My instinctive thought when the words "head lice" come up are "yuck!" I suspect I'm not terminally unique in that. For reasons unknown I was lucky enough, when my young'uns were growing up, to avoid them. But we get asked frequently if there is a natural solution. In the past I've read research using some very irritating and sensitizing essential oils, that proved effective in killing lice; but I rather thought "the cure is worse than the disease" and hesitated to pass the information along.
Came across some research done in Argentina that indicates that two different combinations of essential oils might prove effective.
The first combination uses a blend of alcohol and water (one part ethanol, one part isopropyl alcohol, and two parts water) with a blend of Eucalyptus, Peppermint, and Lavender, diluted to 5% (no, they don't say which lavender or which eucalyptus was used, unfortunately.) Another combination, shown as effective as any commercial preparation that was tested, was equal parts of Peppermint and Eucalyptus oil in a 10% dilution, dissolved in 192 proof ethanol.
(Maybe they are just getting the wee beasties drunk?)
At any rate, thought the above might be worth trying if your children brought home "unwanted visitors" from school or a friend's house.
2 comments:
great info! I'm going to post this link to our blog - I've gotten this question before and never really knew what to say!
here's a home remedy that i've read on the net on how to remove head lice..
INGREDIENTS:
1 bottle of Listerine mouthwash
White vinegar
INSTRUCTIONS:
1. Saturate the hair with listerine mouthwash and cover with a shower cap. Leave for 2 hours then shampoo in the normal way.
2. Then saturate the hair with white vinegar and comb with a nit comb and the vinegar destroys the glue that the head lice fix the nits to the hair with. Just comb them out.
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