★★★★★
I am writing to recommend a relatively inexpensive essential oil from a plant in the same family as lemongrass and citronella. Palmarosa oil.
It has a light citrusy smell, to me, though others say it smells rosy. It is far less expensive than sandalwood oil, which does work well but costs so very much - and therefore is often adulterated, I'm sorry to say.
It works. It works. Some sources recommend using it at 50%, yes that is fifty percent, in carriers. I actually have used it neat, at full strength, directly on my skin, on hot spots. Be cautious about that: it contains geraniol and related compounds and can sensitize people.
It does not feel dramatic - just slightly cooling. No burning. I believe it has "knockdown", which is to say it immobilizes the mites before killing them. This is because there seems to be very little crawling or new / intensified itching after it is applied.
Most importantly, it seems to kill eggs.
You can add it to body lotion or to shampoo and conditioner; use the least complicated formulas you can find or make your own lotion. It blends well with lemon oil, with tea tree oil, or with its relatives citronella, lemongrass, and also with geranium oil.
If you make a hair and body spray using ethyl alcohol, wear a face mask, as the mist WILL make you cough if you don't. I'm serious about this. To use the spray on your face, spray it into your hand to apply.
The hydrosol is supposedly safe for cats. Some sites claim the oil itself is safe for cats. I would urge caution, but it should be safe to use in a rug shampoo, in a cleaning solution for walls and surfaces, etc. as long as you use normal dilutions for it and ventilate the area as it dries. To use the hydrosol on Kitty, first wet a paper towel with water and squeeze out the excess, then spray hydrosol on the damp towel, and work it into the fur, trying to reach the skin. Don't spray Kitty, this oil can irritate the nose and throat to a surprising extent in mist form.
I am putting in a link to a paper I found a while ago, where scientists tested palmarosa and several other oils, and found that palmarosa and clove oil gave outstanding results. Since I found that paper, scientific publishers have been paywalling everything and charging horrible prices for access, so if this is also paywalled now I am very, very sorry. Here is the most important information from the abstract:
Results: Using contact bioassays, 1% clove and palmarosa oil killed all the mites within 20 and 50min, respectively. The oils efficacy order was: clove > palmarosa > geranium > tea tree > lavender > manuka > bitter orange > eucalyptus > Japanese cedar.
In fumigation bioassays, the efficacy order was: tea tree > clove > eucalyptus > lavender > palmarosa > geranium > Japanese cedar > bitter orange > manuka. In both bioassays, cade oil showed no activity.
Conclusion: Essential oils, especially tea tree, clove, palmarosa, and eucalyptus oils, are potential complementary or alternative products to treat S. scabiei infections in humans or animals, as well as to control the mites in the environment.
Here is the link: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/s13071-016-1889-3
And yes, I'm afraid that this publisher is now paywalling everything. If you can get to the paper via your library or your workplace, it is well worth a read, but hopefully the bit I have quoted will help.
