Did you know that most head lice products contain the same active ingredients as professional insecticides and pet flea and tick sprays like permathrin and pyrethrum, new study reveals 54 Essential Plant Oils Tested On Head Lice.
When my two year old son got head lice from a children’s hair salon I was indignant on how they did not sterilize their hair equipment between cuts like state law requires, but I was even more outraged to find out that the active ingredients in most head lice removal kits are the same pesticide that I don’t and won’t even apply to my customers homes as a professional pest control operator.
New Study Reveals 54 Essential Plant Oils Tested On Head Lice
I quickly did some research we found two products that have a reduced risk and are non toxic for head lice removal LICEMD and LiceFree Shampoo. Just like most natural or non toxic products it took several applications every day for like 3 nights to get them all in addition to changing his bedding and pillow cases every day and washing his hair.
I have a slight advantage over most parents in that as a professional pest control operator I understand the biology of head lice and how they behave so I was able to access the situation look at the back of the label and know what those active ingredients are, and quickly look for an alternative.
In my studies on Natural Oils do develop different products and procedures for my pest control business I came across this exhaustive study from the Oxford Journal of Medical Entomology on 54 Essential Plant Oils Tested On Head Lice (Pediculus humanus capitis). Titled Iinsecticidal Activity of Plant Essential Oils Against Pediculus humanus capitis (Anoplura: Pediculidae)
My discovery was that as many as 15 natural oils and extracts actually control head lice better than Permathrin and Pyrethrum and 5 of those oils can be used as effective fumigants.
Which makes me ask the question why are they still the preferred active ingredients in products used primarily by children then they have all been generally banned from use in public schools. I’ll tell you why, permathin was originally registered with the EPA November 1, 1984 it is very cheep to manufacture generics where you can purchase a professional strength concentrate for about $75 a gallon and with less than 2 oz you can make a gallon of solution and treat 3 homes, a 2 oz bottle of head lice ready to use shampoo or cream has pennies worth of the active ingredient.
The contact activity as a pediculicide was better in cade, cardamone ceylon, clove bud, eucalyptus, marjoram, myrtle, pennyroyal, rosemary, rosewood, and sage oils than to the insecticides B-Phenothrin or pyrethrum. You could potentially walk down the food aisle in any natural food store or essential oil shop and buy one of these essential oils and massage it into your kids head and kill the lice.
The study opens the way to develop natural head lice control products that work to control head lice with less toxic reduced rick pesticides.
Everyday we strive to find the least toxic products and procedures to solve people’s pest problems and we have effectively been able to control pyrethroid resistant ticks, bed bugs and mosquitoes bugs with our natural and non toxic protocols.
