Vaseline for Lice

To remove the Vaseline--or any other greasy/oily substance, apply shampoo to dry hair, work it through, then add water. Same thing for cleaning shortening covered hands, work liquid soap in first before the water. Wetting the surface first keeps the soap from reaching the grease.

My daughter contrated lice when she was in first grade. After three unsuccessful attempts using lice shampoo, I consulted my pediatrician friend who recommended vaseline. I smeared her head with the stuff then covered it with a shower cap. It worked great but it took a week of three or four washings per day to get the greasy look out of her hair. I used Dawn, shampoo and anything else I could find. Finally I found a foaming acne wash that worked well but took 3-4 tries.

I've heard that you can remove the Vaseline with mineral oil or baby oil, then shampoo the oil out. I've never tried it but supposedly the oil dissolves the greasy Vaseline.

Peanut butter, mayo, olive oil, or anything thick like that wrapped around the head and left overnight will kill the live lice, but you still have to pick out the nits. It is easier to remove than a petro product.

A baking soda wash will remove the vaseline, and straight alcohol in the hair for 30 seconds followed by a good moisturizing shampoo will kill the lice.

I had lice about a month ago. My daughter had infected me from school. We both had lice and did not know what to do. My friend had reccomended vaseline, which had worked very well. But to get it out you put baby oil in your hair, squeeze your hair out, and then wash your hair three times with dawn dish soap. This got the vaseline and the oil out suprisingly.

I was terribly frustrated some years ago by my child coming home with head lice. I read that saturating the child's head with olive oil would work. My profession is medicine and I did not like the idea of using insecticides (primary ingredient in human anti-lice treatments) on my child. The olive oil worked great, one treatment, and left my child's hair very soft and beautiful. She now uses it and does years later for beauty, the lice problem most prevalent in children's schools under the fifth grade.

I have used vaseline a few times when my daughter got lice from school, and each time it kills the lice, just was hard to get out, but I will try these methods next time (if there is one).
thanks

I tried this once when I thought I might have lice. I don't know about the lice, but I will NEVER do this again. I had to go to the beauty shop for a couple of days of them working on it to get the vaseline out of my hair. There are surely better methods!!

Mayonnaise is the way to go! Apply it to dry hair and massage in. Leave on for several hours, or overnight. It was the only thing that worked for our family. I think that the oil suffocates the lice and the vinegar 'pickles' the nits so they can never hatch. Easy to wash out and leaves hair looking beautiful afterwards. They don't call it the 'hillbilly hair conditioner' for nothing! Those lice control shampoos are not only ineffective but downright dangerous.

I don't know about Vaseline, but our doctor gave us the "BEST" cure for head lice and it works in only an hour. It works great and even gets the nits out! You put a generous amount of Best Foods Mayonnaise on the hair making sure it gets all over, cover with a shower cap, leave it on for an hour (be careful it will drip) and then shampoo out. Lice are all gone! When my daughter went back to school after trying this the nurse said it was the best removal she had ever seen in her 20 years experience - not one nit was left!

Olive oil to smother the nits and then use tea tree oil mixed with a baby shampoo works great

My child also brought lice home from school. I also became infected. Since I was pregnant, my M.D. warned against using the OTC treatments and recommended vaseline or mayonnaise instead. Either product deprives the lice of oxygen.

However, these products do not kill lice nits (lice eggs.) The traditional methods (combing, cleaning bedding, etc.) helps, but I had to do two more vaseline treatments at later dates as nits hatched.

After dealing with head lice for a whole summer with my stepdaughter, I tried the shampoos, combs, and anything I could find. Every time she would come back she would have them. We started using the hair dryer on her dry head ( normal, don't hold it so close it will burn the scalp). This will dry out the nits, Keep at that once a day for about a week or after they have been exposed to lice. This works, I was ready to shave some heads before I thought to try this.

I used Vaseline last night left it in over night and washed my hair this morning. I put dish soap in my hair before getting it wet, than washed hair 3 times with dish soap, 2 times with shampoo and once more with dish soap. it worked! lice and Vaseline are gone. there was only a little tiny bit of Vaseline left which came out after one more wash in the afternoon.

My daughter had lice when she was in third grade. I tried the RID 3 step solution. When I used the first step, it seemed like it worked. My mom told me then about Vaseline. While I put the Vaseline in, I saw live lice crawling. I had to hand pick them out. She kept the Vaseline in over-night, and took it out that morning without a problem. Her hair did look greasy but took a shower every hour. I then looked at her hair, there were about 6 or 7 nits left. I put Mayonnaise in and it was GREAT! Best way is for Vaseline and Mayonnaise together and all lice and nits are gone!

My daughter had lice in the 3rd grade and it kept circulating throughout the school. We smothered her hair in olive oil after using a nit comb and sectioning the hair and getting everything out we could get. I put a shower cap on her hair and wrapped it in a towel and let her sleep like this overnight. It worked great. First thing in the morning you have to section off the hair and scrape out all the nits and lice (alive or dead, hopefully all dead) before you wash the hair. Dish soap or baby soap worked well but it has to be applied to dry hair. Use a hair dryer if you have to before you try and wash it out.

You likely want to apply olive oil a second night may 1 or 2 nights later to make sure you get all the nits. The key is sectioning off the hair and really getting every part of the head checked.

I think this works a bit better than the Vaseline and it sounds like it is much easier to get out.

I work at a school. I got lice two weeks ago and I am pregnant and I can't keep using the OTC treatments and they are not working anyways! I tried the Vaseline and left it on for two hours and I still feel them crawling. I am so upset over thisI don't know what else to do?? Can anyone help me before my children get it and my whole house gets infected!

PEOPLE'S PHARMACY RESPONSE: DRENCH YOUR HAIR WITH CETAPHIL CLEANSER, USE A BLOW DRYER (THIS WILL MAKE IT HARD), AND LEAVE IT ON OVERNIGHT. SHAMPOO OUT IN THE MORNING.

I have had lice and they itch A LOT!! I tried putting mayo on & I have not had lice for 5 years! :)

What a nightmare!!! I used the Vaseline treatment and it seems to have worked to get rid of lice but, I have tried all of the suggestions to get the petroleum out of their hair and it is not coming out. I cannot imagine putting oil on top of oil ( baby oil) and I am going to the store for more Dawn. I have used baking soda and corn starch and they are getting tired of having their hair washed.

I am having a nightmare as well. Three of my kids have lice. The smallest is 3. Nix doesn't work!!! More live ones after using it and the combs they give you in the $20 boxes doesn't pull anything at all out. Tonight I have all their heads in Vaseline. If I get it or can't get rid of theirs... I will try the mayo.

I am washing clothes, towels, bedding as they are used. In my opinion, do your self a favor and don't spend money on NIX. Also instead of the comb they provide buy a dog flee comb. It works 98% better and they sell them at Ralph's. I picked one up with the spray for my couches, chairs, and beds. The flee combs pulled out some of the lice that I couldn't even see we're there. Good luck to you and I.

PEOPLE'S PHARMACY RESPONSE: THERE ARE SEVERAL GOOD NIT COMBS AVAILABLE ONLINE, SO YOU SHOULDN'T HAVE TO RESORT TO A DOG FLEA COMB.

It works believe me.

I'm in 7th grade and got it. I cried and cried.
Because lice sucks! My Mom read Vaseline works.
She read right, it was a miracle!

But it took a long time to get the thick oil out of my hair. We used Dawn, dish washing soap.
It worked.

Well let me tell you the mayo did NOT work on my hair! We did it twice, and the next day I was infested with lice. We found at least 40 eggs. Mayo does NOT work. My sister used Vaseline, and she has never had lice since.

PEOPLE'S PHARMACY RESPONSE: THANKS SO MUCH FOR DOING THE EXPERIMENT AND REPORTING YOUR RESULTS! WE WILL NOT BE RECOMMENDING MAYO FOR LICE IN THE FUTURE.

Nix did not work, even 2 applications. I did it correctly both times. I used two bottles the 2nd time just in case it wasn't enough the first time (daughter's hair was chin length). I went on strand-by-strand search and destroy missions, but although I got all of the nits, I kept finding more so I knew there was at least one more adult louse left alive. They ARE DEFINITELY RESISTANT!

In an act of desperation, I tried the Vaseline. It was either that or giving her a Britney Spears cut (shaved) and sending her to school with a pink wig. ;-) The Vaseline has to be left in for at least 8 hrs to suffocate them, but it seems to have worked. I will have to make sure I get any new nits out to make sure she doesn't get re-infested, but it did kill the lice.

As for getting out the Vaseline, that was tricky, but I actually found a solution that WORKED! BABY OIL!!! Dawn dish-washing liquid didn't work. Clarifying shampoo on it's own didn't work. Corn starch is supposed to bind to the oil and wash it away, but while it may have helped a little, it didn't work. Surprising as it sounds, even though it's oil, it works!

Here's how to do it: Get some Vaseline, a shower cap, fine tooth combs, clarifying shampoo (Suave is cheap and works well) and BABY OIL!!!!! Apply the Vaseline, then cover with a shower cap. Sleep on a cheap air mattress if you have one so you don't ruin your beds and pillows. Keep it on at least 8 hrs (longer if possible) to make sure the adults and nymphs are dead.

In the morning, squeeze out as much of the Vaseline as you can by hand (use rubber gloves), and them comb as much as you can out (repeated combing with the fine toothed combs). Once you've gotten as much out as you can, slather the baby oil all over the hair and scalp - soak it. Work it in. Apply clarifying shampoo, lather, rinse, repeat. You may need to repeat the baby oil treatment again if you can still feel the Vaseline anywhere in the hair, but you'll definitely need to shampoo several times to get it all out.

I was completely shocked, but it really worked well! Hopefully we never have to go through this again but if we do, at least I can skip the other things that don't work, save time, and take care of it the first time.

I have found nits on 3 of my 4 children now. I think I have gotten it all out of one's head, but my daughter is a different story. We have used RID twice now, and every day I still find more nits, but no live bugs. I don't understand how we are finding nits with no bugs! Since this started I have only found 1 adult bug. It was in my daughters hair. Since, we have found new nits in her hair each day, and now nits in 2 of my boys hair, but no bugs.

Can anyone explain that to me please? My doctor has told me to use the vaseline tonight, and I am going to, but my question is will the vaseline also kill the eggs to keep them from ever hatching in case I miss any when I am removing them? I am so frustrated!

I'm having the same problem with the eggs being present and no adult bugs. My daughter has many, many eggs in her hair that I cannot pick out. There are too many to pick out by hand. I put Vaseline in her hair this morning and still there are eggs. Will the Vaseline kill the eggs??? And if so will I be able to wash them out??

Same problem here- the nits are coming back but I'm finding no live lice. I have to assume that either the live lice are just hiding really, really well, or what I'm finding isn't nits. I'm pretty sure what I'm finding IS nits, so when they come back after a very thorough nit removal I am assuming that there are lice still present. Those suckers can be TINY.

I am trying the Vaseline tonight on the recommendation of my daughter's camp counselor, who said it worked for her child years ago and that if I do it that my daughter is welcome back at camp tomorrow. She said she didn't try to wash the Vaseline out entirely but instead just washed as usual and let it wear itself off over the course of a week or two, which kept the lice from coming back. Works for me!

My hair is very thick and it was too difficult to get the Vaseline into my hair and all the way to the scalp. I used a combination of Vaseline and olive oil for fluidity, let it sit for around 10 hours, washed it out, and then rinsed my hair with white vinegar. Haven't seen a trace of lice since. This was all after two unsuccessful $25 RID complete kits.

Long story short, this does the trick. Would recommend it to anyone!

Don't forget to treat other siblings, especially if they share a room or bed, just in case. Our 4 yo had lice last week, we did Rid then followed up with Vaseline, he was clear of infestation. Our 6 yo was clear, so no treatment. One week later, I found an adult louse on the 6 yo, not one nit. Now, all 3 of us are under Vaseline/bonnets just to make sure. Dad is going to get it when he gets home. We had no trouble getting the Vaseline out with Dawn and shampoo-kids are boys with brush cuts so I feel some what lucky in the lice world.

Hi. I have had lice for most likely over 2 months now (sense my gf didn't mention to me that she got them 2 months ago) I have had my hair washed 2 times with RID and it killed all the adults and we thought we combed out the eggs, apparently the eggs are on your scalp as well, as we had to scratch them out. But this is my last desperate attempt at removing the lice or my head will be shaved =/ and I love my hair so I pray that this Vaseline will remove all traces of it.

I'm quite embarrassed to be saying this... but my family has been struggling with lice for a year now!! Every time we think we are rid of it, it comes right back! I've washed everything, used the lice meds countless times (to no avail). I've tried baby oil, cooking oil, salt-water, pretty much every home remedy you see online! The only 2 I haven't done is mayo (because I'm afraid my child would swallow it if left on overnight which can be toxic after its been out that long) and Vaseline (because we don't keep it in the house).

After seeing this site I think I'm gonna make hubby (who shaved his head) go out and buy the largest container of Vaseline he can find at the store 2mrw! I hope you people aren't lying about it working b/c for the first time in MONTHS I have hope of actually getting rid of this once and for all!!

...and no company at the house for a while afterward b/c I'm pretty sure in spite of informing ppl to check themselves some of my extended family are re-infesting my household.

Don't be embarrassed! It's gross, it's a pain, but it's not the plague. :)

We managed to knock out a VERY resistant case of lice with Vaseline. We just left it in for several days instead of washing it a bunch of times on the first day. That way no new eggs could be laid and it would interrupt the WHOLE cycle. That seemed to do the trick- no lice after that day and that was a couple of months ago. YEAH!

Another thing I would recommend is to pair the Vaseline treatment with the Nit Terminator comb, which is THE BEST lice comb out there. Seriously, this thing found nits after we had been over our daughter's head three or four times in a row (we even ended up cutting her hair very short to make lice checks easier) and were SURE nothing was left. Wash it and let it mostly dry, then run that Terminator over the head every whicha way and get out all the nits you can find, THEN do Vaseline. It worked for us. GOOD LUCK!

I started with buying almost $60 worth of over the counter product. RID shampoo and Nix creme. It was unsuccessful, I didn't see one dead louse, only many alive louse. I made a shampoo using 8 oz. of dawn dishing detergent, 2oz. tea tree oil, and 4oz. vinegar. It definitely worth a whole 6 dollars.
I used mayo on my daughter's hair and the next morning while I combing through her hair I found 6 dead louse and 3 live louse. So, I can say mayo is good but it didn't kill all the lice. My daughter and I have been dousing our hair in olive oil all day and night going on two days now. It seems to be working. I haven't found any live loose on my daughters hair. The olive is great but really messy!! I'm going to use blue magic coconut oil conditioner (petroleum) for the next 8 days. I know it will work, and I think it would be worth the multiple shampooing I will be doing. I've also been spraying alcohol on the furniture and the beds. I've spent many hours researching remedies and learning about lice in general.

Normally I never post but after trying everything to get vaseline out hair I found the solution & I want to help everyone that is still having this problem. TRESemme' DEEP CLEANSING Shampoo will take vaseline out of your hair. We tried it on three girls with very long & thick hair. All three girls are oily hair free and looking forward to going to school tomorrow:)

My 12 year old contracted head lice from another family and now has it back again from visiting their home and just found this out a few days ago. I checked him today and they are back... eggs, nits and live bugs. I am not convinced that lice cannot live long off a live attached hair strand and that they do not jump as I saw one that did. They come from somewhere - How do you explain how the 1st person get's it?, cannot be true that you get head lice from someone else, bugs are bugs in my opinion and they can be anywhere just like fleas.

I tried store bought RID and this DID NOT WORK for me, so I say don't waste your money. I am currently trying Vaseline as I have read that this does work since its greasy, heavy and can smother them, and any dish soap should wash it out after 2 or 3 washings as it easily washed off my hands after applying and I use GAIN dish soap and worked just as good as DAWN.

I agree all nits need to be pulled out as you cannot tell if these are alive or dead. You can only tell if they are actual bugs if they are dead or not looking under a magnifying glass and some you can see them actually crawling around. Now I know why kids/adults that have greasy hair would not get head lice. I am confident that the Vaseline will work but not convinced that he will not get them again just because I used the Vaseline.

I have educated him that he cannot share brushes, combs, hats, coats with others and I am going to check him on a weekly basis as I do not want to overwhelm him. I am also going to have him blow dry his hair daily as the heat will also kill them, same concept as a dryer with bedding etc. I am going to pry my other kids and I don't end up with them.

I just tried this method and so far am happy with the results. I got lice from my son who got it from... I don't even know where! I buzzed his hair because I wasn't about to go through the shampooing and combing with him since he is only 3 and can't sit still long enough for it to be effective. I used the Vaseline on my own hair and washed it out with bulk laundry detergent from the Natural Foods store. I would rather wash my hair every day with Vaseline than have a continuing lice problem, that's for sure!

I have 4 kids. The youngest being 2 (it was easy getting it out of her hair). My 9 year old is the only one who has never had lice. I used Vaseline on my 7 year old daughter. She has thick, long hair. It worked wonders. Then right after I got everything out of her hair, including the Vaseline, I realized I had lice. Frustrating! I am using it in my hair right now. Praying it works. I ended up just shaving my 6 year old son's head. Boom! Gone! I will use Vaseline again. It is cheap and I only had to use one application. I am okay with washing it out, although it takes forever to get out.

My 9 year old daughter's friend was infested with lice and gave it to my one year old about a week ago. I used NIX and thought I got it all, my one year old boy has a ton of hair that is thick. I noticed today he has a very large adult bug and a few smaller ones.

I smothered his head in Vaseline and covered with a cap for two hours he was in a very serious accident 4 months ago and he has post traumatic stress and doesn't like his head touched, this is torture trying to wash out the Vaseline and I can't sit him down to get the comb through his hair.

ANY suggestions on how to get the dead ones out and get nits out? I can't even get to see if all are dead and to get nits out. PLEASE help my son has been through so much and to torture him like this is so bad... Will the Vaseline kill the nits? Any help would be a life savor he is only one and will not stay for me to comb out his hair and check...

Hey RR, that sounds like a tough situation. I would be tempted just to use clippers and get rid of all of his hair very quickly to keep the trauma down to a minimum for him. Ordinarily I don't think that's necessary, but he's only 1 and if messing with his hair is terrifying to him, I'd want to avoid all that combing. The Vaseline helps to kill the lice and nits but since you can't tell the live nits from dead ones, there's really no substitute for combing them all out.

So, yeah I am sitting here with Vaseline on my head, and my 4 yr old daughter who has hair down to her rear end is asleep with it in hers as well... My daughter came home approximately 2 months ago with lice (she was staying with her aunt when my mother passed away) and about a week later we found out she had head lice, I had not had it since I was pregnant with her, and I had done Vaseline then because of the pregnancy, between her father and I we have done probably 8 rid treatments, I even did mayonnaise and vinegar treatments... and nothings was working.

My 8 year old son got it, but I just shaved his head and it was gone... now I have gotten it... so Vaseline is were we are at now, I was told GOOP works to get it out... but I just have to remember to apply it before wetting it... I think I am going to do the goop, dawn soap and coconut shampoo all at once... I will hopefully get it out easily. My biggest problem is I do not have a washer and dryer here in my home and its very expensive to wash everything multiple times, thankfully they are leaving for their dad's tomorrow, so I can get them washed and cleaned before they return and he has already done it there... lets pray this works... will keep you posted.

My daughter has had a bad case of lice for a long time... I put the Vaseline in her hair 3 and half hours ago and sent her to bed... I just went in to check on her... pulled her shower cap back... and along the hair line I located 8 lice... they were all dead... I am very happy at this moment... because I think this may actually work for us... concerned do the nits come out though? does it kill the nits?

My daughter has incredibly long, thick, dark & curly hair. We struggled with lice for close to 5 months! I was at my wits end! We tried EVERYTHING and then tried vaseline. It worked the first time. I don't care if it took an eternity to remove. Vaseline was a life saver!!

About ten years ago a child passed onto me a bad case of insecticide-resistant lice. I tried using the insecticide products three or four times, to no avail. I then found on the Internet a product which consisted of olive oil and a little rosemary oil. The lice were all killed in one application. It was easy to wash out the product, and my hair smelled great. I can no longer find this product on the Internet, but I certainly recommend trying olive oil.

I used baby oil to cut the vaseline in the shower and wiped it off with a towel before I washed it with dishsoap,then washed it with my regular shampoo and cream rinse. It works very well.

Hello Debbie, thank you so much for your tips! Yesterday, I found lice on two out of three of my children. I automatically ran to the pharmacy and bought the lice kit. After treating my kids and myself, I starting reading about how the lice shampoos don't always work. I had heard about using Vaseline before but I was afraid I would never get it out of our hair. I took your advice and used the baby oil and I was surprised that it actually cut through the greasiness of the Vaseline. I also used Palmolive liquid dish soap and washed our hair 2-3 times with it, then used regular shampoo. Thank you so much, it worked great and so far we seem to be lice free!!

I have the cure for getting Vaseline out of your hair. Shampoo won't work. BABY OIL. It works wonders. Tell everyone you know. BABY OIL!!!!! THEN shampoo. IT WORKS.

I've tried the Vaseline. And it will not come out! What do I do! I've done a lot of things to my hair and I'm scared it will dry my head out and I'll have dandruff. What do I do!

I used Vaseline in my hair, my babies hair, and my daughters hair. She was the only one with head lice, but I used it for everyone just to be safe. I put it in our hair on a Thursday (good thing they didn't have school Fri) and she still has it in her hair (it's now Sat). I just washed my hair last night and again today. It's hard to get out, but I would do it again.

I'm going to wash her hair tomorrow, but I haven't seen any bugs in her hair. A few eggs that I couldn't comb out (which is why I have made her wear the Vaseline for so long). I don't want the eggs hatching and then starting all over again. Anyways........ It seems to have done the trick.

One thing that has worked really well on Nits (since nothing kills them, but removal) is rinsing my child's head in Lemon Juice. You have to be careful of their eyes and hold a towel on them so juice doesn't burn. It has to sit for a minimum of 10 min. My child lets it sit for 30 without complaints of burning or irritation. Then rinse with warm water and comb through the hair with a nit comb and lemon juice instead of the OTC gel. The acid in the juice helps to "unbind" the nit to the hair.

We've been using the Vaseline treatment on our 4 kids for years now. The trick to get it to work well is to make sure the hair is clean and dry, and make sure you get it on the scalp. We separate their hair in 1-inch bands and apply heavily to the scalp, and smear a bit more along the length of the hair, working from front to back of the head, then roll it up in a bun, tie it up with a bandana and let them run around with it like that for the weekend (if time allows, overnight if not).

I agree, getting it out is tricky, but if you really take the time to make sure you thoroughly come out their hair with a fine tooth comb, there isn't much to wash out after the combing process. Dawn on dry hair with very minimal water seems to work thus far to get whats left broken up and washable.

We recently moved and the school here is very strict in forcing you to use nix/rid, so I've had to make a trip to a new physician to get a new "authorization" to use this method. According to the doctor, this is way more effective than any chemical in either of those (due to them becoming resistant to the pesticide) because it actually smothers them when applied heavily and left on for long periods of time (and possibly the eggs too, if enough time is allowed, the eggs need to breathe as well).

He also recommended a vinegar rinse (tablespoon or so to a quart of water, rinse hair well with, let sit for a min or two, then shampoo as usual) to use once a week or so to help deter re-infestation.

hope this helps!