Don’t believe the Nix package. The hair dryer is your friend.Here’s some info I’ve mentioned before, but it is worth mentioning again. Researchers at the University of Utah created a contraption called “The Lousebuster”(Update: This device is now called the AirAlle). It is a souped-up blow dryer that kills 80% of lice and 98% of nits. Sounds great, huh? It is, but read on…
In creating this specialized tool, they did quite a bit of research about blowing air and head lice. Here’s what they discovered the effectiveness of using a regular blow dryer as a weapon against head lice:
“A handheld blow dryer was used to apply directed heading. Hair clips were used to divide each child’s hair into 20 sections. The dryer was held still for 30 seconds to heat one side, then held still another 30 seconds to heat the other side. This method killed 55 percent of lice and 98 persent of eggs.” (Emphasis added.) They also say in this study that it is the blowing air that dries out the lice, and not the heat. And all of this was after just one treatment. Imagine the effectiveness when using directed heating with your blowdryer on a regular basis!
So, there you have it. Hair dryers are somewhat effective and should be one of the weapons in your head lice arsenal. I know that the makers of the lice “shampoos” told you not to use a hair dryer. And Alberta Health Services told you not to use a hair dryer. That’s because the use of hair dryers make the pesticides stop working. Guess what? Those pesticides don’t work that well anyway. Even the researchers who discovered the effectiveness of the hair dryer have tried to take the attention off of their research data in this regard, saying that a hair dryer is ineffective. (That is because they have their own air-blowing product to sell.)
Skip the pesticidal treatments. Read the data. Put the hair in sections and start blowing the scalp with warm (not hot) air. Just one more thing to add to your tool belt.
