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Children, especially when starting school, pick up a few diseases from contact with other children. They also get infested with head lice by contact and the lice spread to adults. While other diseases are a medical problem, lice infestation is not. If you find your kids infested with lice, do not panic. Lice do not spread any diseases and are not carriers of viruses or harmful bacteria. They just prefer human heads with hair and human blood is their sustenance.

While head lice are not a life-threatening menace, they are annoying and a social negative because of the way they make your scalp itch. Even if you eliminate the adults, their eggs and nits can give you the same problem all over again. So how to get rid of lice and all their eggs and nits? While conventional soap and shampoo are not effective, several specialized ways to expunge lice infestations exist.

You can do a manual search to locate head lice and nits and kill them. It is a time-consuming and laborious job though. There are medicated shampoos that work well. You can use fine-toothed combs called lice combs on moistened hair to remove the lice and nits. They are also known as nit combs and are more effective than medical treatment, as scientists say the lice are increasingly getting immune to chemical treatments in some parts of the world.

You can use your hair blower to blow hot air on it from a slight distance. Wash and dry the head and repeat the whole routine of combing.After combing with the lice comb, remove all debris from the comb and wash it by holding it under running water, preferably warm water, and dry thoroughly. Just combing once is not enough and you have to repeat to ensure all the head lice and nits are removed.

How do you avoid a renewed infestation? Wash anything that can be washed- towels, bed linens, clothing, et cetera- in hot water and dry them in a hot dryer (heat kills lice). If they cannot be washed, then they must be sealed away for at least three days- longer than lice can survive without the nourishment they find in human blood. Make sure that clothes and anything else in contact with the infested person are treated in the same way.

Next, clean all the combs, brushes, hairpins and other such things that can come into contact with the head. Tell your children about the importance of not using combs, brushes, hats and caps belonging to other kids. Allocate separate combs and brushes for each person, easily identifiable by different colors. Do not let any child lie on pillows belonging to another. The whole process has to be repeated at least every week for a month. This is to make sure infestations do not occur after a couple of weeks, as the lice have a life cycle of three weeks.

Head lice can be acquired by contact by children. Adults coming into contact with the children can get lice as well. People infested with lice are irritated by the lice because they itch. So, how to get rid of lice? You can use fine-toothed combs called lice comb on moistened hair to remove the lice and nits. Wash and dry the head and repeat the whole routine of combing. After combing with this special comb, remove all debris from the comb and wash it by holding it under running water, preferably warm water, and dry thoroughly.