Formulation of Herbal Shampoo against Head Louse (Pediculus humanus capitis De Geer)

Natural herbal shampoos are appealing to the consumers as they contain natural herbs without any harmful effects. The shampoo is used to remove dirt or other debris from hairs. Natural herbs are used in a herbal shampoo, which becomes more beneficial, safe, or efficacious than synthetic ones.

The present study aims to formulate and evaluate a herbal shampoo containing various herbal extracts for anti-lice activity.

Natural herbs such as neem, hibiscus, henna leaves, amla fruit and reetha epicarp are the components of the natural herbal shampoos used in this study. Soxhlet apparatus was used for water-based extraction of these natural herbs, whereas the maceration process was used for alcohol-based extraction. Nine formulations were prepared and evaluated by using different parameters like physical appearance, viscosity, surface tension, foam volume, pH, solid content, dirt dispersion and wetting time.

All nine shampoo formulations were successfully prepared at the pH range of 5.86-6.06. The physical appearance was observed to be between light brown to greenish-brown for F1 to F9 batches. The viscosity of the formulations was found to be between 1.05±0.011 to 0.96±0.011. Mortality of head lice (Lethal time (LT50)) for all the formulations was found in the range of 7.5 min- 52.5 min. Formulation F₅ was found to be the best in the context of all the parameters. Formulation F₅ showed good foaming property. The wetting ability was found to be good due to reduced surface tension (33.05±0.86); solid content was found to be 1.74% so that it would be easy to wash out from the hair.

All the shampoo formulations showed good quality and could be used safely and effectively. These formulations also showed anti-lice activity so they can be used for the problem of head lice.