At least one person saw my first go at this idea. The experiment will now continue.
There are some real herbal nasties out there which allegedly kill headlice. Once you've scratched your scalp raw and drawn blood, you are then invited to add extremely toxic substances to it which will then leak into your bloodstream and do something like cause paralysis. Not good.
Whereas i have useful and harmless things to put on your head which will rid you of lice, i can think of a better option: use insect hormones. More specifically, use juvenile hormone, as found in the oil of the balsam fir, already used a fair amount and about as safe as the essential oils used right now. So, as well as my usual mix, which i've mentioned elsewhere on here, add balsam fir oil and trap them in nymphhood.
The only problem i envisage so far is that i don't know if the hemimetabola actually use that as a juvenile hormone.
-- nineteenthly, Jul 26 2009

//The only problem i envisage so far is that i don't know if the hemimetabola actually use that as a juvenile hormone.//

So, the only problem is that there's a good chance that this will only make the headlice smell pine-fresh?
-- MaxwellBuchanan, Jul 26 2009


They don't live long in boiling water either. Hungry ants would probably also make short work of them, so you could think of an "Ant Bag" solution. This is the Halfbakery after all.
-- xenzag, Jul 26 2009


Ooh yes, i like that! It'd go well with the leeches and the hookworms.
-- nineteenthly, Jul 26 2009


Can we not, please, stop wasting time and turn our attention to lasers?
-- MaxwellBuchanan, Jul 26 2009


My Halfbakery Planet is considerably grungier and gunkier than yours it seems, [MB]. Also, i could try this out this coming Tuesday and report back on it, which is often not true of other ideas on here. I agree that that makes it disappointing, especially if it actually works. Then again, whatever else it does, it will at least achieve pine-freshness, as you pointed out earlier.
-- nineteenthly, Jul 26 2009


Have you considered the possibility that head-lice are actually the larval stage of goats? And that this hormone might actually trigger their final metamorphosis, axolotl- style? A headful of lice is a nuisance. A headful of goats is a legal case waiting to happen.
-- MaxwellBuchanan, Jul 26 2009


No, no, no, no, no. What we need is to introduce a predator species, like money spiders or European wasps. A healthy cranial ecosystem is the goal.
-- BunsenHoneydew, Jul 26 2009


//A healthy cranial ecosystem is the goal// [marked-for-tagline]
-- FlyingToaster, Jul 27 2009


thanks, I approve.
-- WcW, Jul 27 2009


No problem, [WcW]. People have different levels of tolerance about these things.
//A healthy cranial ecosystem is the goal//
Actually, yes. It would also make that urban legend about the beehive hairdo true. The only trouble is, whereas i can think of a supplier for the oil, their customer service is crap, so whereas i may have said Tuesday, this may not be accurate. This place is like the Python Cheese Shop sometimes.
-- nineteenthly, Jul 27 2009


hair conditioner is most commonly recommended for headlice these days. that and a special comb to break the legs of the lice which then can no longer breed. but yes, hey, lasers are good too.
-- po, Jul 27 2009


Woo, not gonna happen, [21Q].

[Po], yes, we do various things including the combing and a pretty successful shampoo, but i would suggest this is more humane. You don't actually kill the headlice this way, you just make sure they don't reproduce and they end up dying without issue. It's relatively cruelty-free for a veggie such as myself.
Incidentally, i've just tried to add the stuff to my order but the supplier hasn't got any.
-- nineteenthly, Jul 27 2009


//they end up dying without issue. It's relatively cruelty-free//
sp. "relative-free cruelty".
I suggest we deny [nineteethly] the ability to reproduce, and then see how cruel he finds that.
-- coprocephalous, Jul 27 2009


Too late really, you'd have to sterilise or kill the kids. In any case, the reproductive technique my species employs differs from headlice's, in that they're not particularly emotionally invested in their offspring.
As it happens, i'd long assumed i would never reproduce and was somewhat surprised when i did. If you really want, i think there should be people paid to be lousy, as i mentioned somewhere else on here.
-- nineteenthly, Jul 27 2009


I think hormonal headlouse treatment is a bad idea. Here is why. Hormonal treatment of an insect like mosquitoes is great because blocking hormones prevents transition from juvenile to adult. If you are going to do something to prevent juveniles from maturing you had better be sure you can accomodate them all. Juvenile mosquitoes are not problem and an important food source for other aquative life. If there are loads and loads of them because they never grow up, no harm done.

Lice are another matter. If larval lice are prevented from molting they will not achieve reproductive age but they will still eat, which means bite. They will also still fall off the head and get onto other heads, where there will not be hormone blocking chemicals in effect - so the hormonally treated carrier remains infectious.

Pyrethrins are herbal. They kill stuff good. But probably not the nonmobile forms so you still need to comb.
-- bungston, Jul 27 2009


I couldn't imagine having a headfull of perpetually juvenile lice hanging about, doing hormonal drugs, leaving trash behind, scaring away the neighboring fleas...
-- RayfordSteele, Jul 27 2009


That has occurred to me. I've used pyrethrin-containing plants for lice and scabies before, and they work, but allergies to them are quite common. I wouldn't just be using the juvenile hormone. What's not clear to me is how it would influence their lifespan. They don't live long as it is, but that may be something to do with the loss of the hormone. So yes, maybe i'd end up with immortal lice instead, but wouldn't it be interesting to find out?
-- nineteenthly, Jul 27 2009


weigh them before and after death - see if they have souls
-- po, Jul 27 2009


I was brewing a batch of beer this weekend and the conversation turned to the sex life of yeast. Trying to imagine a yeast pickup bar.

(looking in mirror) "Hey, you're pretty fine. Want to get out of here and go eat some sugar?"
-- normzone, Jul 27 2009


The same line would work in a sugar glider pickup bar, but since i live nowhere near Notting Hill, there aren't many of those around here.
-- nineteenthly, Jul 27 2009


/Trying to imagine a yeast pickup bar./

"Hey there bud! No, I was talking to your bud."
-- bungston, Jul 27 2009


//Bourbon and gloop// So how effective is this on the lice?
-- pocmloc, Jul 27 2009



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