Beating lice before they bite – now you can prevent the embarrassment and discomfort.
Head lice affects millions of school children across the world, with studies showing up to half of all South African children surveyed have suffered infestations at some stage in their lives.
Now, for the first time, lice can be prevented through a safe, non-toxic, nature-based preventative spray, Picksan NoLice!, which has notched up huge successes in Europe and which has been formulated by top global parasitologist, Prof. Heinz Mehlhorn from Düsseldorf University.
Giulia Criscuolo, responsible pharmacist for OTC Pharma SA, which markets and distributes nature-based Picksan NoLice!, says head lice are extremely contagious, placing everyone at risk. However, children aged three to 12 years are most prone as they play very close together, passing the parasites on to each other.
Head lice are small wingless crawling parasites that feed on tiny amounts of blood every two to three hours. Lice bites cause itching which result in skin irritation and even infection.
Although there are no comprehensive statistics available, a study carried by PubMed Central, a US based medical archive, shows the prevalence of infestations in Asia at up to 59% of those surveyed with the rate in Europe up to 22.4%, and Africa at up to 58%. See here
Such is the impact that Google shows up to half a million ‘head lice’ searches per month.
In addition to the health impact, the stigma of lice infestations can also be damaging. One in 10 parents in the UK said their child had been the victim of cruel jibes as a result of having head lice while 15 per cent of parents said they had felt victimised by teachers because of infestations.
Lice occur exclusively on humans and prefer clean hair. There are a multitude of products on the market to treat lice infestation and only a few which claim repellency and protection from infestation. Most of these contain harmful insecticides which may permeate the skin causing damage. In addition, head lice have been proven to develop immunities against most insecticides rendering them ineffective after a while.
It has been shown that a combination of the MelAza extract and the compound paramenthane -3,8-diol (which is also found in Eucalyptus) act synergistically and are able to protect human hair for at least seven hours from invasion of head lice. Picksan NoLice! preventative spray contains both essential compounds.
Prof. Mehlhorn, who heads up the department of Cytology and Parasitology at Düsseldorf University, discovered that lice dislike these substances, which consist primarily of repellent odours. Due to their natural active ingredients, developing immunities to these substances is highly unlikely.
Picksan NoLice! contains a well balanced amount of odour compounds which are completely safe to use and can be sprayed onto dry hair, caps, shawls, collars of jackets and even in pets kennels and blankets to prevent parasitic conditions such as mange.
Picksan NoLice! spray is applied to the surface of hair. Lice perceive the odour when the volatile repellents bind to odorant receptors displayed on specialised receptor neurons located on the antennae of the lice. In occasions that a lice infested person comes close to the hair covered with NoLice the lice strongly respond to the volatiles and avoid approaching the treated hair.
Based on natural repellents which some plants possess, Picksan NoLice! does not contain allergenic essential oil constituents and is suitable for adults and children over the age of two.
Picksan No Lice is recommended by leading European doctors and is available in all health shops, pharmacies, Dis-Chem, Clicks, Pick n Pay and Medi-Rite.
For more info, see here or call Giulia Criscuolo on 0861 998880.
