Mayonnaise Hair Treatment for Lice

Overview

Head lice are small insects that live in human hair and feed on blood from the scalp. They can quickly be passed from person to person, causing itching and sores on the head. Head lice also lay eggs, called nits, on the hair, which then hatch and release even more tiny insects that infest and irritate the scalp.

There are medicated shampoos and treatments for head lice, but some people are concerned about using those chemicals on their or their child's hair. So what's another good method of effectively killing lice? Smothering them with mayonnaise.

Step 1

Confirm the head lice infestation. Look for small, six-legged insects that are oblong in shape. They can really be any color, including gray or clear, but are most often brown in appearance. You can often see them crawling along the scalp, and they're only around 1/8 inch long. Look also for nits, which are usually clear, gray or brown in color and are attached to the hair shafts.

Step 2

Soak the hair with mayonnaise. Grab a jar of mayonnaise and slather it on the head, making sure that the hair is completely soaked. Make sure the mayonnaise is rubbed into the roots, and all the way down the hair to the tips. The idea is to suffocate the lice, so you want to make sure there's a good, thick coating of mayonnaise on the head.

Step 3

Wrap it up. Using a shower cap (or even pieces of plastic wrap), securely cover the mayonnaise-soaked hair. You want the wrap to be on tight, so you can also cover the shower cap or plastic wrap in a towel. Let the mayonnaise soak for about two hours.

Step 4

Rinse it out. Uncover the hair, being sure to promptly wash the towel in very hot water. Just throw away the shower cap or plastic wrap. Since the hair will be greasy and the mayonnaise difficult to wash out, try using some dishwashing detergent that is good for removing grease or try apple cider vinegar instead. Thoroughly rinse the hair, getting out all of the mayonnaise. Then give your hair a good shampooing with your regular shampoo.

Step 5

Pick out the nits. After you've killed and rinsed out the lice, you still need to deal with the eggs. Using a nit comb, separate hair into small sections and comb it out, looking for the tiny nits and removing them with the comb. Each time you rake the comb through your hair, clean off the comb on a clean paper towel. Keep raking the hair with the comb until you don't see any more nits sticking to the hair.

Step 6

Decontaminate clothes and linens. Make sure that you immediately wash all of your clothing, pillows, sheets and towels that your head has touched. Lice and nits can linger in your linens, so make sure that they're all washed in very hot water to kill all insects and eggs.

Step 7

Repeat the treatment in a week. To make sure that you successfully killed all of the lice and the nits, perform the same treatment after about a week. Keep checking the hair periodically to be sure there are no signs of lice or nits---if you see them, keep applying the mayonnaise treatment and make sure you've gotten rid of other sources (linens, clothing, nits with the comb, etc.).