Vinegar is commonly used to treat head lice, but is actually often misused, as many people think that it will remove both adult lice and head lice eggs. And people who sell commercial anti-lice products take advantage of this to say that home remedies such as head lice vinegar don’t work.
Now let’s see what vinegar for head lice can do and cannot do.
The truth is that vinegar will not kill adult head lice, because it simply lacks the properties to do so. The acid contained in vinegar might kill nymphs, though, which are young lice that cannot lay eggs yet.
However, vinegar is a very powerful weapon against head lice eggs, called nits. And a vinegar lice treatment combined with careful combing is definitely powerful to get rid of head lice eggs. But if you also want to kill adult head lice, you’ll have to use another home remedy such as olive oil and essential oils.
So just remember:
Vinegar can help you get rid of nits or head lice eggs.
Vinegar canNOT help you get rid of adult head lice.
Why is vinegar effective to remove head lice eggs?
The word vinegar derives from the Old French vin aigre, meaning sour wine. Vinegar is the result of two biochemical processes: alcoholic fermentation, which converts natural sugars into alcohol, and acid fermentation, in which microorganisms present in the air we breathe, convert the alcohol into acetic acid. This acid has antiseptic or germ killing properties. Vinegar usually has an acetic acid concentration of around 5% and is safe to use for head lice.
The acetic acid contained in vinegar will dissolve the exoskeleton (the protective shell of nits) of lice eggs, and they will no longer stick to the hair and will be easy to remove with a good nit comb.
What type of lice vinegar can we use?
You can use different types of vinegars for head lice, such as white vinegar, wine vinegar (red or white), or apple cider vinegar.
1. White vinegar and head lice
White vinegar is distilled vinegar. It is plain acetic acid in water, either as a simple chemical mix (usually very cheap or cleaning grade vinegar) or obtained through fermentation of distilled alcohol. It has usually a 5% acidity level. Thus this vinegar is harsh and has a sharp flavor. It is cheaper than other types of vinegar, and it can readily be found in most grocery stores.
2. Wine vinegar for head lice
- White Wine Vinegar: this type of vinegar is light flavored and is used for cooking. Its color can vary from white to pale gold and its acid level varies from 5% to 7%. It is made from the fermentation of real white wine, and thus retains much of its original white wine taste.
- Red Wine Vinegar: it has been used for centuries for both medicinal and culinary purposes. Its color can vary from light rose to deep red and its acid level also varies from 5% to 7%.
3. Apple cider vinegar
What apple cider vinegar to choose for head lice? Your best bet is to buy an apple cider vinegar which is not filtered, not pasteurized, and made from organic apples. This is because it will most of the time have a 5% acid concentration, which is what you want. A higher concentration would not be so safe to apply to your scalp, and a lower concentration would not be as effective to unglue the nits from your hair.
Is vinegar safe to use?
Vinegar is a natural organic bi-product of fruits, vegetables and grains. It is therefore edible and biodegradable. It is perfectly safe for the environment, for family members, especially those with asthma, and around young children. It doesn’t contain harmful toxic chemicals.
Vinegar will sting your eyes if sprayed directly into them, so direct contact with eyes should be avoided. Vinegar will not, however, cause any short or long-term damage to your eyes.
Warning: if your child has red marks on the scalp or has an irritated scalp (this can happen if the child has been infested for a while or if you have previously used a commercial lice killing shampoo), you want to avoid putting vinegar on the scalp, as it may irritate it too much.
How can you use vinegar to get rid of nits?
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Step 1: use pure vinegar to unglue the nits from the hairshaft. You should apply pure vinegar to your child’s hair, especially close to the scalp, behind the ears and in the neck area. Then, wait for a few minutes.
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Step 2: you should now rinse off the vinegar with water or 50% water/50%vinegar. Then, you need to spend time combing all nits out. Click here for more info on How to use a lice comb. This is a crucial step, so don’t skip it, thinking that the vinegar will do the trick. It will NOT.
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Step 3: repeat this process for two days or more until you can see no eggs and you are sure that all live nits are gone. Nits will hatch within 7 days of being laid, this is why you should really get rid of all live nits within a week from the date of your first vinegar treatment and combing out.
{ 34 comments… read them below or add one }
From sad experience I can tell you that vinegar (I used apple cider) absolutely does work to get rid of the nits. The only thing I’ve found works for the adults is religious combing with a flea or lice comb.
I put a thick layer of conditioner on my daughters hair and combed all the adults out, then rinsed her hair. I then put on white vinegar – waiting 15 minutes for it to work in – then combed as many of the eggs out as I could. I then rinsed her hair again and towel dried, then added more white vinegar. She has gone to bed with it and will wash it out in the morning. This has been an effective treatment a couple of times now.
I used white distilled vinegar for my hair a couple of weeks ago. I burned my eyes badly, but thank god no damage. It was amazing seeing those nits fall into the bucket of vinegar. In my stage of head lice, I had no adult lice, all I had were nits. It came out fine! But I’m going to use the Lice Shampoo to MAKE SURE that nothing is still there! This helps! Thanks!
After a breakout of head lice at my children’s elementary school, and recurring problems since, I’ve found initial treatment of vinegar rinse, comb out, vinegar rinse, then shampoo mixture (shampoo plus a couple drops of tea tree oil and couple drops of lavender oil). Also putting a few drops of tea tree oil and lavender oil in your shampoo bottle for everyday use keeps the head lice away.
Don’t forget to clean the car seat after treatment of lice.
Always buy your kids their own helmits for sports! That is how our family got it & still trying to get rid of it! ;(
hey i recently got head lice i did the shampooing for head lice and than i started doing baby oil on hair like every other day and than i was searching online if vinegar would get rid of head lice.. and it did. my hair dont itch as bad anymore.. but i get paranoid thinking i have head lice.
i dont mix water into vinegar. i just soak my hair with all vinegar till its soak to my head.. than i i use a thin comb to brush my hair to untangle all nots than i wait for 3 to 5 mins than i hope into shower i put shampoo like 2 times .. i feel so fresh so clean…
OMG Thanxxxxs so muh for posting!!! I have spend about $250.00 so far on lice killing shampos!!! Did’t know Vinegar could do it!!!!! On my way to he store now !!!
I wish I had known about this a lot sooner! The treatments are sooo expensive we have tried so much and nothing works! We have even cut my daughters hair super short! I am at my wits end! Going out to buy vinegar now! I pray this works!
Thank you so much for this page! Very informative and a heck of a lot cheaper than the pesticides in the store. I’ve got three girls with very long hair who have it, and myself. It’s the second time and I’m not sure where they are getting it. I will have to try the tea tree oil!
So glad I came across this site. I think my daughter is clear now (I pray). I check her every night though. I am def. going to try the vinegar wash just to be safe and I plan on making a shampoo/Tea Tree oil to keep for every day use!! Great idea!
Headlicecenter thanks a lot for a nice site, especially for mothers.
Just went through the site today ,thanks a lot i surely try it on my daughters.
Thank you.
thanks for this site, have been fighting headlice with my granddaughters for 2 wks, the commercial lice shampoo does not work, i’m defintely doing the vinager rinse and the tea tree oil and lavendar in shampoo, any other advice out there from other parents is greatly appreciated.
Thank you so much for all the great information. I just discovered we had a head lice infestation. I tried an OTC shampoo last week and clearly still have a problem. I am going to try the olive oil and vinegar. I am concerned with so many comments about the ongoing problems people have had. I much prefer the natural remedies to harsh chemicals. Thanks very much for your help.
When I was a child, my mother used to do a vinegar rinse. I played outside A LOT! At the time I didn’t know why she did the vinegar rinse. I do not recall ever having head lice as a child. She used it as a preventative measure.
thank you fo all info i found here. but let me complete with our story. school start, one day my daughter had fever. no school, time with mommy. me! peting her hair to calm her down, BUGS!!!!! crawling all over her hair!
INTERNET!!! Nix for three weeks, combing, nothing.
INTERNET again. I put all info togheter:
- vaseline for 8 hours (overnight) plenty in the hair, shower cap
(cap full whith dead lice)
- wash with baby oil, plenty, to take it off hair
- four times wash with dishwasher
- shampoo
- blow dry
- warm vinegar, 5%, 30 mins
- rinse
- hair still oily, eggs sliding easile down
- comb
- add baking powderr to take the oil off
- eggs DRIED OUT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
- wash the hair again
BINGO! we are clean.
keep the vinegar in the bathroom!
ps. a little chimistry from school…
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Thank you all for the advice. Found head lice on my 4 year old on Monday night…treated with over the counter stuff and combed out. OK for about a day, and they were back. Mayonnaise in the hair for 5 hours and got rid of what we thought was most of it! ONE sucker lived through the 5 hours… I combed her and checked her again today, and she looked pretty clean, my hair dresser checked too…ONE live sucker! Picked up the RID kit…and just combed through…nothing seems to be alive, and just finished dousing her with apple cider vinegar…hoping this does the trick!
Thanks for this site/message board. I’ll be doing the vinegar treatment today!
Thank you so much for this site you have created. you ‘ve had soo many people that have visited your site because this is soo common and a pain in the ***!!! i followed your steps. i am on day 3 and almost completely egg/nit free for my daughter. ive been leaving olive oil over night onher scalp to help soothe the irritation and it has worked. i will wash her hair with vinegar for next couple of days, on day 7 i will do both oilive oil then vinegar again. thank you so much for offering this free and helpful information it is so appreciated. i have e maile dmy friends to have your site on their favorites!
Well I hope I am not jumping the gun here but my results seem to be fantastic!!!!!!!!!! Not without the help of this site. Thank you to all with your posts and info. I slept with my mixture of vinger and miracle whip (since I don’t have mayo) and I didn’t rinse it out untill 3pm today. Now I will still do some treatments maybe with the TTO in my shampoo to prevent it however I have checked my daughter and she seems to be clear of lice and also my hair feels super smooth and clean. I only hope that the tingles I felt here and there today were from pure paranoia because I sure thru a fit when I found out I had it, crying and running thru my house taking things to the laundry room and so worried that it would be the death of me to get rid of and worst of all cut my daughters beautiful long hair. If it is gone or it isn’t I just want to thank this site for the helpful tips and I will be sure to keep all these ingrediants in home at all times as I am now sooooo worried that since my daughter started all day school that this may be a reocurrance. Also I just wanted to add that I believe since I found my daughters hat and gloves in the lost and found at her school I am sure that is where it came from and I am eager to consult with her school staff to try to prevent this and let them know about this site and other ways they could help to prevent this happening in any way possible. Thanks to everyone again. One parent helping another, I am so thankful.
I want to thank everyone that posted about the mayo and ACV treatment from the bottom of my heart! God damn, i think its f*%king working! I have spent probably around $500 on lice treatments (if not more) and NOTHING seemed to work. I just tried the mayo and ACV and they were ALL DEAD! Even with the toxic treatments, i would still be combing out half dead lice but not this time. I will treat again in 3 days and then 3 days after that. And will also be spraying their hair each school day with the tea tree oil water. But i now have hope. Thank you so much
If you want to get rid of lice, treat with vinegar (may need several treatments) (the acids dissolve the egg lining and helps kill the eggs)… then mayo or cooking oil (may need several treatments) (the oils suffocate the adults and helps kill them)… wash and dry (on high heat) all bedding and toys that have fibers, even your bedding (even if you do not think that you have it) because your children do climb on your bedding, or a nit attached hair can be stuck on you, and get there at some point during the day … thoroughly clean and sanitize under, around and on the beds (might need to buy bedding spray) but as a parent you know to do this each week … Thoroughly clean in, on, around, under your couches & chairs (get in thouse cracks and crevices) … if you often have your kids friends at your home, check their hair (take them home so that their parents may treat their hair or call and get permission) … ALWAYS call around to their friends and inform the parents about the situation … keeping everyone informed is always best … this helps break it down … tell them to start the chain of calls (its more than likely a BIGGER problem than you think … Call family and inform them … Do not Keep this problem to yourself (because its too embarrassing or whatever) … Call the school … they need to be informed and check all the kids … its their responsibility to notify all parents and do checks … removal is easy and prevention is easier …
Sadly my 6 year old Granddaughter has been coming home from school with head lice. someone told me once about the vinger treatment and now I keep a gallon of vinger at all times.it’s great for cutting the glue that holds the nits and she doesn’t seam to mind it.I keep a spray bottle of it around and every once in a while we comb with it even with no lice visible, it makes her hair shine also.
I have 3 girls and they have all been infested with head lice. It has been a battle for me for about 5 months now. My tow little ones don’t have as much hair and have been manageable but my older daughter has the hair of all 3 of us put together and has been the greatest challenge. I’ve used hair shampoos, washed everything out in hot water daily and spent many evenings removing nits. The problem is still there and i am glad to finally know what will kills the nits! We are on vacation right now and will take the extra time to completely get rid of these horrible bugs. Thanks for all your comments. Very useful information.
While it is true that just a white egg means its a dead nit, they can stick to your hair for a LONG time, and if you ever plan on getting a hair cut, REMOVE THEM, or else the hairdressers legally cannot cut your hair.
Hi, when I was younger my 2 younger sister’s and I al got head lice. My mom tried the RID treatment and it did not work for our hair, so my mom covered our whole head with a think conditioner and made sure that it was on kinda thick, enough to cover the scalp and all the hair. Then she got a plastic bag, without holes, and put our hair on the top of our head and cover just our hair with the bag and tied it so that there was no air to get in the bag and we wore that for about 10 he’s or overnight. We found out that it suffocates all the lice, adult and the nits.
Wowsers! I used red wine vinegar. It worked really well, the best part is that my daughters thick blonde hair was so easy to comb through for once. Best detangler ever, also her natural colour came back to life 2 fold almost as if it had been bleached and the first thing i noticed, it had cleansed her scalp. Put vinegar in spray bottle, soak hair and massage through, wait ten mins and wash out. comb through. Then used fat mayo, also comb through. Wash out with tea tree oil mixed with shampoo. No conditioner. I’ll use Robi electric comb pro tomorow to be sure. Cheers headlicecentre.
My 5 year old daughter was treated for headlice Saturday. Her head was COMPLETELY covered, it looked like parmasean cheese was sprinkled on her hair. I did not pay any attention to the white speks I saw periodically, we switched shampoo because of dandruff so I thought nothing of lice. I have never had lice and I wasnt educated on it either. Once my mother told me it was lice, I googled it. Checked her head and sure enough, LICE! I did a store bought treatment (RID) right away. I cleaned EVERYTHING cleanable, BUT the nits hatched the next day. I googled all night Saturday and Sunday and found this website. I did the olive oil Tuesday night, the aftermath was incredible. The treatment didnt even allow us to comb out that many nits/nimphs. It is Wednesday night and I have done the Apple Cyder Vinegar. It worked WAY better than the RID as well. Continuing with the Olive Oil & Vinegar for the next month. I hope this goes away FOR GOOD, so my babygirl can go back to school. Thank you Headlicecenter.com and those who posted your comments/experience!
My daughter got lice from school over 3 times and used the Nix cream rinse didn’t work either did that plastic blue comb….I used vinegar and vegetable oil and combed it out with a metal lice comb…and her hair is sooooo clean now ..
We are currently on round 2 of head lice for the 2nd month. We use a spray bottle of store brand mouth cover with shower cap 2 hrs. Then rinse. While head is still wet, spray with another bottle white vinager cover with another shower cap for 2 hours. Then rinse. Then while still wet, use coconut conditioner for 15 mins (uncovered) then comb out and leave hair dry either air or preferred blow dryer. Make sure to throw out each shower cap though. Worked for my husband, me, and now my teen. Just waiting for youngest to get it again. Good luck everyone.
I have tried every commercial product to rid my daughter of nits over the past three months, and seriously I am at the end of my tether because nothing was working. She has thick, dry hair and I couldn’t seem to get all the eggs out! Even repeatedly combing each strand, and those eggs would stay glued to the hair. One night I honestly felt like crying after spending about eight hours treating her over a week. So today I sprayed white vinegar onto her hair, dipping the metal nit comb into a jug of boiling water and HEAPS of eggs came out. I then used a commercial treatment to kill the adults and remaining eggs. I will repeat this until she is clear. Interestingly no-one else in the family is infected.
Friends who are hairdressers say that lice infestation is very common this year, and many families are struggling to get rid of them.
(READ BOTTOM, MOST IMPORTANT)So I tried what one of the people on here suggested which used most home remedies for head lice.
INTERNET again. I put all info togheter:
- vaseline for 8 hours (overnight) plenty in the hair, shower cap
(cap full whith dead lice)
- wash with baby oil, plenty, to take it off hair
- four times wash with dishwasher
- shampoo
- blow dry
- warm vinegar, 5%, 30 mins
- rinse
- hair still oily, eggs sliding easile down
- comb
- add baking powderr to take the oil off
- eggs DRIED OUT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
- wash the hair again
I was just occasionally finding a few nits and anytime I had someone check me, so I decided to try this, so it would help possibly combining most remedies. Seemed like a good idea. I have long thick hair and put the vaseline in my hair, for 5 hours went use dish soap to get it out and spend about 2 hours shampooing my hair trying to get enough out so I could blow dry it. MAKE SURE YOU HAVE BABY OIL ON HAND! I tried baking powder and shampooing my hair about 20 times with dish soap and still had tons left in. I was only able to get it out by putting BABY OIL on and shampooing my hair about 3 times after that. Just wanted to give that warning out.
i think the COMBING THOROUGHLY WITH FINE NIT COMB is what gets them out. no matter how much you put on or in your hair wether it be vinegar or brought shampoos / treatments etc, the combing out of the eggs is vital! gotta get those suckers out!!!! and if you kids go to school and keep getting them WRITE A FORMAL LETTER TO THE SCHOOL and tell them that there is a major outbreak, or go directly to the parents if you know which kid it is! NITS SUCK! and its such a had thing to get rid of!
What a nightmare! This is the second time in 3 months my daughter has come home with it. I completely agree the over the counter stuff does NOT work! Not to mention is so bad for the child. I did a combination of salt, olive oil and dawn dishsoap. Let it sit on for 30 min or so, rinse it out with water and comb, comb, comb. The olive oil will suffocate the adult louse and nymphs. The salt I was told dehydrates the egg shell, and dawn is a degreaser, so it helps loosen the glue and makes for easy comb outs. Use a metal lice comb, plastic ones are useless. I did this yesterday and it was scary how many came out. I’m going to do the vinegar today. And thanks for the tea tree and lavendar oil suggestion!