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- Not sure how it got started, but the topic of discussion at work today was that someone observed that fleas are repelled by gasoline, quite volently. If they got any on them they died within a couple of minutes. - Then we wondered, can you instantly de-louse an animal (or person) by washing them with gasoline? -For people, this could include niceties like head lice, as well as creatures that live down south below the equator. - MC
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I would not doubt gasoline kills fleas and lice, but washing someone down with it seems to me a case of slapping mosquitos with a nine-pound sledge.
Gasoline is extremely volatile, and not only would the vapors not do your lungs any good, the liquid would surely irritate/damage uh… sensitive tissue. Not to mention the possibility of achieving true Buddha nature via self-immolation.
I suggest kerosene would be a marginally better choice
I once met a teenage girl who had tried to get rid of head lice by washing her hair in gasoline. Unfortunately, her bathroom had a gas hot water heater with a pilot light.
She was in the special burn unit in Galveston. It wasn’t a pretty sight.
Diesel fuel will do the trick, and is not nearly as flammable. Will still blister your skin.
Why not use one of the safe products especially designed for that purpose?
Oh yeah, this also reminds me of the man who was stripping the hardwood floors in his living room with gasoline. He walked outside to talk to a neighbor and lit a cigarette . . .
Didn’t have to worry about stripping the floor - no house, no floors!
Nothing beats the case in Olklahoma 2-3 years back where a couple tried to deal with thier daughter’s head lice by washing her hair with industrial pesticide. At the time of the news report I read, she was in a coma and not expected to wake up.
Down here in the south, gasoline/kerosine are old folk remedies for lice. And every year someone manages to kill both themselves and thier kid.
My aunt was a social services nurse. She had one guy that treated crabs with a can of Raid. He was red, sore, and swollen for quite a while.
What did he do, beat himself with it?
How 'bout sheep dip? What’ll it do?
Says here, though, that maybe you shouldn’t both drink ‘n’ dip:
http://www.cyber-dyne.com/~tom/sheep_dip.html
Ray
Douse ANY living thing w/ gasoline to get rid of pests?!?
Sorry…pause to regain composure…
The previous posters did a masterful job of describing the fire risks. Oh, bullpucky, I’ll add to it anyway: the agony of burns and skin grafts to get rid of fleas and crabs?! Hey, why not just use a cleaver and be done with it?
Okay.
Calmer now.
Look at it this way, skin is the largest organ in the body. It regulates your temperature, rate of water loss and keeps the outside and inside environments separate. Treat it well or it will make your life a misery.
Ever try to wash gasoline or Coleman fuel off your hands? Do you really want that around your eyebrows and lashes (and places below the belt) when there are safer, gentler and more effective remedies readily available?
No, no (and kindly excuse shouting) NO!
Whew!
Gas has a very low surface tension so that’s why it works. Much safer & also just as effective on fleas, believe it or not, is water. Even better, soap and water. Does the same thing for fleas.
Get a dish, put some water & a little dish soap in it. Put a light above it. fleas are attracted to that light at night, jump at it, hit the water & well, see, easy.
Lice on the other hand you need a special shampoo & comb because the gas doesn’t effect the nits [eggs].
Nick, Phobia did not say lice generally, but crabs (Phthuris pubis). Think about it…
On second thought, DON’T think about it {cringing} 