Herbs—Tansy

Homeschoolers are not as likely as are public school children to get lice; but if your children ever rub shoulders with public school children, chances are you will one day be declaring war on lice.
Lice are tiny bugs that get in a person’s hair, then lay eggs and hatch into thousands of tiny bugs.
The first signs of lice are small dandruff looking particles that are connected to the hair about one-half inch from the scalp. These are the sacs that hold lice eggs. Getting rid of lice can be very time consuming and expensive for a large family. The process involves washing all bedding, couches, chairs and carpet. The lice killing shampoo sold in drug stores is quite expensive. .
May I introduce to you Tansy, a lice zapping herb? Tansy will grow most any where. Its large, tropic, fern-like foliage grows five or six feet high. In mid to late summer, it bears small, daisy looking, yellow flowers. Tansy has a sharp unpleasant smell, which is a deterrent to bugs.
Tansy is usually started from a root cutting. Once established, it grows rapidly, and continues to multiply. According to the herb info now available, all tansies are not the same. There is a strain that looks and smells like the real thing, but does not have the bug killing properties of the real Tansy. Try your plant on garden bugs before you have to depend on it for lice treatment.
I pack the fresh or dried Tansy in a glass quart jar (herb to vinegar), adding hot, apple cider vinegar. I cap this mixture and shake it everyday for 3 weeks, at which time I strain off the herb and bottle the vinegar tincture in a well-labeled squeeze bottle. This tincture, as well as other herbal tinctures, will keep well in a cool dark place.
The Tansy vinegar tincture can be rubbed into the scalp when you think you might have been exposed to lice, thus eliminating the possibility of getting them. If you already have lice, saturate your hair and scalp several times over a forty-eight hour period. It is safe for the hair and scalp, but should be kept out of the eyes, since the vinegar burns. Vinegar has long been used as a hair rinse to bring out the natural shine to the hair, as well as to add body and control.
In the house or garden, tansy can also be used to discourage invading ants, as a garden pesticide, or on most any insect invasion.
Rebekah took dried tansy with her on the PNG missions trip. She sprinkled it in her sleeping bag to ward off bed bugs -- Gabe didn’t. You guessed it, he ended up sharing his sleeping bag with wild, New Guinea, jungle- mountain bed bugs