The Myth of Mayo for Lice Killing

Are you facing another school year and another battle with head lice? Read my story before you try this chemical free method of lice killing. As with most parents the use of chemicals makes me cringe. I have fallen victim to a few non-chemical lice treatment myths. One such treatment is the mayonnaise and plastic bag treatment. Boy was I in for a big surprise the time I actually tried this treatment.

I was told to coat my children's heads in mayonnaise and tie a plastic bag on their heads and let this sit for a few hours and then use a lice comb. Apparently this was not only supposed to kill the lice but it was also supposed to help remove the lice and eggs without pulling my kids' hair out. So I did this exactly like I was told to do and what would you know, it was completely false. As I combed through their hair I was getting lice out but they were alive. I was told the mayo and plastic bag would suffocate them. It did not suffocate them at all.

So here I am sitting there with live lice crawling on the towel I was using to wipe off the comb. I seen this and started scrambling to grab the towel and get it into the washer before I ended up with a massive outbreak in my house. I then leave the kids with my husband and head for the store to purchase what I know to be the tried and true method for lice killing. Yep you got it I went straight for the chemical based lice shampoo. While I hate using chemicals on my children I hate lice even more.

What I did find that the mayonnaise was good for was that it provided a cheap way of getting the nits out of the kids' hair without pulling their hair really bad. So even though I found out the hard way that mayonnaise was not a sound method of killing lice, I still use it after I use the chemical based lice shampoo. Only now I use it to just coat the nits lightly and out they slide without any hassle. Another benefit of using the mayo to remove the nits is that it makes the hair nice and soft and shiny. So when I have to use it to remove nits I can rest assured that not only will the nit removal not hurt my kids but that they will also have really great hair afterwards.