Head lice are a common pest that has affected nearly every child of schooling age. It can be spread through something as simple as sharing a hug at school, or from trading hats or batting helmets. Sometimes it can be spread by just playing with a friend who doesn't know he or she even has lice. It's very easy for a child to get something as common as lice.

When parents learn that their child has head lice, they immediately try to find the best head lice treatment available. Most people will use lice shampoo that they can easily buy over the counter at grocery or drug stores.

Most people have been the recipients of misinformation when it comes to understanding that pubic lice and head lice are simply not the same. Head lice treatment does not need to be used everywhere on the body. If you or a family member has contracted head lice, the solution is to apply the special shampoos to your hair and scalp only.

Use of a lice shampoo is not the only head lice treatment available. The Internet offers information about many natural and cost-effective treatments. These include coating your hair in vegetable or baby oils for several hours or overnight in order to smother the lice and kill them.

One thing that is important no matter what head lice treatment you use, is that all bedding and furniture must be cleaned thoroughly to ensure that all of the lice are gone. Lice can live in a couch or a pillow for up to three weeks without human contact. Stuffed animals that are on your child's bed and coats and hats are all things that need to be cleaned if you want to ensure that the head lice is gone.

Finally, remember that anyone is susceptible to getting head lice. No matter how clean a family is, any contact with others, means the chance that lice can spread to them. Lice need to be exterminated completely. If they are not successfully eliminated you will experience a return bout of infestation and you will have to begin your regime all over.