After just reading an article in the Nov. and Dec. issue of Countryside about a connection between head lice shampoo and leukemia, and this may be an old subject here, but there is a safe cure. Just have the infected person stand in the shower and coat their hair and eyebrows too with plain ole mayo. It stiffeles the little critters, just massage it in and leave it on about 10 minutes, then use the shower to rinse it off. Done.

-- mitch hearn (moopups@citlink.net), October 27, 2001

Answers

Thank you! I have kids in school and was wondering what I could use if we ever had that problem. Scary thing is, if we would have had an "outbreak" a few years ago, I would have used that stuff. I know my sister did. And moms usually have little bitty kids at home when the older kids bring lice home.

-- notnow (notnow05@yahoo.com), October 27, 2001.

When my daughter was in public school, guess what she brought home with her? LICE! I was horrified! We tried all the OTC stuff - RID and their counterparts, and they did NOT work. Finally, we found something that really worked, and that was to put oil of lavender in baby shampoo, lather it up, wait 5 minutes, rinse and then do it again. Kills the buggers dead! Works great, and won't hurt the kids. I'm sure the mayo would work, too. ANYTHING is better and safer than that RID crapola!

-- Cheryl in KS (cherylmccoy@rocketmail.com), October 27, 2001.

Boy that was a scary article! I wonder what publication excerpt came from? No mention of Medical or Scienctific studies.

-- Mark in N.C. Fla. (deadgoatman@webtv.net), October 27, 2001.

My kids had lice last year too, and I HATED it. This year, I am using a coconut-based shampoo-I read somewhere that it repels lice. I have a coconut shampoo and a coconut Tea-tree oil shampoo, so far- no lice (we had already had an outbreak by this time last year) I'm alittle nervous about the Rid stuff, My best luck was to goop them up with a lot of plain conditoner-seems to stun the critters for a while, then comb and pick out with fingernails.

-- Kelly in Ky (Ksaderholm@yahoo.com), October 27, 2001.

One of the many occupations I have held has been hairdresser. The mayo won't kill the lice but will make it easier to comb through. It will still leave the egges therefoe more lice days later. I agree with the article in CSM. If the child is under the age of 3 go to your pediatrician. He can prescribe a safer shampoo to use. If they are older the product in the article is a safe and effective one or go to your local healthfood store. You have to kill the eggs they have laid. These are not always seen by the naked eye.So if you treat the symptoms and not the problem it can get expensive because in a couple days to a week you can have a rehatching of the eggs left behind. Also, wash all bedding,combs,hats etc..in clorox.They do not have live lice on them(lice have to have a carrier of oxygen and food,therefore can't live off of a body or hair strand that is not attached for over 4 minutes)but will still have the eggs which can last a little longer without a carrier. I hope this helps. Just becareful and read directions before putting anything on your childs head.God Bless.If you have any questions feel free to email.

-- Micheale from SE Kansas (mbfrye@totelcsi.net), October 27, 2001.

We got lice at a Christian family camp. I had it the worst; Tom didn't have it at all!! Go figure. We had four children then; the fourth one was only a few weeks old, and he had it, too. Shaving the older boys' heads (it was summer anyway) helped; I had to have my long hair cut. We used a kind of shampoo that killed the nits, too. I forget what it was called, but I put it on the baby, too. They said it was safe for that age, and I took their word for it. If this happened again, I would do a lot of things differently, and ask a lot more questions. But I remember standing in the shower after my hair cut and using a fine tooth comb in my wet hair. We didn't see any more lice after that, but it took the rest of the week to get everybody's bedding, stuffed bedtime toys, pillows, etc. clean. We even washed walls. I will never again use the term "nit-picky" lightly.

-- Cathy N. (keeper8@attcanada.ca), October 27, 2001.

My Mom tells me that when she was younger she and all her brothers and sisters got lice. My Grandma had 14 children! The boys got hair cuts but since they were Mennonite they couln't cut the girls hair. Can you imagine all those girls with waist-length hair?! Grandma and Grandpa combed all day long to get rid of the nits!

-- Jo (mamamia2kids@msn.com), October 27, 2001.

We are homeschooling this year, but last year my daughter came home from public school about 15 times with a note that said....someone in your childs class has headlice, please check your child. I could not believe it, seemed like every other week!

We use a very expensive shampoo and conditioner than do not have chemicals in them, they DO have tea tree oil though, and she NEVER got head lice last year! I have read many places that this stuff works and I have to believe it did!

Just my 2 cents :)

-- Primitive Passion (oldquiltlover@hotmail.com), October 27, 2001.

I've been told the tea tree oil shampoo as a preventative by a pharmacist. I've also heard that rinsing with vinegar after shampooing goes a long way to helping, as well. That's what we do (vinegar). Worked so far.

-- Rheba (rhebabeall@hotmail.com), October 28, 2001.

My kids seem to pick it up about once a year. I found that metal combs they sell at the drug store work the best you get like 4 different types of combs for $10.00 I tried the mayo thing and it does ok but you usually end up with greasy hair for a while.

-- mindy (speciallady@countrylife.net), October 29, 2001.

Mayo..Mayo..Mayo....Nix did NOT work...Mayonaise smothers the lice...Put about 1/2 jar in my son's head..left it there for 2 hours and the nits just fell out...rinsed hair with dishsoap then regular shampoo...combed hair dipped in vinegar and water...have not had a problem since

-- Lauren Kelly (LaurenK@hotmail.com), October 06, 2002.

Just a helpful hint. After my daughter brought home the "itchy scratchies", I ended up using olive oil on her head at night and left it in over night. The next morning before I would wash it, I would rinse it out with dish detergant first, then the suave coconut shampoo and conditioner. Good LUck!

-- Dee Marshall (cede@aol.com), October 06, 2002.