We have often heard of parents turning to the common household condiment for at-home head lice treatment. The question is, does it work? Other lice blogs might say that mayonnaise does treat head lice infestations. But we strongly recommend staying away from mayonnaise. By all means, slap it on your sandwich, that’s what it’s meant for. But please read this blog and think twice before slabbing it on your child’s head. There are several reasons why we discourage mayonnaise, the first and foremost being that it can be dangerous. To keep the mayo on the head, most parents wrap some sort of plastic wrap around the head before bed and then send them to sleep with it on, not often thinking about the fact that the plastic wrap may come off in the middle of the night and suffocate their child. This has actually happened and resulted in death. Children have also gotten food poisoning from the mayonnaise. It’s literally and figuratively a messy situation. The severe situations are probably rare, but why risk it? If there’s even a chance that your child could be harmed, is it even worth it? We think not. It is also not a very fun thing to clean up. Have you ever left opened mayonnaise out of the refrigerator and then threw it away because of the horrid smell? Well, why would you expose your child to that all night?
Does Mayonnaise kill the eggs?
Even if mayonnaise kills live lice, it has not been shown to kill lice eggs. If you don’t kill the lice eggs, then killing the live lice is pretty much pointless because the eggs are going to hatch and a turn into live lice in a few days. Getting rid of the lice eggs can be the trickiest part. Imagine going through all that and it not being effective? Imagine having to clean mayo-filled bed sheets and pajamas.
As mothers, we know the value of doing what you feel is right for your family but just know that mayonnaise can be very unsafe, messy and ineffective. Why risk it?