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.

However, they are an annoyance. People infested with head lice are irritated by the lice because they itch. Even if you get rid of adult lice, the problem is not over till their eggs, called nits, are removed too. So, how to get rid of lice and nits? No amount of soaping and shampooing will do the trick. Then, is there a way to get rid of this embarrassment? Yes, there are quite a few methods to rid of the infestations.

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.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 fine-toothed combs called lice combs on moistened hair to remove the lice and nits.

After you've finished using the lice comb, carefully clean out any trapped material that has lodged in the comb and wash it with running warm water. Dry it thoroughly with a hair dryer from a distance to avoid melting the comb. Then wash and dry the infested head and repeat the combing routine, since a single combing is not sufficient to locate and remove all of the head lice and their nits.

Washing all bedspreads, pillow covers, towels and clothing in hot water and drying them in a hot dryer can avoid fresh infestation. Items that cannot be washed this way can be placed in an airtight container for about three days, so that any lice and nits in these items will die, deprived of human blood for more than a day. While treating the recently used items of personal usage, hats, scarves, caps should also be included.

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 are acquired by contact like contagious diseases irrespective of age. They do not carry disease/bacteria but they live on human blood and are annoying. The itching irritates people infested with lice. The problem is not over until adult lice/eggs/nits are removed. The question how to get rid of lice does not get solved because soaping/shampooing will not do the trick. Manually searching/killing lice are time-consuming/laborious. Use of medicated shampoos, lice comb and hair blower help. Scientists find lice getting immune to chemical treatments. Bedspreads/pillow covers/towels/clothing need washing in hot water to avoid fresh infestation. One must ensure that anything touching the infested head is clean combs/brushes/caps/hairpins etc.