What's the Best Shampoo For Getting Rid of Head Lice?

When my family was staying in the Middle East, my daughters had no problems with head lice or “kuto.” A head louse (lice, plural) is a six-legged parasite that feeds on blood in the human head. Lice do not jump or fly, but crawl only. They do not carry any disease, but they suck blood and cause itchiness. Here’s a photo showing the life cycle of head lice.

The life cycle of head lice. Image taken from http://health.vic.gov.au/headlice/

When we came back to the Philipines, I was taken by surprise one day when I saw my daughters
having plenty of nits, lice eggs or “lisa” on their hair. I have totally forgotten about the prevalence of head lice among kids in the Philippines. They must have gotten their head lice from a cousin with whom they sleep often since coming to the Philippines. No wonder they have been scratching their heads often.

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Update 2/24/2017: If you're in a hurry to know the ultimate solution to getting rid of head lice, jump to this post.
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Treating Head Lice

Immediately, we bought a nit comb or “suyod” to get rid of as much head lice as we can. But it was impossible to take away all of them in one sitting. Besides, there are many nits on their hair. I remember as a child that nits have to be taken away by hand. This is the hard part for me, because I and my eyes are not good at taking away the nits. My children complain when I pull their hair together with the nits. He he.

Anyway, aside from doing the above, I had to ask what is the best shampoo for getting rid of head lice. We asked and bought from the pharmacy whatever they have. So far, we’ve tried Kwell, Antilisa, Oilganics and Licealiz already. Though the head lice of my kids have been under control, we’ve not yet gotten rid of them totally.

Head lice shampoo available in the Philippines

So, which product is the best head lice shampoo?

Among the four products, I think Kwell is the strongest or most effective, but my kids don’t like its irritating scent and feel on their scalp. Its main ingredient is permethrin, which is a chemical ingredient that I’ve seen as component in dog lice shampoo. My kids use it once a week as indicated in the package. They used it for two to three weeks, I think, but then the lice still came back anyway.

Licealiz is also a product that uses a chemical ingredient – pyrethrin, but this formulation is less irritating because of its added conditioning formula. The kids like this better than Kwell. The product package says use it twice a week until the lice are gone and then once a week for prevention.

The last two, Antilisa and Oilganics, are 100% herbal treatment shampoos. Antilisa has neem oil, while Oilganics has quassinoid. Antilisa can be used twice a week as the commercial says, while Oilganics can be used everyday up to 15 days.

Why do the head lice appear again? Most likely we don’t use the shampoo and the nit comb as often as we should to totally get rid of all of them. I read in this article that for some it’s actually possible to get rid of the head lice with just using the nit comb, but you have to do it morning and evening for three weeks. And if using head lice shampoo, this article says to use it twice seven days apart. The first application kills all lice and the second kills those that hatched from the eggs. Also, it’s best to combine shampoo treatment with nit combing.

As of now, my girls still have some head lice, but not that much. Do you have any suggestion for treating head lice? Any shampoo that we have not yet tried? Or perhaps any regimen that worked for you? Please share it in the comments below. It might just be what my kids need. Thank you.