you comb nits and lice from their hair. which is why there are other DIY treatments such as using a hair dryer.
Step By Step: How To Use A Hair Dryer To Get Rid Of Lice
Now, you may be wondering do you blow the lice away or kill them with heat using your hair dryer. But no need to worry, we will show exactly how you can ensure the best results using a hair dryer for lice treatment.
The following is safe for use on both adults and children:
1. Wash Your Hair
The first thing you need to do is clean your hair. You need to start by first washing your hair using hot water. I enjoy cold showers but my wife always tells me that cold water doesn’t get rid of any germs. So, make sure to use hot water.
If you have any lice shampoo, or special medicated shampoo then you want to use it as well. There is no point in wasting whatever you have left. So, use lice shampoo or even normal shampoo to get a nice, good clean head. Be sure to use your fingers for getting rid of nits that are stuck to the roots of your hair.
You want to make sure that you get rid of everything on the surface as well as the stubborn ones hidden inside. Just know that the more eggs you get rid of while cleaning your hair, the fewer lice are born to pester you later.
2. Blow Dry Your Hair
Once you are done washing your hair, you will bring out the hair dryer and blow dry your hair for at least 30 minutes. This is not a short amount of time. It takes me just under 2 minutes to dry my hair and I have fairly long hair.
Depending on the length and volume of your hair, you would use less time but as part of the lice treatment you should blow dry your hair for 30 minutes.
Once you step out of the shower, towel dry your hair simply patting dry the wet areas. Take a seat and then get started. You want to be comfortable so that you use the entire 30 minutes to blow dry your hair. don’t give yourself any excuse to not use the entire 30 minutes.
If you are treating your child or someone else, make sure they are kept busy watching TV, playing on the phone, or reading something while you fight the lice.
Don’t go too harsh or too easy on them so avoid choosing the highest or the lowest heat. The medium heat is the best depending on the particular hair dryer. If it is fairly low temp one, then you can use the high temp setting.
Depending on the required comfort, select the heat and speed setting to suited to your requirements. Treat your hair in an orderly fashion, so work in sections and closely observe as much as you can for lice and nits. You want them to get the direct impact of the heat and air to dehydrate and kill them.
Patiently cover every inch and every strand of hair to your best judgment.
3. Comb Your Hair
Once you are done with the long, loud, stressful task of blow drying for 30 minutes, you need to comb your hair using a nit comb or head lice comb.
Do not use a standard comb as that will defeat the purpose of your entire treatment. Be sure to invest in a good nit comb.
The blow-drying part of the treatment will have killed the lice and nits, but the combing will allow you to get rid of them. You don’t want the gross corpse to be lying in your head.
Also, if some are not dead, they will be left alive so be sure to comb out all the dead lice and nits using a nit comb.
It is important for you to get in the habit of using the nit comb for at least a week to make sure they are all gone for good.
4. Wash Your Hair, Again
As you may have imagined, the next step is to wash your hair, again.
Even if you are comfortable in having a head full of dead lice, for the maximum effectiveness of the hair dryer treatment, you should wash it thoroughly again.
Again, this is a good time to use any special medicated lice shampoo or at least your normal shampoo to really get a nice clean.
It will make sure that all lice are gone both dead and alive.
5. Blow Dry Your Hair For A Week (at least)
The last step is to use the hair dryer again.
For ensuring 100% effectiveness, you need to blow dry your hair again and make it a routine just like using the nit comb for at least a week. You can do more depending on the rate of infestation.
Once you no longer see or suffer from lice or nits, then you can stop this treatment cycle.
As part of the treatment, you need to regularly observe and check your hair. Best if you can get someone else to take a look at it for complete reassurance.
Verdict: Is Hair Dryer An Effective Treatment For Lice?
That’s all, in terms of knowing what you are dealing with, the solutions that readily available in the consumer market, the risks involved and of course our DIY solution broken down into step by step instructions.
But does it work?
Don’t feel the pressure to shave off all your hair just yet. The cheapest and the simplest solution for you to try at home using a blow dryer is actually a very effective solution.
Lice cannot survive the heat and the blast of hot air from a blow dryer is just that. So, both lice and nits can be effectively destroyed using blow drying treatment and you can then remove them using a nit comb.
The reason they die from blow drying is that it dries out the lice and nits. As a result, 86 to 98 percent of the lice can be dried out or killed with an everyday hair dryer.
You can keep up your routine for up to a month for the most effectiveness until you no longer notice any lice or their eggs.
A simple DIY procedure with amazing success proven by scientific studies. This hot air treatment is even used commercially using a more advanced type of specially designed blow dryer specifically for removing lice and nits.
So, you can actually stop investing too much on chemical shampoos and have a simpler procedure working for you.
Verdict – using a hair dryer for lice treatment works!
Conclusion: Have You Learned To Treat Lice Using A Hair Dryer?
As you will agree after reading this article, blow dryer is perfectly suited to treating head lice or nits for good.
The science behind the treatment is simple, the hot air dries out the little creepy bugs causing them to die. So, you don’t have to spend hundreds of dollars on treatments that may or may not work.
Do not forget the usefulness of using a nit comb or lice comb. And be sure to follow the step by step instructions for best results from the lice treatment using a blow dryer.
Would you go for this cheap and effective method of lice treatment over the other salon treatments?
Let us know how effective this method proved to be for you.
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