The comments below reflect the personal experiences and opinions of readers and do not represent medical advice or the views of this website. The information shared has not been evaluated by the FDA and is not intended to diagnose, treat, or prevent any disease or health condition. Always consult a qualified healthcare professional for medical concerns.
Vaseline
Posted by Elaine (Edmond, Oklahoma, Usa) on 09/06/2010
★★★★★
When my daughter was little she got hold of the Vaseline and smeared it in her hair. Like coconut oil it is very hard to wash out. Impossible in fact. Then I remembered when she was a baby I would put both Vaseline and baby powder on her tush. I thought, what's the point? The powder soaks up the Vaseline. Bingo! I sprinkled baby powder in her hair, let it set for a few minutes to soak up the Vaseline and washed out the powder. Talc works better than corn starch, but both work within one to two shampoos.
Kerosene
Posted by Teegr (Pacific Nw, Wa) on 03/22/2010
★★★★★
Just thought I'd tell you that my grandmother who was born in 1916 always told me about the time they got lice right after they had got married...and bought a used mattress after sleeping on the floor for months. They lived in rural Texas..and there was no running to a market in a wagon to get treatments...even had they the money during the depression. They certainly couldn't afford to throw away an infested mattress. They treated the mattress, bedding, AND themselves with kerosene (which they used for bedbugs in bedding when she was a child) and that took care of the problem, except for their eyelashes, which they picked off for awhile. I was always shocked when she told me about it...visualizing they soaked the mattress. She finally explained to me that they dipped a rag into kerosene and scrubbed the daylights out of it. As a result of her experience she always told me to drag out our mattresses and bedding into the sun to bake each side at least every spring, which I did faithfully till I couldn't drag a mattress outside anymore.
Hair Dye
Posted by Stardrum (Maple Falls, WA) on 05/29/2009
★★★★★
Lice cures: I am a foster parent, and as yet have never had a new child placed with me that didn't have lice. I have tried many remedies, including the tea tree, and the chemical, but the thing that has consistently worked for me the FIRST time is dyeing the child's hair. I use a commercial dye, and dye it the same color as the hair so it's not a dramatic change. Then, after the dyeing, we comb out the dead bugs and all nits. In two days after coming and combing, I use a salt water gel. This gel is applied, use a shower cap to cover for an hour or so, and then rinse. I then use tea tree oil in their shampoo forever, and we don't ever get them back. It leaves their hair soft and shiny too.
Olive Oil, Vinegar and Tea Tree Oil
Posted by SoCal (Orange County, CA) on 06/23/2008
★★★★★
Lice: I have found that olive oil, vinegar & tea tree oil works great. I soaked my daughter's head in Olive oil with a shower cap on it for 2 plus hours as soon as we discovered she had lice. We then used the metal nit combs to comb through her hair. You have to be very thorough doing this. It's best to section off areas of the hair. Using magnifying glasses and working in the best light - the outside sun - is the best way to be thorough about getting the nits. After combing through her hair the first time I then soaked her hair in vinegar for an hour or more with a different shower cap on. Then we combed through her hair again - with the tiny metal toothed combs - very very thoroughly. I rinsed the comb often in a bucket so the nits would be dislodged. Go over and over the sections of hair to get those nits and any left over lice. Most people get the lice but aren't thorough enough about getting the nits. The nits are eggs and they will hatch if you don't get rid of them. The whole cycle can start over if you aren't thorough with nit picking. She then shampooed with her regular shampoo that we put tea tree oil in - about 10 drops in a typical bottle of shampoo. We did the same in her conditioner but added twice as much tea tree oil. While the conditioner was in her hair she combed it through to dislodge any loosened nits/eggs. We continue to use the tea tree products and comb it through her hair periodically to ensure she no longer has lice. We have found this method to be better than using the chemicals.
Apple Cider Vinegar and Mayonnaise
Posted by Madison (Independence, Kansas) on 03/24/2008
★★★★★
MAYO and APPLE VINEGAR: all you have to do is smoother mayo in you're hair then let it set for 2 hours wash with no conditioner or shampoo the put apple viniger in it and set for 30 minutes rince and it cures
Mayonnaise
Posted by Cat (Harrisvill, WV) on 01/25/2008
★★★★★
Cat here! Mayonnaise for head lice: We live in rural WV. Head lice come up from time to time in these hills. Rather than use the expensive, extremely toxic poisons that are sold. We use mayonnaise (the real stuff). Slather enough to coat all your hair,wrap your head in a plastic bag and let be for about two hours. Wash out and comb with a fine tooth comb. Then shampoo, you won't need conditioner. Repeat in a few days. Wash all clothes and linen in hot, hot water. I would expect that homemade mayo would work just as well, but never tried it.
Lemons
Posted by lacey (wilmington, nc) on 12/03/2007
★★★★★
Lemon juice really works for lice. I poured some on my head and 5-7 lice bugs came out!! lemon juice is the key!
Coconut Oil
Posted by All Natural All The Time (Ottawa, Ontario, Canada) on 09/29/2012
To remove the oils (coconut or other) from hair, I use a 20% dilution of grain alcohol (like vodka, Alcool brand, Clear Spring brand). The 90% alcohols listed here are sold to make fruit preserves. Something like almost 1:5 with distilled water makes the 20% solution.
The solution will not rinse out the oil (unless you use gallons of it). Instead, soak the alcohol solution into the oily hair. Massage to mix with the oil. Oil mixes with alcohol. Alcohol mixes with water. Water mixes with soap. Add your soap or shampoo to the wet, oily hair. Massage to lather.
Once you get a lather going, the entire goop rinses out. I find that it takes me about three times with the alcohol mix and shampoo to remove all the oil. I used about 8 ounces of the alcohol mix on a head of short hair. A thick head of long hair may take more of the mix to remove it.
Tea Tree Oil
Posted by Lisa (Cheyene, Wyoming) on 06/09/2007
★★★★★
My daughter used to get lice when she was younger from kids at school. because she had the dish water blonde long hair they seemed to be atracted to, I would spend hours getting them and the eggs out. I used tea tree oil with her shampoo at first once a week, then once a month, then every so often. She never got another outbreak again. ( be sure to just use a couple drops it is very over powering. Hope this helps someone else
Kerosene
Posted by Carla (Las Cruces, USA) on 04/07/2007
★★★★★
Don't use it unless you are desperate but it definitely works in one application. I had long hair and got lice on a trip to India. There were no shampoos for it where I was, local people were just shaving their heads to deal with it. I was determined not to return home with lice (and to keep my hair), so I got talked into washing my hair in kerosene. Be Careful to keep it off your skin, it got on my sunburn --- ouch!
I said not to use it unless you have to because it's bad for your hair.. I had to have my hairdresser put on all kinds of special conditioners to get my hair back to normal.
Nit Remedies
Posted by Mgh (Uk) on 04/13/2015
Have you tried the nitty gritty comb , it was designed by a mum who was also an engineer, it has long teeth with spirals on them , you use on wet hair with conditioner, it just combs lice and nits out really quickly, no nasty chemicals. It was a life saver when my 4 children were little.
Kerosene
Posted by Paracelsus (Orlando, Fl) on 06/20/2018 47 posts
That sounds like a very crazy and dangerous idea. I doubt the Germans added diesel to booze. That can literally kill you.
Tea Tree Oil
Posted by Heather (Leicester) on 06/22/2012
★★★★★
Hi, this always works. You need a couple of bottles of tea tree hair conditioner from chemist- or any conditioner if that's not available but tea tree is the best due to it's smell and it being mildly antiseptic. You need one wide tooth comb to get rid of tangles and a couple of the small lice/ nit combs from the chemist in the White colour as these show up the nits so you can see them coming out. Wash hair as normal then towel dry hair til it is no longer dripping and just slightly damp. Then use the conditioner and use say half the bottle on
The whole head of hair. Use the wide tooth comb to help distribute the conditioner and to get rid of the knots and tangles so that when you use the small nit combs it won't hurt!
Next when you are tangle free and there is still plenty of conditioner left, work through the whole of the hair from root to tip with the small nit comb using the thicker end first to remove the bigger nits, they become immobile in the thick conditioner. Every time wipe the comb on tissue paper and you will see what you have removed and flush this away as some will come out live. You need to do the whole head to remove live ones then use the thinner side of the comb to remove the eggs, again wiping each time to ensure you don't transfer back to scalp/ hair. Use extra conditioner if necessary. Then rinse out the conditioner and dry hair. That's it!
Try and do everone in your house on same day and tell anyone you have been in contact with to do the same. Repeat again after a couple of days and then again after 1 week. Then take more vitamin c as I think all that nit biting lowers the immune system! Good luck. This works. Every time my daughters had them we got rid of them in this way. X
Tea Tree Oil
Posted by Heather (Leicester, England) on 04/03/2012
★★★★★
Here's how I always got rid of nits in my daughters hair. Go to the chemist and buy a couple of bottles of tea tree hair conditioner or, failing that peppermint and a couple of White plastic nit combs. Wash your child's hair in shampoo as normal and then towel dry it. Next load the hair up with tea tree conditioner and comb through with a wide tooth comb to ensure no tangles( very important! ) next use the wider part of the nit comb from root to end and wipe on a tissue every time - you will see large adult insects, and little eggs stuck in conditioner on paper, continue right through hair, paying extra attention around ears and back of neck. Then rinse conditioner out as normal. If you found lots of nits then repeat this process next night other wise leave it a couple of days then repeat. This treatment works every time and takes around 30 min depending on thickness and length of hair. Good luck
Baby Oil
Posted by Jooey2 (Cedar Lake, Indiana) on 04/03/2012
★★★★★
My daughter got lice and she has long curly hair, I used baby oil. It killed them washed everything and dried on high heat. It worked! I would get a bottle of the oil and some plastic hair wraps to keep the oil off other things. Drench hair and comb out bugs and nits. Wash out then I put more on head and left it on for a day. I was crawly and did me too. LOL
Eucalyptus Oil
Posted by Irene (Los Angeles, California Usa) on 02/08/2012
★★★★★
eucalyptis oil, tea tree oil, extra virgin olive oil, dawn dish soap
Finally cured after trying EVERYTHING!!! Just when I thought they were gone... The nits that I had missed started hatching. I immediately bought a bottle of tea tree oil for $11.00, eucalyptis oil for $4.00 at a store having to do with a red arrow aiming at something ha ha! (don't know if I can say on here... And they were not next to eachother I had to do some shelf hunting), also some extra virgin olive oil from a dollar store (warning: I heard if your child or yourself has had a history of epilepsy/seizures it is not good to use eucalyptus oil as it can bring out the seizures) for my 3 year old I used 3/4 tsp tea tree oil, 3/4 tsp eucalyptus oil, 2 tablespoons olive oil, then I mixed it with squirts of shampoo and mixed until syrup like. For my 5 year old and myself I used 1 tsp tree oil, 1 tsp eucalyptus, and 2 tablespoons olive oil and extra squirts of shampoo... I have long hair!!! I used a spray bottle to barely dampen their hair enough just so that it would create suds when I put the mixture on. I didn't want to get in their eyes so I "spooned" it into their hair in sections making sure I rubbed it very close to the roots/scalp (I didn't have any shower caps so I just rubber banded their hair up) let sit for 1 hour no less!! I draped towels on my couches so they wouldn't stain them and let them watch a movie for 1 hour and rinsed with water, after that I put dawn dishsoap in their hair and rinsed I immediately started seeing dead lice fall out... Combed out hair and removed all the bug bodies I could see more bodies as I was blow drying/combing out their hair.. I did see nits but they were all dead so keep pulling out nits just in case!! Been lice free for a whole week!!! When you rinse this stuff out make sure you put a washcloth over their eyes so it won't go in... Also keep eucalyptus oil out of reach of children it is extremely poisonus!! Good luck!!! :) you can even repeat just in case after 7 days.
Garlic Oil
Posted by London3 (Sacramento, Ca) on 01/10/2012
★★★★★
My daughter and I have been fighting to get rid of her head lice for 2 months. I tried rid, nix, 2 different prescriptions, tea tree oil, and mayonaise. None of it worked. Those buggers were resistant to everything! I then remembered how well the garlic oil cleared up my bunnies mites, so I tried it in her hair for almost 15 hours and the next day was her first day nit free in 2 months!! She and I both agree that it was the easiest and only treatment that worked!
Pure Alcohol, Aka Rubbing Alcohol
Posted by Joe (Starkville, Ms) on 12/20/2011
★★★★★
Easy, inexpensive remedy that completely eliminated lice after 3 treatments. Mix equal parts of 91% rubbing alcohol and white vinegar into a spray bottle. Add 1 drop of tea tree oil for every fluid ounce of mixture. 3-4 ounces will be sufficient to treat a head of long hair. Thoroughly wet hair with mixture, and comb out in sections with metal nit comb. After every few strokes, rinse the comb in a container of water to see what is coming out of the hair and to track progress. Wash and condition hair afterwards with coconut based products. Blow dry hair on high heat. Repeat treatment every other day to break the reproduction cycle until lice are gone.
