| NEEM OIL & EXTRACTS FOR LICE IN HUMAN HAIR & ANIMALS |
|
Sharing Experiences in tackling Head Lice with Neem
 |
|
|
|
|
Rachelle & Richard have wonderfully explained herein how Neem Oil played an role in eliminating their children's problem of Head Lice.
We first came across neem about 2 years ago, when we read a magazine article about this wonderful tree and all its life-enhancing properties. We did not have access to the internet then, and searched as well as we could for some neem oil, but were unable to find anybody that was selling it in this country. We accepted our defeat and put it to the back of our minds until some months later when a friend of ours announced she had a three-week holiday booked to India.
˜I wonder if you might do us a favour" we began, and told her of neem oil. She agreed and three weeks later we were proudly holding our bottle of thick brown sludge, wondering how on earth we were going to cope with the smell of rancid burnt onions that was seeping from this bottle.
Our main reason for wanting neem oil was to see how it would handle a population of head-lice that had taken residence on two children. We fought the battle of continual shampooing, conditioning, combing, and the weeping and wailing that inevitably ensued. Not to mention the incessant scratching that seemed to "catch", just like the lice themselves. We were going through a particularly bad infestation where you could see one of the children's heads literally crawling with lice, we learnt never to ask her a question where the answer was "no", because if she shook her head a deluge of lice would ceremoniously land on the floor. How on earth she lived with it we will never know, but this was by far the worst case of it we had ever seen. She was even affectionately nicknamed "Mother louse" because these little creatures seemed to just adore her! We refused to go down the route of organophosphates that are in all the proprietary shampoos for lice, as we were aware of the terrible damage these chemicals could do to the body's nervous system and so neem seemed to be the answer to our prayers, fulfilling the role of a natural, safe yet effective solution.
We had absolutely no knowledge or any source of wisdom for how to use this evil-smelling stuff and so we plastered the children's heads with it neat, combed it through, wrapped their heads in cling-film and sent them out in the garden to play for a couple of hours. They had a wonderful time chasing each other about as "aliens" with their plastic, sticky heads and little did we know that all the time Mother Nature was weaving her magic on their "uninvited guests".
After about 4 hours in total we applied shampoo onto their hair and rinsed it off, followed by another shampoo and set to work combing their hair through with a lice comb.
To this day, we are absolutely astounded by the results we witnessed. Our conservatory floor rather looked like a mini necropolis for hundreds (yes hundreds) of lice that were combed out, but they had all, every single one of them died and combed easily off the hair. The girls were free at last of their "company" and their hair was shiny and healthy looking. Whether or not we applied it in the right way, we still do not know, but we were desperate to get rid of these lice and had to resort to desperate measures.There were certainly NO side effects, which we know would not have been the case if we
had gone down the "orthodox" route.
We are still eager to learn the uses of neem oil, and have used it for a nasty skin infection that prevented the need for antibiotics, for our animals as a flea treatment and a very novel use we have found is as a deterrent for thumb sucking!
--- Rachelle and Richard Strauss
So how did actually Neem work ? Let us go to that fundamental things...
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
|
How does Neem Oil & Extracts work on Lice ?
|
|
|
|
|
NEEM OIL Contains several - Terpenoids, Steroids, Alkaloids, Flavonoids,Glycosids, etc..
The isolated Constituents constituents are: Margosic Acid, Nimbin, Nimbidin, Nimbinin, Kaempeerol, Azadirone, Quercursertin, B - Sitosterol, Praisine,Vanilic Acid,
Nimbicetin, Meliacins etc..
The Most important & chiefly responsible is AZADIRACHTIN
Modern Science has isolated & identified AZADIRACHTIN as the Chief ingredient in Neem Seed responsible for the Action on the pests.
Empirical formula :C 35 H 44 O 16
Molecular weight :720
Chemical family :Tetranortriterpenoids
AZADIRACHTIN ACTS IN THE FOLLOWING WAY:
- Disturbing or inhibiting the development of the eggs,
larvae, or pupae.
- Blocking the molting of larvae or nymphs.
- Disturbing mating and sexual communication.
- Repelling larvae and adults.
- Deterring females from laying eggs.
- Sterilising adults
- Deterring feeding
SOURCES:
AZADIRACHTIN is Naturally found in Neem Seed Kernel.Depending on the method of extraction and the choice of the Neem Fruits/Seeds/Kernel.
Depending on the various combinations & permutations, the following are the possible Azadirachtin levels we have procured for exporting and supplying to Quality conscious Indian Companies.
NEEM OIL WITH NATURAL AZADIRACHTIN CONTENT:
1. Azadirachtin 2250 ppm
2. Azadirachtin 1955 ppm
3. Azadirachtin 1750 ppm
3. Azadirachtin 1200 ppm
4. Azadirachtin 800 ppm
5. Azadirachtin 400 ppm
6. Azadirachtin 300 ppm
7. Azadirachtin 50 ppm
8. Azadirachtin 0 ppm
TECHNICAL EXTRACTS: This is also from various processed used with different types of Solvents & Machineries.
1. Azadirachtin 10 %
2. Azadirachtin 25 %
3. Azadirachtin 35 %
4. Azadirachtin 42 %
5. Azadirachtin A & B 96 % Standard
Advantages:
1. Broad spectrum of activity
2. No Known insecticide resistance mechanisms
3. Compatible with many commercial chemical insecticides used against Head Lice like Malathion.
4. New mode of action with possible multiple sites of attack.
5. Low use rates
6. Formulation flexibility
7. No re-entry restrictions
8. Supply available from pre-existing infrastructure.
9. Application flexibility - can be sprayed or drenched.
Now you know why traditional Neem Oil & Extracts are a 100 % sureshot against the nasty Lice & Nits.
Since the Neem Oil is used for Human skin contact kindly ensure that the source from which you procure provide COLD PRESSED, SOLVENT FREE, HIGH CONTENT OF NATURAL AZADIRACHTIN NEEM OIL.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Rym Exports
|
| 23, Anuradha, Old Nagardas Road, Andheri ( East )
|
| Mumbai( Bombay) |
Maharashtra |
400 069 |
| INDIA
|
| Tel: + 91 22 32956539 / 28210025
|
| Fax + 91 22 66991480
|
| mehta.milan@yahoo.com
|
|
Page Updated Sun Oct 29, 2006 12:17pm EST
|
|
|
