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The best cure for head lice is ordinary hair conditioner removes nits

  • Head lice eggs are notoriously hard to remove as they are glued to the hairs
  • They can even stay in place after treatment with lice-killing substances
  • Conditioner as effective as specialised products because it acts as lubricant
  • News comes as selfies are blamed for causing lice epidemic among teens

By
Anna Hodgekiss


PUBLISHED:

11:55 EST, 26 February 2014

|
UPDATED:

14:31 EST, 26 February 2014

Ordinary hair conditioner removes head lice eggs as effectively as special products, new research suggests.

Eggs from head lice are notoriously difficult to remove because the female lice lay them directly onto strands of hair and cement them in place with a glue-like substance.

They are so well attached to the hairs that they can stay in place even after hair has been treated with pediculicides – substances used to kill lice.

Ordinary hair conditioner is as effective as special products at removing head lice eggs, new research shows

Now, new research, published in the Journal of Medical Entomology, suggests people who pay for these products are wasting their money as the eggs can be removed equally effectively using conditioner.

The news comes just after an expert claimed that selfies are causing an epidemic of lice in teenagers.

Marcy McQuillan, a lice-treatment expert who runs two lice-treatment centers in California, says she has seen a dramatic rise in the incidence of lice among young people.

She maintains it is due to teenagers bumping heads to take selfie photos.

In this study,scientists in Belgium gathered 605 hairs from six different children. Each hair had a single egg attached to it.

Of these eggshells, 14 per cent contained a dead egg and the rest were empty, having already hatched.

Yesterday, an expert claimed selfies are leading to a head lice epidemic among teenagers

The researchers tried to remove the eggs and tested the amount of force needed to do so.

They found that nits on the hairs that were left completely untreated were the most difficult to remove. 

Eggs on hairs that had been soaked in deionized water were much easier to remove, as were the eggs on hairs that had been treated with ordinary hair conditioner and with products specifically marketed for the purpose of nit removal.

However, the researchers found no significant differences between the ordinary conditioners and the special nit-removal products.

In all cases, less force was required to remove the nits after the hair had been treated, but the effectiveness of the products was essentially the same.

‘There were no significant
differences in measured forces between the ordinary conditioner and the
commercial nit removal product,’ the authors wrote.

‘The commercial nit
removal products tested in the current study do not seem to have an
additional effect.’

The
authors hypothesise that the deionized water was effective because it
acts as a lubricant, so less friction is needed to remove the nits from
the hairs. The same goes for the conditioners.

Conditioner makes it easier for head lice eggs to be combed out as it acts as a lubricant

‘Treatment with conditioner reduces the coefficient of friction of undamaged and damaged hair,’ they write. ‘As a consequence, conditioners will facilitate nit removal.’

While removing eggs is a vital part of treating head lice, and they are hardest thing to remove because they are glued to the hairs, just removing them is not enough to remove an infestation.

The lice themselves also have to be removed and, ideally, they need to be removed within seven days of hatching because, otherwise, they will start to lay more eggs.

‘Head lice are spread through head-to-head contact,’ Ms McQuillan added.

‘Lice don’t jump or fly, so you actually have to touch heads.

‘Every teen I’ve treated, I ask about selfies, and they admit that they are taking them every day.’

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Comments (27)

what you think

The comments below have not been moderated.

Tessa,

Ireland, Ireland,

1 hour ago

Mix the conditioner with cinnamon oil or tea tree oil. Better than any of the stuff you buy.

big.mouth.mel,

Manchester, United Kingdom,

1 hour ago

Doesnt kill them though so what a load of rubbish

ExPatUKTaxPay,

Anywhere other than the UK, Afghanistan,

1 hour ago

Dabbing neat tea tree oil behind the ear lobes deters them too.

cambtone,

cambridge, United Kingdom,

2 hours ago

Oh, come on DM. We have known this for years. Conditioner and a nit comb will get rid of the blighters. Cheapest and best treatment.

cov72,

coventry, United Kingdom,

2 hours ago

my daughter had them for ages at primary and we couldn’t shift them for months. After using every product on the planet the thing that shifted them was an hour a day combing through with a decent comb and spraying with lavender oil mixed with water.

kb1,

Cornwall,

2 hours ago

I have two sons both now in their twenties only once did one of them have head lice I bought a very cheap nit comb and used conditioner which got rid of them. After that the nit comb was on the side of the bath constantly so that they used it when they washed their hair and used conditioner never ever had a problem again.

PJ,

The EU, United Kingdom,

4 hours ago

Does anyone not feel sorry for the poor lice? Its not like they can live anywhere else

HostBody,

Broken Britain, United Kingdom,

4 hours ago

Also, don’t just buy a nit comb, buy the one that has ridges on the teeth that grab the eggs better. They cost about a tenner but so worth it. I use mine on the cats too to deflea them when I’m bored (or out of Advantage)

JT,

Kent, United Kingdom,

4 hours ago

I had to deal with my daughter’s headlice several times while she was at primary school. I tried everything to no avail until a friend suggested tea tree shampoo; she never got them again.

Elsie,

England UK, United Kingdom,

1 hour ago

Tea tree, or a conditioner containing lavender, seem to keep lice away. Maybe they don’t like the smell.

TheVoiceOfThePeople,

London, United Kingdom,

5 hours ago

The best thing to do is drench yourself in viniger, mayonase, garden mud and a tea spoonful of chilli hot sauce, massage this into the hair/scapl for at least 20-30mins then rinse out, and then shave the entire head of the child with clippers, then repeat this from the begining but this tme shave head with foam and razer leaving child completely bald, this is what I done to my 3 and 4 year old daughter and I can happily say with confidence that 1 month later they are still completely head lice free

HostBody,

Broken Britain, United Kingdom,

4 hours ago

I seriously lol’d at that!!

PanYan,

UK, United Kingdom,

4 hours ago

Save time on shaving by just slapping some Veet on their heads. Why not go mad and paint their heads purple while you’re at it to ward off Rickets. Then varnish them so you can simply wipe any eggs off in the future!

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