Does your child have lice and have you tried everything to eradicate them? A certain grandmother’s remedy, used by many parents, apparently works miracles. But is this really the case? Valentine Bermudes, founder of the Anti-Lice Institute in Paris, gives us the answer.
Lice and nits are the dread of most parents. When you see your child scratching his scalp, and upon closer inspection, you see small grayish parasites on one or more hairs, measuring 2 to 4 mm, it is very possible that you will be looking for within the hour solutions to eradicate them quickly. Generally, parents either turn to anti-lice products, sold in pharmacies, drugstores and supermarkets, or, either to grandmother’s natural remedies. The best known of them is vinegar of course, but a completely different one food product can also be used against lice. And very often, we all have it in our fridge!
A fatty food that suffocates lice
On Tiktok, a young mother, Ibtissam, aka @ibtissamcare, shared her trick “effective” to get rid of lice “once”, she says in the title of her video, which has accumulated more than 2.6 million views since its publication. The mother applies a special mixture of mayonnaise, white vinegar and anti-lice lotion all over her little daughter’s hair, which she leaves to sit. So mayonnaise would be the miracle ingredient. Indeed, in the comments, she explains that mayonnaise is a particularly fatty body which will suffocate the lice and incidentally the slow. This type of product would also be non-aggressive for children’s scalp. However, if your child has psoriasis, red patches, crusts and lesions on this area of the skull, it is better to seek the advice of a health professional.
A really useful tip?
Given the popularity of this seemingly miraculous recipe, we wanted to ask a lice professional to find out if the results were really there. Valentine Bermudes, founder of the Anti-Lice Institute in Paris, gave us her opinion: “Grandma’s remedies are not effective. Mayonnaise, in particular, is not enough to eliminate them. Lice always move after application.” On the other hand, “there is a natural product to kill nits and it is coconut oil”, she assures.
For lice preventionthe specialist advises parents to use special elastics, which contain small repellent capsules, often dosed with lavender and tea tree essential oils.