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.
Mayonnaise
Posted by Iowama (Pella, Iowa/usa) on 06/29/2011
★★★★☆
Thank you for your forum on headlice. My granddaughter's headlice have resisted both the an OTC and an RX treatment, but they succumbed to mayonaise. I applied it as per a you-tube video, using plastic wrap and having her wear it for several hours. I did as complete a wash and rinse as a 2 year old will allow, but the hair still looked a little dirty. I found the nits slid off more easily than with the 2 previous treatment tries. I repeated 2 days later and am continuing to check for nits. Great results!
Coconut Oil
Posted by Heavensent (Regina, Sask) on 06/24/2011
I used dish soap to get the oil out, it worked great!!
Denorex Shampoo
Posted by Anonymous (Fl, Usa) on 05/01/2011
★★★★★
Try Denorex Coal Tar 2.5% shampoo. Moisten hair (but not to the point of saturation), put the shampoo first at the base of neck where the hair starts and also concentrate on the hair around the ears. Leave it on for 30 minutes with a towel on your head. It will BURN and be somewhat uncomfortable for that 30 minutes, but when you see all those dead bugs in the water, you will be glad you tried it. I think, as another poster said, the shampoo "cooks" the lice and nits. Also, before treatment I visibly had nits on my hair line and the day after treatment, they were gone. Apparently, the shampoo works well with lice. You have to repeat the treatment every day for a week to make sure you're OK and you also have to be diligent about cleaning your clothes and environment.
Listerine
Posted by Cristina (La Coruna, Spain) on 04/21/2011
★★★★★
My daughter brought home lice from school a few weeks ago and all the family got them. We tried products from drugstores and supermarkets and they were no use.
Then one day someone told me about Listerine and vinegar, great!! And it doesn?t even feel cold or itchy on your head.
What you do, is you pour Listerine (I used the blue one) over your head making sure it's all over. Then you put a shower cap on and wait for 2 hours. After that you rinse your hair with water (you?ll find some of the lice dead). The next step is to rinse your head thoroughly with white vinegar (this helps to get rid of the nits) and massage well. Rinse again with water.
Then you just wash your hair normally with shampoo and conditioner. I always add a few drops (5 o 6) of tea tree oil to the shampoo, this helps them NOT come back at school!
Our hair is very shiny and clean, and we are at last rid of the plague.
Rubbing Alcohol
Posted by Rick (Benton, Ar) on 03/23/2011
★★★★★
I got a wicked case of head lice from a hotel in Alexandria, La recently when I went on a job interview. After just 2 days my head was on FIRE!!! I took my cat's flea comb and ran it through my hair, and BINGO, there was one of the little rascals! I dumped about 1/4 of a bottle of household rubbing alcohol on my head, guarding my face and eyes with a towel, and YOWEEEE did it burn! but here I am 10 minutes later (YES 10 MINUTES)! And no burning or itching! Thanks Earth Clinic! I am not sure if it is appropriate to mention my life long cure for athletes foot, ringworm, and exyma, which is Ether based starting fluid????? Can I share that?? 23 years later, and athletes foot won't even come near my zip code!
Eucalyptus Oil
Posted by Cathrine (Perth, Western Australia, Australia) on 03/05/2011
★★★★★
I have been reading the posts here and I have noticed eucalyptus oil has not been mentioned. In the past I have used the oil successfully for head lice and fleas.
I have on occasion sat down with my cats and searched through their fur for fleas and when I spotted one I would just touch it with a oil soaked cotton bud. The flea died instantly. So I am thinking the oil is highly toxic to small insects such as lice and fleas.
I would imagine scabies would be in the same family as these insects. If you do try eucalyptus oil please research the correct dilution with a carrier oil. For head lice I didnt dilute it but I have read warnings that one should always dilute the oil. I also read the oil fries the fleas exoskeleton.
Good luck!
Coconut Oil
Posted by Maskeen (Dubai, Uae) on 01/01/2011
★★★★★
When I was young and had immigrated to the US, I had lice in my hair. My mom put virgin coconut oil in my hair and made me go play out in the yard. Coconut oil hardens below 76 degrees F. The oil hardened in my hair and the lice died. She did this for two weeks to make certain the the newly hatched nits also died. Within two weeks I was lice free.
Mayonnaise and Vinegar
Posted by Sara (Rockford, Il ) on 12/28/2010
★★★★★
Mayo instead of miracle whip for at least 4 hours (plasic on head) rinse it out then rinse with vinegar, this will loosen eggs and get rid of the grease from mayo.. Repeat in 5 to 7 days
Coconut Oil
Posted by Angel (Peoria, Il) on 12/28/2010
Hi, when my daughter was one year old she applied about a whole bottle of Vaseline in her hair. I did many, many shampooing to get it out and nothing would touch it , so I searched here on internet, and found vinegar. Rinse with vinegar it will cut the grease right out instantly.. Hope this helps..
Cetaphil
Posted by Racer (Hampton, Tn) on 11/15/2010
★★★★★
Cetaphil rubbed into hair and blow dried until hair is dry, kills lice. Put it on hair, then a shower cap and leave on all night. Wash out and comb through. 15 drops tea tree oil in any bottle of shampoo or conditioner used twice a week should keep the lice away as long as the lice comb is used all the time to get bugs out of the hair.
Tea Tree Oil, White Vinegar, Liquid Soap
Posted by Racer (Hampton, Tn) on 11/15/2010
★★★★★
Lice Remedy
6 ounces Dawn
2 ounces white vinegar
2 TBSP Tea Tree Oil
You can get this all at walgreens. Put six ounces of dawn in a measuring cup that measures ounces, and then add white vinegar to it until it rises two more ounces. Put two tablespoons of Tea Tree Oil into this. Mix up. Put on hair, Massage in, put grocery bag over hair, close with clothespin. Leave on 10 minutes. Take off bag, massage and rinse, put in conditioner, rinse and comb out with lice comb. Maintain this by putting 15 drops of Tea Tree oil into any botttle of shampoo or conditiuoner and using twice a week. I give the kids each their own lice comb or flea comb and tell them to brush their heair each time it itches, and anytime they think of it, morning and night also.
Mayonnaise and Vinegar
Posted by Rika (Riverside, Ca) on 10/10/2010
★★★★★
We recently had head lice and our whole family did each a mayonnaise treatment( w/ some ACV added) on our heads. We covered our hair and head w/ a plastic cap. After 30min - 1 hour we washed it out again. I washed only the pillows thinking we will do a deeper treatment w/ the "real " stuff from the health food store later. But it wasn't even necessary. I bought a metal lice comb and combed our hairs through w/ it every day or every other day until no more lice hatched. ( This was esential) This was so much easier to deal w/than flees( and I have very long hair up to my hips). I only washed the clothes we had worn the last few days( because lice can live for 2 days away from its host), but that was it.
Coconut Oil
Posted by Lon (Stanhope, Nj) on 09/07/2010
I add vinegar to shampoo to remove oils from my hair.
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.
Cedarwood Oil
Posted by Kelly Elmore (Kingston, Ok) on 08/26/2010
★★★★★
Cedar oil it awesome for lice, bed bugs, fleas and on and on. It's completely natural, smells good and absolutely no side effects, of course unless you're allergic to Cedar oil. It's amazing. I use on the yard, the outside of house, the inside of my house, for fire ants, flies, gnats, mosquitos, in my dogs ears, on my dogs and cats. It's GREAT!!!! No ill effects on anyone or any animal in our home.
Neem Oil
Posted by Cameron (Brisbane, Australia) on 04/05/2010
★★★★★
Like so many others I've had such success with remedies from this site I thought it was time to provide some feedback and maybe help others.
My little girls had not gone to school yet but now had their second case of headlice, I watched my sister in law go through hell with these creatures with 5 kids and now it was our turn. I tried the horrible Mayo and plastic bag idea but it was revolting firstly and secondly ineffective, that time I enede up using an OTC product from the pharmacy.
The second time I came straight here again and decided Neem was the go, I mixed 1 part Neem Oil to 2 parts Olive Oil and left the mixture in the girls hair for an hour. We combed all the dead lice out and the eggs, we never retreated them it was a once only treatment that was 100% successful, we now use a Neem Shampoo that has allowed my little school girl to survive 2 school headlice outbreaks nit free even though her best friend got them both times.
As others have said you could simply mix some neem oil into your usual shampoo, it will however leave a nasty ring around your bath but its a small price to pay for nit free kids.
Thanks to all who take the time to post here it makes others lives that much easier.
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.
Vinegar
Posted by Tina (Dayton, Oh) on 10/03/2009
★★★★★
I got rid of my daughter's lice a few years ago by pouring vinegar over her head in the bath tub and letting her sit there with it on for about 10 minutes, then rinsed. Did this for about 4 or 5 days while also removing as many as I could with a lice comb and getting every egg out I could find. But the vinegar does really kill them. You could see dead ones floating in the water. vaccuming and cleaning as much as possible is necessary as well.
