Lice is gross.

It is a fact. The person who gets lice is not gross, but the actual lice themselves are. Using a word I once said in college and will never live down, it's growdy!

As a teacher, lice is one of the hazards of the job. But I do not plan on getting it. It makes my skin crawl and my head begin to itch just thinking about it! Despite popular belief (mostly among children,) lice like clean hair. Many people try to deter lice with hair products such as hair spray and hair gel. Since I do not use any product in hair and do not plan on it anytime soon, I needed something else. Turns out, lice also despise the smell of tea tree oil.

What you need:
Your favorite shampoo
Tea tree oil
An empty bottle

Pour your favorite shampoo into an empty bottle. I do this because I do not want to use this shampoo every day (it is very strong smelling!) I only wash my hair with this shampoo on school days and use my normal shampoo on weekends. If you don't mind using it every day you can skip this. Now add 15-20 drops of tea tree oil to the bottle and shake. Voila! You now have very inexpensive homemade lice shampoo!

This shampoo can be as expensive or cheap as you make it, you use whatever shampoo you prefer. The tea tree oil cost about $7.50 at the local drug store. This will last for a very long time if this is all you are using it for - however it has many other household uses! Amazon has lice prevention shampoo starting at $9.89 for 12oz. As with most homemade things, this is much cheaper!

*Note this is not a lice treatment, this is a preventative shampoo.*

Enjoy your lice free head!

-Katie