Your child is in a difficult situation with a head full of lice and eggs. You have tried so many ways to kill the lice but you are failed and want to try something new. Yes, you can kill and get rid of lice with a blow dryer. Several methods have been used for years to kill the lice and eggs. Some shampoos and narrow combs are found helpful to get rid of lice. But people are still facing this difficulty even after the invention of these shampoos and tools. Some people found useful a blow dryer in killing the lice and eggs. In this article, we will show you how to use a hair dryer to get rid of lice? We will discuss the tutorial in detail plus we will mention the cautions.
Contents
Blow Drying Kills Lice Truth or Lie?
Using a blow dryer works more effectively on lice eggs (nits) than it is on lice bugs themselves. About 169 children were out under the study to test the effectiveness of a wide variety of blow dryers on head lice. The blow dryers worked differently to kill the lice and they found the following results.
- The low-quality blow dryers only killed 10% of lice.
- The professional high-volume dryers killed about 80% of lice.
Note: The problem is that these professional-level dryers are not available to the public.
Using a blow dryer, however, affects significantly lice eggs. The heat combined with high speeds of airflow dehydrates lice eggs that makes them less likely to hatch. The studies have shown that the high speed of air prevents eggs from hatching. Surely, you cannot get rid of lice only with blow-drying but it helps to some extent.
Blow Dryer v/s Flat Iron
A blow dryer works to kill the lice and prevents eggs from hatching. A lice lives on your scalp where they feed and breathe through the holes. The lice are parasites and can live only on the host’s blood. You can blow out the lice but the flat iron cannot kill the lice as it cannot reach the scalp. It can only kill the lice present on the hair strands or can destroy the eggs on strands.
How to Use a Hair Dryer to Get Rid of Lice
Step-1
Wash your hair with an anti-lice shampoo and condition your hair as the anti-lice shampoo can make your hair dry and rough. Wash your hair regularly to get rid of lice as the dust and bacteria promotes this buildup in your scalp.
Step-2
Towel dry your hair until it is 60% dried then unwrap your hair. Detangle your hair with a wide-tooth comb because we are removing lice but not want to break our hair strands.
Step-3
Take a narrow tooth comb made to remove lice and start combing your hair strands. You will get a maximum number of lice and eggs with this comb. Grab your blow dryer and set it on medium temperature and start blow drying your hair.
Step-4
Finish blow-drying with medium heat and high speed, you will get rid of a maximum number of lice. The heat and airspeed make lice fall off your hair now kill them using any cotton buds and you are good to go.
Cautions
- It might happen that lice bugs that are blown off your child’s head and onto yours. You need to be careful and you can avoid this by using an anti-lice shampoo before you go to blow dry. This would decrease the risk factor of lice spreading.
- It is possible that you can burn your child’s hair and scalp with a blow dryer. To avoid such accidents, pay close attention to how your child is feeling and check the temperature levels too.
- Avoid combining blow-drying with pesticide or alcohol treatments because these are flammable. That could cause serious disasters, so be careful.
Conclusion
It is concluded that yes, you can blow out the lice bugs or destroy the eggs but you cannot get 100% results. Therefore keep practicing different methods to clean your child’s hair. You can go with an anti-lice shampoo treatment or use a narrow comb tool. You can fry the lice bugs or egg laid on hair strands using a flat iron. But be careful and always read the cautions before you attempt any method because your child’s safety comes first.
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