Fairy Tales’ Rosemary Repel Line Offers Natural, Effective Lice Prevention

Fairy Tales Hair Care heads into summer camp season with independent, in vitro study results that suggest its all-natural Rosemary Repel line is more than 92 percent effective at preventing lice infestation.

"In the past there has been anecdotal evidence that citronella, rosemary, eucalyptus, piperonal and lavender have been indicated as useful for both the treatment and prevention of head lice infestations," Fairy Tales Executive Director Risa Barash states May 12.

"It is important for us to have validation that the Rosemary Repel products work as advertised in preventing lice," she says.

The study results come at a time when consumer interest in things natural is at high tide and drug-resistant "super lice" a reality.

"We believe this is the first independent research on a product with natural ingredients that deter head lice as opposed to chemical lice removal," says Katie Shepard, principal investigator and executive director at Lice Solutions Resource Network.

LSRN is a non-profit organization specializing in head lice research and community education; it also offers "strand-by-strand" lice and nit removal treatments at its West Palm Beach, Fla. facility.

In the study it conducted, two hair strands - one treated with water and the other with a Rosemary Repel product - were placed on either side of a midline in 55 Petri dishes. Lice were set on the midline and their positions observed over 24 hours.

A ¹ video clip at FairyTalesHairCare.com shows the repellent effects of Rosemary Repel at work.

The Rosemary Repel line consists of a spray, gel, shampoo and conditioner, which retail for $9.95 and $21.95 apiece for small and 32-oz. bottles, respectively.

Use of all four products can boost effectiveness to almost 100 percent, the firm says.

Lice Prevention Is Growing Business

There are 6 million to 10 million cases of lice infestation among children each year, according to Passaic, N.J.-based Fairy Tales Hair Care, which claims to have pioneered a new and growing category with natural lice prevention.

Traditionally lice have been addressed once infestation occurs via insecticides contained in OTC or prescription removal products, such as N,N-diethyl-meta-toluamide (DEET) or pyrethroids, which have raised toxicity concerns.

Also new breeds of poison-resistant, "super lice" have hatched from the eggs of previous generations, as reported by major news networks in fall 2008.

Fairy Tales notes that prevention is becoming more important as school systems abandon "no nits" policies banning children with lice from attending class, which can cause students to miss excessive amounts of school.

A company spokesperson said Fairy Tales has tried to be "smart about how they positioned these innovative products - as hair products loaded with vitamins, minerals and herbs to be used daily in the bath or shower, rather than [strictly] as a lice-preventing shampoo."

Robert DiLorenzo, who founded the company in 1999 with his wife Risa, explained: "Our goal all along was to go into the children's hair-care market, not only into lice prevention but creating hair care that moms can use on their children every day with benefits that moms want, which is conditioning the hair, taking out tangles and moisturizing hair."

The company has done little advertising, depending largely on word of mouth, and its sales have doubled annually over the past four years.

"We noticed fairly early on in our business that when we reached one mother who loved our products, she would literally call us up and ask for 100 brochures [to] hand out to all of her friends in front of a school," DiLorenzo told "The Rose Sheet."

For those who do not deter lice via the firm's Rosemary Repel products, the company offers its Lice Good-Bye system and Terminator comb.

The products represent a "safer, yet effective alternative" to harsh medicated shampoos, it says.

"Most [anti-lice] products are so toxic that they say once you use it, you have to wait seven to 10 days. Our Lice Good-Bye can be used two, three days in a row," DiLorenzo said, noting that often mothers who are not professional nitpickers can miss eggs at first pass.

Fairy Tales plans to add to its Lice Good-Bye offering in time for the back-to-school season.

The company will go after a different parasite - the bedbug - with a spray launching in early June.

The product, called Sleep Tite , will be based on the same non-toxic principles as Lice Good-Bye and will be able to kill the bedbugs and their eggs "basically instantly," according to DiLorenzo.

"It's going to give mothers that safe feeling of being able to use it on their children's mattresses and take it to hotels when they go on vacation, knowing that there won't be any pesticides being used," he said.

In the meantime Fairy Tales is preparing for increased interest in its lice products as summer camps start up.

"For $8,000 a [camp] season, no one wants their kid to miss a day or be ostracized," the rep noted.

The company is investigating partnership opportunities with major consumer products firms and is in discussions with OTC drug distributors.

Currently its products are sold in 7,000 salons and pharmacies across the U.S.

- Ryan Nelson ([email protected])