Tag: tea tree oil

Preventing Head Lice

Prevent Head Lice Returning

I have just had a very good comment from Andrea who used the olive oil treatment for treating head lice.   I have given several methods for getting rid of head lice  in the posts  entitled ‘How to Get Rid of Head Lice’ and ‘Does the Olive Oil Treatment Work For Head Lice?’

Andrea has found the olive oil treatment to be successful in getting rid of the head lice which her children had brought home from school.  But now she wants to know whether she should stop sending her children to school, as they will get reinfected.

Well, the straight answer is ‘NO, you don’t stop sending your children to school’.  Send your children to school just as usual.

The idea is to use natural remedies  on the hair at home, once you have gotten rid of the lice, so that the lice do not come back. I will go over some of the things you can do which help to deter lice.

The thing is, that you can catch lice in many places about town: riding on the bus, sitting in the movie theater, rubbing shoulders with people in crowds, or playing with children at school.  You can also reinfect the family at home, because lice and their nits will still be about the house somewhere, mainly on the sheets and pillow cases. So you see, it is best not to worry about where or when you might catch lice and in how you can avoid them, but to work on prevention methods instead.

What To Do To Prevent Head Lice Coming Back

  • First of all, try to wash all the clothes in hot water if you can.
  • Next, make sure that you iron all your family’s sheets and pillowcases and bed clothes.  You can use a steam iron to iron those woolen blankets. Also make sure to iron all shirts and singlets.
  • Cotton and wool products are the best things to use, as these withstand heat, whereas synthetic fibres such as polyester duvee fillings do not take the heat, which makes those fibres great homes for tiny things such as lice, nits and dust mites.  Also, I have found that that theses creatures prefer the magnetic-electrical field which synthetic fibres create .  Synthetic fibres are bad for us because they interfere with our own body’s energies, as well as attracting lice and dust mites.
  • After every wash of the hair, you should apply real apple cider vinegar to the scalp.  Just a quarter of a cup or so will do.  Apple cider vinegar  makes the scalp acidic, and the potassium and minerals in the apple cider vinegar are very good for the hair.   When you wash your hair with soap or shampoo, it makes the hair alkaline, and lice just love alkaline scalps.  So by putting on the vinegar, you deter those lice, because they can’t stand the acid nature of the apple cider vinegar..  They really don’t like it.  It will help to kill any remaining nits as well, if you use it regularly.
  • Then, no more than twice a week, put just two or three finger dabs of liquid iodine onto the scalp and massage it in.  You don’t need to cover the hair with this.  You MUST NOT cover the hair with iodine, as it is absorbed into the pores of the scalp, and you might get toxic effects if you do this.  Iodine is necessary for good health, but we only need just a tad now and then.  A little of the iodine will be transferred over the head with brushing, and this is enough to have an effect on any head lice.  Just two dabs of IODINE on the scalp twice a week will  help prevent catching head lice from other people, or off the couch, or something.  NOTE – DO NOT PUT IODINE ONTO THE SCALP STRAIGHT AFTER YOU PUT ON CIDER VINEGAR.  YOU MUST WAIT AT LEAST EIGHT HOURS BEFORE PUTTING ON ANY IODINE.  It is not dangerous to use them together, but they just do not mix together very well.  They work best when they are used separately, at different times.
  • Use the olive oil treatment once a week, whether you can see any lice or not.  This will take care of any stray lice which are about, and prevent them from laying eggs in the hair.  Olive oil is very good for the hair and nourishing to the scalp.  You can tell the children to regard it as a conditioner rather than a  regular lice treatment.
  • Other things which work as preventatives, or prophylactics, are the essential oils lavender, rosemary, tea tree, pine oil, eucalyptus oils. But you only need a drop or two once  or twice a week.  I find that these were not popular with my children, as they have a strong smell which caused them to be teased at school. Iodine worked better for us as a preventative, as it does not smell at all, and you need so little of it for it to work in preventing head lice.
  • Extra Vitamin B is helpful in dettering head lice.  Use the dose for children as stated on the bottle.  Keeping the diet rich in alkaline foods such as carrots, apples, broccoli, bean sprouts, lettuce, cabbage etc goes a long way to helping prevent head lice.  Try to reduce the amount of wheat and bread and pastries in the diet, and encourage the children to eat carrots, celery and apples for snacks instead of sweets or bread.  A good balanced meal once or twice a day, with protein, plenty of  greens and rice or potatoes is a good standard, of course.
  • Finally, BRUSHING the hair is so important.  This energises the scalp, the nerves, and encourages hair growth.  Brushing helps your scalp to stay healthy, and a healthy scalp helps to deter head lice.

Vinegar as a Treatment for Athlete’s Foot

Athlete’s Foot Home Remedy

Athlete’s foot is a fungal infection which many people find difficult to get rid of.

Apple Cider Vinegar can be helpful in curing athlete’s foot. Of course, any type of vinegar will work, but it is better to use apple cider vinegar because of the nutrient value in apple cider vinegar.

Apple cider vinegar words well as a mild fungicide, and is effective in treating athlete’s foot in many cases.

Apple Cider Vinegar is an Acidity-Alkalinity Regulator:

As well as killing bacteria and inhibiting fungal infections, apple cider vinegar has the effect of restoring the natural pH level, that is, the acidity versus alkalinity ratio, to normal after using soap.  Soap and shampoos are very alkaline, and alkalinity also favours the growth of unhelpful organisms such as the athlete’s foot fungus.  So using vinegar after bathing with soap helps to deter athlete’s foot.

Real Apple cider vinegar is the best type of vinegar to use, as this is made with apples which have a healing effect on the physical body.  If you don’t have apple cider vinegar, ordinary malt vinegar will do.

Athlete’s foot likes moist, warm conditions, so keeping your shoes on all the time is not the best thing to get rid of your athlete’s foot.  Taking your shoes off at every opportunity, walking barefeet along clean grass, or along the beach, will benefit the health of your feet.

Dry the Feet Carefully after bathing.  Any moisture will prevent the healing of the athlete’s foot condition.

Other helpful suggestions for athlete’s foot might be:

Drink Herbal Teas  made with dandelion root, echinacea, nettles, burdock and peppermint.  Any combination of these herbal teas will strengthen your immune system if you use these regularly instead of standard tea or coffee.

Tea Tree Oil ,  Melissa Officinalis, can often clear up athlete’s foot.  You can still use your vinegar treatment after showering or washing with soap.  Just apply a dab or two to the affected area before putting on your shoes.  Apply another dab or two to the affected areas several times during the day.

You can also use the oils of lavender, thyme, marjoram, or even eucalyptus to treat athlete’s foot and  help prevent infection.

Once you have cured the athlete’s foot, keep using a  herbal oil such as those mentioned above, and keep using  the vinegar treatment after bathing.  This will  help prevent reinfection.

The Candida Diet is helpful in treating many cases of athlete’s foot.  Candida, or yeast infection, can causre conditions such as athlete’s foot and types of eczema.  Basically, avoid sugar, dairy products except for butter and ghee, wheat and products which contain any wheat,  and all fermented foods until you are better. 

Number One things to avoid with candida:  You must exclude any  bread,  alcohol,  vinegars, sauces, or anything which has sugar or yeast in them. 

Secondly, avoid all foods which are sweetened.

Thirdly, avoid dairy milk, cheese and yoghurt until you are better.  Also avoid soy milk, as this is sweetened and has yeasts in it because of the drawn out process used to make it.  Avoid soy proteins such as tempeh and tofu, as these are fermented foods.  Whole, or ground soy beans are ok. See my post on the candida diet for more suggestions.