Your kid leans her head back into a bowl-like device for 20 minutes, has a massaging sensation, and VOILLA! She's clean of lice, all done in a healthy and natural way.
The device has a few cycles: first puting edible oil on the hair, (olive oil is the healthiest) then rinsing, then soaping and rinsing again, and finally repeating the whole process one more time.
Finally, over the sink there is a cleaning cycle. Possibly this stage recycles the water and oil for next use, and removes the dead lice into a wad of toilet paper.
When I was a kid I never saw lice. But now every house in my hot country has a lice comb. My girls do a "mayonaize treatment" once in a while. After the shower they cover their hair with mayonaize, then they wait for a while, and comb the hair thoroghly with a lice comb, and finally rince with shampoo. Its a long and aggravating manual process, which could be done automatically and with a hair rinsing device instead of a comb, would be more healthful to the hair and head.-- pashute, Aug 06 2006 Ample habitat http://s122.photobu...nt=nineteenthly.jpgLice are a scary prospect [nineteenthly, Apr 15 2008] sp: mayonnaise-- Klaatu, Aug 06 2006 I had never heard of this. I thought the only solution was an expensive stinky shampoo.
I didn't believe it worked at first (the mayonnaise treatment), but it seems that it does. - I had to know why. It looks like it works by suffocating the lice.
Too bad you can't just rig up a hat that hooks up to a pump to create a vacuum inside. Then you could just wear the hat around for a few hours, unseal that hat and then shower.
(I read that vinegar is sometimes used to help get the mayonnaise out.)-- Zimmy, Aug 06 2006 Given that the hair of many folks generates its own mayonnaise-like brew of sebum, I am surprised that a little more exogenously would make any difference. I also very much doubt that a bug as durable as a louse would be suffocated in any reasonable period of time. Girls have been putting mayonnaise in their hair for a century. I suspect that the louse angle is just a recent addon.-- bungston, Aug 06 2006 I was thinking about this idea more, wondering what might have happened to cause lice to be such a problem in your country, [pashute]. Do you have any ideas?-- bungston, Aug 07 2006 Zimmy, I have a feeling that putting a vacuum on top of your head would cause your scalp to explode. But it would probably get rid of the lice.
sp. 'voila'. Or 'viola', if you're feeling halfbakeresque.-- dbmag9, Aug 07 2006 [bungston] First of all its mostly a problem in kindergardens. Its not such a problem for people who use DDT or other poisons. Nowadays most people here are less prone to use that kind of medication, before trying something more natural. (Take a look at your fingernails, and you'll see how deeply embedded this problem has been for all humans). Also, they used to cut the little kid's hair at the beginning of the summer, and lately long hair is the fashion, and cutting it short is not acceptable.
Last but not least, I do sometimes have the feeling that perhaps it has something to do with our lousy behavior. (... Exodus: The ten plagues that hit Pharaoh and the Egyptians) but only in the sence that we should be doing even better. (Our soldiers -I'm an officer in reserve - have endangered their lives not once, in order to stop our enemies from killing us, without killing them.-- pashute, Apr 15 2008 Given the juxtaposition of the two main parts of my life - herbalism and seething hordes of lousy home educatees - i have long had this problem licked. Shampoo base + 2.5% by volume of rosemary oil as the normal shampoo => no more headlice and a modest income for the practice. Given the nature of my tresses, this has long been a necessity for me.-- nineteenthly, Apr 15 2008 Good to see a picture !-- normzone, Apr 15 2008 Oh my god - it's full of hair!-- MaxwellBuchanan, Apr 15 2008 There are only 10 types of haircut in the world: none at all and completely shaved off.-- nineteenthly, Apr 15 2008 I wonder about shampoo base with rue. Rue is supposed to be good for fleas. It could be dog shampoo. It is not an herb or a smell that gets much use but seems to me a good doggy smell. Nineteenthly, if you get rich off of rue dog shampoo I want a free bottle.-- bungston, Jan 28 2009 If i treat dogs without permission, the word "rue" would be appropriate in a different way, since vets would remove my genitalia. It's illegal for me to do that.-- nineteenthly, Jan 28 2009 Must one have a veterinary license to peddle herbal dog shampoos?-- bungston, Jan 28 2009 random, halfbakery