Beating Headlice Naturally - Puressentiel Review

The kids have been back at school for 1 week and already one of mine has brought home some visitors. Not the kind of guests who eat all your food and don't put the loo seat down, these are the kind who turn up uninvited and make you itch...

Head lice and nits are a constant battle for parents in most parts of the UK, it's only in remote areas you are likely to escape. Before you feel disgusted, just bear in mind that a child has to have friends in order to catch head lice. They pretty much need to have head to head contact, so the little blighters can walk from one person to another. Your child is spending time playing with other children, so it isn't all bad.

I've talked extensively about headlice in an awesome post I wrote a couple of years ago, with video and photos. If you are new to headlice and nits, or there's anything you are unsure of - go check it out. Everything You Need To Know About Headlice.

Gone are the days when we had little choice but to pour insecticide and poison on our children's heads. We know better now. Headlice breathe through their skin, and intelligent headlice treatments including Puressentiel take advantage of this by coating the lice in oil, where they suffocate and dehydrate. It's probably better for the lice than being scraped out with a comb and squished or drowned in the loo. It's certainly far less harmful to your child than the nerve toxins used on me and other children in the 70's.

We were asked on Friday to put Puressentiel to the test, and it simply couldn't have come at a more appropriate time. We hot-footed it to our local Boots, (Puressentiel is also available at Lloyds Chemist and on Amazon) and within hours I was rubbing it onto both of my younger childrens' heads. If one of them catches 'nits' then very often they share, so I generally treat both the same.

I check my children's hair weekly, so thankfully found only a few live adult lice, and a handful of nits - the eggs. It's always worth checking everyone - it's amazing how often Mum or Dad unknowingly catch the headlice from their children and then re-infect them within days of treatment. Children are great, aren't they?

The enclosed 'nit comb' or 'detector comb' is a really nice one. The handle is large for good control - you don't want to tug any more than you can help it. The teeth are really long, which makes it easier for thick or long hair, and they have grooves spiral towards the handle, to trap nits and lice even more securely.

Don't ever use a detector comb on one head and then go straight to another. Always clean it first, you can submerge it in a bowl of really hot water for 10 minutes if you're a wimp.

The Puressentiel Anti-Lice is a lovely, genuinely 100% natural product with a great smell. Made from Coconut, Calophyllum, Jojoba, Sunflower, Sweet Almond and Castor Oils to asphyxiate the lice, plus soothing and antiseptic essential oils to calm your irritated scalp - Lavender, Clove, Tea Tree and Geranium.

Like all pure oils, you'll find that Puressentiel actually starts to set to a white fat when it gets cold. I just left the lid on and dropped mine in the bath to soften it, and when melted it becomes a clear liquid.

Puressentiel really doesn't leave hair greasy at all. Instead it gives it a nice conditioned sheen. I've not used anything else on my son's hair, and I'm pleased with the outcome. Soft and as tangle-free as it is ever likely to be.

You will need to repeat treatment a few days later to catch any you missed. Newly laid nits are no wider than a hair shaft, so almost impossible to comb away or even see. Oils are most effective on lice because nits can be attached to the hair shaft up to 1cm away from the scalp, so are simply harder to smother.  Once hatched, lice crawl on the scalp and will get covered in oil and suffocate and begin to dehydrate immediately. Head lice can't develop a resistance, there is nothing to resist or learn from.

Puressentiel has impressed me with it's entirely natural formulation, using products well-known to be good for hair and scalp health, and combining them into an effective nit and lice killing treatment. Adding in the excellent quality comb makes this a great product that I happily recommend. I just wonder how long it'll be before I'm using it again...

Puressentiel is available now in 100ml bottles (enough for 2-3 applications to short-medium hair)  with the excellent detection comb, priced around £12.99 (at time of writing £6.49 half price in Lloyds Chemist).  Suitable for age 3+.

Find out more on the Puressentiel Website, and stay up to date with special offers on Puressentiel Facebook and Twitter pages.

I was paid by Puressentiel for the time taken to complete this review.