It use to be that your kid had lice, you'd buy an over-the-counter chemical product, (shampoo or oil) follow the instructions, comb that angel head thoroughly and be done with it.
But for the few years, despite doing everything the right way, trying about 6 different brands of anti-lice products, my daughter would ongoingly have nits and nothing seemed to be able to get rid of them...
I never had some myself, not even as a kid, probably because my hair is way fine & brittle to the liking of these little creatures. I also thought those days would be over as your child grows into a teen. But no... Are selfies helping the spread? In any case, these survivor lice were big, disgusting and just immortal it seemed... So I went on the internet to understand if "our lice" were special or if others experienced the same thing and what was the way to get rid of them.
Between 2013 and 2015, 98.3% of lice collected in the US were identified as pesticide-resistant, or "Super lice". Super lice are no different to the regular ones except they just don't die and have become resistant to pharma products currently available on the market.
Expert Lice Clinics in the US recommend to comb, comb and comb your hair, since no product will help get rid of them. So the only solution is to manually get rid of each egg... Try find a needle in a hay-stack...
Is there a natural way to rid of these super-immortal lice?
I remembered Neem was used as a natural pesticide for gardeners (yes, I know... but I thought a bug is a bug, so why not?).
The Neem tree, also called Azadiracta Indica or Margosa is is indigenous to South-East Asia, West Africa, South and Central America. It is used in remedies for skin disorders, fever, malaria, wounds, ulcers, tumours, anorexia, vomiting, dyspepsia, worm infestation, cough, bronchitis, diabetes, inflammation and otalgia. Its twigs are used to clean teeth.
Among others, Neem is known for it is an antifungal, antibacterial, antiseptic and antiviral properties and as a potent insecticide.
In a "grand-mother" recipe, I saw that onion juice was also potent in getting rid of lice and so by mixing the two, I hoped we'd finally manage to get rid of this pest. And it worked!! After months of trying chemicals from pharmacies, combing for hours and so forth, we finally found a natural remedy to those Super-lice survivors.
Recipe:
Crush an oignon to extract its juice (in a mortar or equivalent - you might have to use 2 oignons to get enough juice to cover the head).
Mix the juice with pure organic Neem oil (I'm not recommending any particular brand, put buy it pure -not mixed with anything else- cold pressed and organic). Again, enough oil to cover the scalp and hair length.
Spread the mixture on scalp and hair.
Wrap in a towel
Leave in overnight (if your child is compliant) or at least 4 to 5 hours wrapped in a towel
rince, shampoo
comb
Just to be on the safe side
The day after the treatment, some nits were still present, but easily removable as they wouldn't stick to the hair anymore. To be sure we applied pure Neem oil alone (without the oignon juice which isn't so nice), kept it in for a couple of hours, head wrapped in a towel again...
And... SUCCESS! This is a brilliant way of getting rid of the problem. Try it for yourself.
Happy Lice hunting!
For gardeners:
Be careful not to put too much Neem oil or the plant will be hurt a much as the bugs...
For 1 liter of a 0.5 % dilution of neem plant spray you need:
5 ml (1 tsp) neem oil (use pure, cold pressed oil)
1-2 ml (1/3 tsp) insecticidal soap or just any soap (say, a bit of dish washer liquid - this allows to emulsify the oil in water)
1 liter warm water
spray away
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