Why Mayonnaise Lice Treatment Doesn’t Work
THE RUNDOWN
Treating a head lice outbreak at home can feel like an incredibly daunting task, sending families scrambling for solutions. Online searches for home remedies yield hundreds of results, from Listerine to olive oil, all of which are more likely to lead to increased hassle and heartache than yield actual results. Of these home remedies, mayonnaise might be the worst.
Before you decide to turn your child’s head into a tuna sandwich, it is important to remember that when you get lice, there are essentially two things going on at once:
- Active, live lice are crawling around causing itch and irritation
- Dormant eggs are waiting to hatch
These two stages require different approaches in order to treat lice effectively, and timing is critical. If you take too long with one, you neglect the other and end up having to start all over.
Mayonnaise, along with many other lice remedies, relies on the process of egg suffocation. Head lice are known to be able to survive without air for up to 6 hours, so it is logical to think that if you leave some form of restricting material on your head long enough, lice eggs will be eliminated. This can work for suffocating the eggs, but there are a couple problems with this method, namely a) it takes a long time and b) it doesn’t kill active lice.
Let’s take a closer look at these problems:
Takes a Long Time
Egg suffocation takes 6–8 hours. That means to eliminate the eggs using the mayonnaise method, you have to leave it in your hair for eight hours in order for suffocation to work.
EIGHT HOURS.
ON YOUR HEAD.
Ever left a jar of mayo out for eight hours? You wouldn’t even want to throw it away it in your kitchen trash; that thing is going straight to the curbside bin. Imagine leaving it on your hair for that long! Having head lice can be enough of a challenge without also suffering through eggs rotting on your scalp.
Mayonnaise Doesn’t Kill Active Lice
We really can’t stress this last part enough. This means that even after you slather a quart of Best Foods on your head and let it rot for several hours, the best-case scenario is YOU STILL HAVE LICE. You will then have to comb out the rest of the nits with a lice comb and cross your fingers that you didn’t miss any, or that some lice eggs didn’t survive the initial covering. Awesome!
Insult to Injury
For those of us who like the taste of mayonnaise, there has to be merit to the idea of not wanting to associate something you like (delicious mayo) with something you don’t (head lice). Do you really want to think about head lice every time you make a sandwich for the rest of your life?
Also, there is that little problem with potentially giving your child food poisoning. Mayonnaise left out for more than a couple of hours turns rancid. If one of those strands of hair on your child’s head is accidentally consumed, now you have a child with lice and food poisoning. Fun!
Speaking of Suffocation…
Keeping the mayonnaise on the head requires some form of cap or head covering. Consider that your child will likely need to wear something like that to bed — not a safe situation.
Looking for a less-messy alternative? Visit one of our salons!
Originally posted at Hair Fairies’ blog, here.
About Hair Fairies
Founded in 1999, Hair Fairies offers 100% guaranteed head lice removal using non-toxic, plant-based products in a relaxing, kid-friendly atmosphere. Be sure to connect with us on Facebook for additional content and promos!
