Who doesn’t remember those wonderful days at school when we all had to line up and have the teacher run a pencil through our hair one-by-one checking for head lice? We always wondered who was going to get sent home. Now, you might be hoping it’s not your child who is found to be infected by these nasty blood-sucking parasites.

If your child should end up with lice though, you might be even more concerned about the very toxic shampoos and medicines commonly used to get rid of them. Most of these are the equivalent of bug sprays. Do you want these poisons on or in your child? Probably not. Luckily there may be a home remedy for head lice that works for you.

Top Remedies for Treating Head Lice at Home:
First, all items of clothing, bedding, etc.. should be washed and then either thrown away or sealed in plastic for a couple weeks. Lice cannot survive any length of time without their human hosts.

Next, we’ve got to kill the lice present in the hair.
Mayonnaise Cover the hair, scalp, base of the neck and around the ears completely in mayonnaise, then cover with a plastic shower cap. After a couple of hours, this should smother any lice. This is followed by shampooing thoroughly several times.

You can also use vaseline in place of mayonnaise. The advantage is it can be left on over night. (You can’t leave mayonnaise on over night because it spoils and can sicken your child.) The downside is you need to use a lot of baby oil afterwards to get the vaseline out.

Now that we’ve gotten rid of any living lice, we must remove the eggs or nits of future lice.

Vinegar - Now shampoo the hair with vinegar. Run a comb through, preferably a nit comb to remove the eggs. After rinsing and drying, you should go through the hair and pick out any remaining nits (they are visible as very small, oval, white or yellow colored specs attached to the hair shaft). Dispose of the nits in soapy water with vinegar. You must check each hair. It is time consuming.

Keep checking every day for new nits! Any missed can easily hatch and start spreading lice again.

Although this cure for lice is very time consuming, think about the advantages of not putting strong toxic medicated shampoos on your child!

Hair loss can be caused by inadequate nutrition. Even a partial lack of almost any nutrient may cause hair loss.
Persons lacking vitamin B6 lose their hair and those deficient in folic acid often become completely bald. But the hair grows normally after the liberal intake of these vitamins.

Another important cause of falling of hair is stress such as worry, anxiety and sudden shock. Stress leads to a severe tension in the skin of the scalp. This adversely affects the supply of essential nutrition required for the healthy growth of the hair.

For hair loss, several home remedies have been found useful.

The most effective among these remedies is a vigorous rubbing of the scalp with finger after washing the hair with cold water.
The scalp should be rubbed vigorously till it starts to tingle with the heat. It will activate the sebaceous glands and energize the circulation of blood in the affected area, making the hair grow healthy.

Amla oil, prepared by boiling dry pieces of amla in coconut oil, is considered a valuable hair toni for enriching hair growth. A mixture of equal quantity of fresh amla juice and lime juice used as a shampoo stimulates hair growth and prevents hair loss.

Lettuce is useful in preventing hair loss through deficiencies. A mixture of lettuce and spinach juice is said to help the growth of hair if it is drunk to the extent of half a liter a day.

The juice of alfalfa ( lecerne) in combination with carrot and lettuce juice, taken daily also helps the growth of hair to a remarkable extent. The combination of these juices is rich in elements which are particularly useful for the growth of hair.
While preparing alfalfa juice, the leaves of the plant only may be used when it can be obtained fresh.

Daily application of refined coconut oil mixed with lime water and lime juice on the hair, prevents loss of hair and lengthens them.

Application of the juice of green coriander leaves on the head is also considered beneficial.

Amaranth, known as chaulai-ka-saag in the vernacular, is another valuable remedy. Application of its fresh leaf-juice helps the growth of the hair and keeps them soft.

Mustard oil, boiled with henna leaves, is useful in healthy growth of hair. About 250 grams of mustard oil should be boiled in tinned basin. A little quantity of henna leaves should be gradually put in this oil till about 60 grams of these leaves are thus burnt in the oil. The oil should then be filtered through a cloth and stored well in a bottle.
A regular massage of the head with this oil wil produce abundant hair.

Another effective home remedy for loss of hair is the application of coconut milk all over the scalp and massaging it into the hair loss. It will nourish the hair and promote hair growth. The coconut milk is prepared by grinding the coconut shavings and squeezing it well.

Washing the hair with a paste of cooked black gram dal, and fenugreek lengthens the hair. A fine paste made from pigeon pea or red gram ( arhar dal ) can also be applied regularly with beneficial results on bald patches.

Regular use of castor oil as hair oil helps the luxuriant growth of the hair.

Certain home remedies have also been found useful in case of patchy loss of hair. The seeds of lime and black pepper seeds, ground to get a fine paste, is one of the valuable remedies. This paste applied on the patches, has mildly irritant action. This increases blood circulation in the affected area and stimulates hair growth. The paste should be applied twice a day for a few weeks.

Another useful remedy for patchy loss of hair is the paste of liquorice made by grinding the pieces in milk with a pinch of saffron. This paste should be applied over the bald patches in the night before going to bed.

Having a cold sore? Let’s get this out in the open as soon as possible. Cold Sores are a form of Herpes - the Herpes Simplex Virus. It is a common, contagious, and often sexually transmitted disease that is unfortunately at this time incurable. The symptoms are the blisters which can appear anywhere on the body, but are especially common around the mouth and genital regions.

If you are suffering through an active outbreak of the Herpes Simplex virus, you probably want some way to deal with the pain and embarrassment. The cold sore home remedy list below shows some ways people around the world have remedied the symptoms of this virus.

Top Home Remedies for an Outbreak of Cold Sores:

L-Lysine - This supplement can be found at health food stores. It is also present in high quantities in Tuna Fish. Take the 1,000mg supplements or start eating a lot of canned tuna as soon as you feel the tingle.

Colloidal Silver applied to the spot where you can feel the cold sore coming in. Also taken orally as a preventative.

Tea Tree Oil placed on a cotton ball and dabbed liberally on the area where you suspect the sores are about to develop. People claim they keep the sore size to a minimum and limit scarring.

Nail Polish Remover dabbed on the sore. People say it burns like crazy but dries the sore up quickly.
Ice - Keep icing down the area where you feel the sores starting. Again, this is supposed to minimize the size of the sores and the strength of the outbreak.

To prevent spreading this virus which may infect between 25-30% of the adult population in the USA, abstinence is best (though rarely practical, eh?) and at least well protected intercourse with condoms is suggested. Condoms cannot completely prevent the spread of this virus though as it can be spread even when you are not having an outbreak from simple skin to skin contact.