Date: Wed, 31 Aug 2005 16:12:12 -0400
From: Tanya
To: Chris Jenks
Subject: Re: Comment from PuzzlePiece Visitor

Dear Dr. Jenks,

I am very happy to report that my daughter is still vermin-free after a week 
and a half.  At this point I'm considering her "cured"!!  Please allow me to 
thank you for offering me the information necessary to take care of our 
problem without the use of harsh and potentially harmful chemicals.

Sincerely,
Tanya

>From: Chris Jenks
>To: Tanya
>Subject: Re: Comment from PuzzlePiece Visitor
>Date: Mon, 22 Aug 2005 07:09:44 -0700 (PDT)
>
>   Dear Tanya,
>
>   Thank you for letting me know about your situation. Very few people 
>bother to send comments, even though puzzlepiece.org is pretty busy. I've 
>heard that vinegar is supposed to loosen nits. I don't know if any oils 
>will, but I don't think it is very important because oils in general are so 
>effective at killing lice, and the hatching of the nits is predictable. As 
>I remember, nits always hatch within a week, but it takes at least two 
>weeks before the newly hatched lice are capable of laying eggs. Two 
>applications of vegetable oil a week apart, left on for one hour each, was 
>completely effective with my daughters. Trying to remove the nits was 
>frustrating and futile, in my experience. Let me know if you see any live 
>lice in your daughter's hair today - I would be very surprised. Make sure 
>to repeat the olive oil treatment on Friday, to get any lice from nits that 
>you missed this weekend. I would definitely like to know the outcome of 
>your experience, and also permission to post your report to 
>puzzlepiece.org, if you would permit me to. The only reason you didn't see 
>any other reports on puzzlepiece is that nobody has told me their outcome 
>yet! :-(
>
>   Yours,
>
>     Chris
>
>On Fri, 19 Aug 2005, Tanya wrote:
>
>>Hello Dr. Jenks,
>>
>>I hope you're still interested in hearing about how natural lice 
>>treatments work in the home.  I'm just beginning my daughters tonight. She 
>>was diagnosed while with her father on vacation.  They have been treating 
>>her with over the counter lice pesticides for the last 7 days, but lice 
>>were still apparent in her hair this evening when she came home.  I wet 
>>her hair then drenched it with apple cider vinegar (we didn't have any 
>>white).  I let it soak for about 45 minutes.  I then washed it with 
>>dishwashing liquid, and then applied a copious amount of extra virgin 
>>olive oil (we didn't have any real mayonaise) and used a nit comb.  She 
>>will wear a showercap to bed and have that in her hair overnight.  
>>Tomorrow morning I will wash her hair again in dishwashing liquid, and 
>>then use a nit comb on it.  We will be out for the day. Prior to bed 
>>tomorrow evening I will again use a vinegar rinse, nit comb, and then 
>>mayonaise (which she will sleep with).  Another wash, vinegar rinse, and 
>>nit combing in the morning, and I hope to be free of the little buggers!  
>>I'll let you know how our treatment works.  Thank you for your time.
>>
>>Sincerely,
>>Tanya
>>
>>P.S.  I've read that there is a property in olive and coconut oils that 
>>dissolves the exoskeleton of the mature lice.  Have you heard this rumor?  
>>If so, is there any truth to it?