How to Use Mayonnaise to Treat Head Lice Effectively 
 
 If you are looking for a good head lice treatment, you’ve probably heard of it and maybe it made you smile…mayonnaise to treat head lice? 
 
 Some studies say it doesn’t really work, but many parents have tried this method with great success. 
 
 If you are skeptical, read on; you’ll learn why and how you can be using mayonnaise to treat this condition and get rid of these parasites for good. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 What is mayonnaise exactly? 
 
 Mayonnaise contains the main following ingredients: oil, vinegar or lemon juice, and egg yolk. Homemade and commercial mayonnaise contains between 70% and 85% fat. 
 
 Low fat mayonnaise products contain starches, cellulose gel, or other ingredients to simulate the texture of real mayonnaise. 
 
 Can mayonnaise treat head lice? 
 
 When it comes to treating head lice, oil can be effective against adult head lice and vinegar or lemon juice is effective against head lice eggs. Oil has what we call viscosity properties, which means it can act a bit like glue and may suffocate adult live head lice as well as nymphs (which are young lice). 
 
 It will not, however, kill any live lice eggs. As mayonnaise contains a lot of oil, this is why it can be used against head lice just as olive oil or vegetable oil. 
 
 Of course, there are no scientific studies that prove the effectiveness of mayonnaise as a treatment for head lice. 
 
 But many parents have been using it for years and are very satisfied with the effectiveness of this home remedy against adult head lice. You owe it to yourself to do your research. 
 
 If you choose to try this home remedy, make sure to remember the following: 
 
 1. You should not use low fat mayonnaise, as it will not have enough oil in it to kill adult lice. A low fat or no fat mayonnaise comprises less than 10% by weight edible oil, water, egg white, up to 5% by weight micro-crystalline cellulose and poly-dextrose. 
 
 Make sure you use full fat commercial mayonnaise, or even better, homemade mayonnaise. 
 
 2. The vinegar contained in mayonnaise will not play any role in killing head lice eggs, as its concentration is far too low. So if you choose mayonnaise as a home remedy for head lice, expect to only get rid of adult lice and nymphs. 
 
 To kill the eggs, you’ll need to apply a vinegar lice treatment. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 How can you use mayonnaise to treat head lice? 
 
 Apply the mayonnaise on the hair, coating very well and insisting on the scalp area, the neck area and behind the ears. This is where adult lice are more likely to be found. 
 
 For adults, you can cover with a shower cap or plastic wrap, but this is NOT recommended for children. 
 
 Leave on for about 8 hours, this is what pediatricians recommend. You cannot leave it on for just a few hours, like olive oil, because it would not be efficient enough. 
 
 This will depend on the grade of your infestation and how well you coat the hair with the mayonnaise. 
 
 It should NOT be left overnight on children, as they might grab a hair and eat the mayonnaise, which would not be safe, as the mayonnaise turns rancid after a few hours out of the fridge. 
 
 Then, you’ll have to remove the product with several normal shampoos, and start your treatment against the head lice eggs, that have not been killed by the mayonnaise. 
 
 And if you really don’t feel like putting mayonnaise on your children’s heads, you can use an olive oil treatment instead ; this can also be very helpful. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 Head lice growing resistant to standard meds Updated: Tuesday, March 18, 2014 12:35 PM EDT 
 
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 By Alan Mozes 
 
 HealthDay Reporter 
 
 FRIDAY, March 14, 2014 (HealthDay News) -- Most head lice found in North America now carry a gene mutation that makes them resistant to standard over-the-counter treatments, a new study cautions. 
 
 Head lice infestation is a major public-health issue, the researchers said, with roughly 10 percent of all American school-aged children missing school due to the intense itching and secondary infections that signal exposure. 
 
 The problem: Years of relentless exposure to a single treatment option has given rise to a surviving head lice population that is armed with what geneticists call "knockdown resistance," in the form of the TI genetic mutation. 
 
 This gives most of today's head lice an ability to withstand exposure to the main -- and previously effective -- ingredients found in most nonprescription head lice drugs: "pyrethroid" compounds such as permethrin. 
 
 "This isn't really controversial," said study co-author John Clark, a professor of environmental toxicology and chemistry at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. "This is a problem we've been showing in development over a period of about 20 years. But our new work now shows that head lice are now almost 100 percent [knockdown resistant]. That means there's an awful lot of resistant insects out there in the U.S. and elsewhere." 
 
 Clark and his colleagues discussed their findings in the March issue of the Journal of Medical Entomology. 
 
 In the early 1990s, over-the-counter permethrin-based formulations entered widespread use, Clark said. Designed to kill lice by essentially short-circuiting their nervous system, such drugs became the standard of care. 
 
 But the seeds of permethrin's future failure were planted decades earlier, in the immediate post-WWII period, he said, when much of the population was first exposed to the pesticide DDT in an effort to reign in body lice infestations. 
 
 Head lice got caught up in the process, giving rise to a surviving population that silently, but increasingly, began to carry the protective TI mutation decades before the introduction of permethrin products, according to the study. 
 
 With that in mind, investigators set out to assess the current resistance status of North American head lice by conducting a genetic analysis of lice samples collected from 32 mostly urban locations across the United States and Canada. 
 
 DNA sampling revealed that more than 88 percent of the lice found in both countries carried the specific TI mutation that is associated with the kind of nerve insensitivity that makes lice resistant to standard over-the-counter permethrin medications. 
 
 In the United States alone, the researchers pegged TI frequency in an average of roughly 84 percent of the lice population between 1999 and 2009. But a closer look at the final years of this timeframe revealed that the rate actually began to approach 100 percent of the lice population between 2007 and 2009. 
 
 Accordingly, Clark and his associates concluded that the need for new treatments for lice has reached a critical stage. 
 
 "Europe and South America actually stopped using these pyrethroid compounds years ago," he said. "It's not that these compounds aren't in themselves good formulations. But the very last thing you want to do is treat a single pest population with one compound that has one mode of action for years and years -- and that's exactly what we did. The result is that these compounds are just not effective anymore." 
 
 "But the good news is that over the last three years we have seen four or five new compounds entering the market," said Clark, in reference to drugs that include the brands Ulesfia, Sklice and Natroba. 
 
 "They all have different kinds of compounds and mechanisms, and they're all already commercially available," he said. "This will lead to what's called redundant killing, where if one compound doesn't do the job, the other compound will. So there is a way forward." 
 
 Dr. David Pariser, a professor of dermatology at Eastern Virginia Medical School, in Norfolk, agreed about the need to update treatment for head lice. 
 
 "I completely agree with this study's assessment regarding resistance, and with the thinking about the new drugs that we now have available," said Pariser, a former president of the American Academy of Dermatology. "I've had personal experience with one of them, as I was involved in the clinical trials, so I know they're very effective." 
 
 "More than that, they can actually be easier to use, as the older drugs would have to be applied repeatedly, whereas the new drugs are typically a one-time treatment," he said. 
 
 "However, I would add one nuance," Pariser continued. "While these new agents are great, they are prescription drugs, which means they are more costly. It may not be the actual insured consumer who will feel it if he's only paying a co-pay for the new meds, but certainly it's going to be a much bigger cost to the health care system as a whole." 
 
 More information 
 
 For more about head lice, visit the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. 
 
 Copyright © 2014 HealthDay. All rights reserved. 

 SPRINGFIELD, Mass. -- Massachusetts police are investigating the death of an 18-month old child who suffocated, apparently because of a home remedy for head lice involving mayonnaise and a plastic bag. 
 
 A Springfield police department spokesman says officers responded to a city home last Saturday for reports of a child not breathing. 
 
 Sgt. John Delaney says the little girl's scalp was covered in mayonnaise and a plastic shopping bag was placed over her head, a common home remedy for head lice. The girl was left unattended and apparently fell asleep, allowing the bag to slip down over her face, suffocating her. 
 
 The matter remains under investigation and no charges have been filed. 
 
 The state Department of Children and Families is also investigating. 
 
 According to a 2014 study, the majority of head lice found in North America carry a gene mutation that makes them resistant to over-the-counter treatments. 
 
 Head lice infestation, or pediculosis, occurs through close person-to-person contact with someone who already has the parasitic insect living close to their scalps. Most often they are spread through direct head-to-head contact but infrequently, they may be spread by contact with clothing - including hats, scarves and coats -- or other personal items like combs, brushes, or towels. 
 
 They are not a sign of poor hygiene, according to the CDC. 
 
 An estimated 6 million to 12 million infestations occur each year in the U.S. among children 3 to 11 years of age, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
– A baby girl died this weekend when family members spread mayonnaise on her scalp and placed a shopping bag on her head—a home remedy for head lice, the Republican reports. Police in Springfield, Mass., say the 1-year-old child was left alone for hours and apparently suffocated under the bag. Investigations are ongoing, but no charges have been filed and the Massachusetts Dept. of Children and Families took no other children in the house into custody; they're staying with relatives instead. The grim tale began when officers responded to a Saturday afternoon call about a child in the Liberty Heights neighborhood who wasn't breathing, police say. Officers were told the bag had slipped down over the girl's face and suffocated her when she fell asleep unattended, CBS News reports. A boy living in the house also had lice, but had his head shaved instead. The mayonnaise-bag remedy isn't considered a real medical treatment, but is fairly common as a home remedy: The mayo's oil apparently plays a role in suffocating adult lice even though doesn't kill lice eggs. The Head Lice Center recommends covering the scalp in mayonnaise and plastic for as long as eight hours, but says a shower cap is safer than a bag when used on children. A North American study last year found that a majority of over-the-counter remedies are unable to kill most head lice because they carry a gene mutation, CBS 8 reports.