Natural Remedies for Scabies: 8 Options for Itch Relief

I want to Thank this forum for finally getting my home back. My husband and I are completely rid of Scabies because of this forum.. Thank You, Thank You, Thank You. Here is our story and what we did to finally rid our bodies and home from these relentless critters.

We tried the prescription creams and even took the pills that doctors prescribed and scrubbed my house and washed the linens every day, only to have recurrences every 4-5 days. After 3 failed attempts doing it the doctor's way finally I headed to the internet and found this website. I read all the different posts for what others were using and having success. I guess you can say I gathered a mix of treatments. Here is what we did to finally rid our bodies and home.

1) Wrap the mattress and box springs in plastic

2) Wrap the couch in plastic

3) Steam Clean the Carpets -- We added 1/4 cup Chlorine free bleach, 3 Tblsp Dr Bonners Castile Peppermint soap and Zep Carpet Cleaner to mix with our water. Not only did this actually do a better job on our carpets then the cleaner itself ever did, but our carpets were minty fresh.

4) Take the bed linens off the bed every morning and straight to the washing machine. Add borax with your detergent. Then to the dryer until completely dry, I ran mine for 2 cycles. Spray the plastic on the bed with 50/50 Cholorine free bleach and Water, let air dry.

5) If you have pets, bathe them with the Peppermint soap made into shampoo. Use a nit/flea comb to remove any eggs that they are carrying. No the scabies don't infect them, but they do provide them with rides all over your house.

6) Remove daily clothing in the bathroom and place them directly into a plastic bag to transport clothing and towels to the washing machine.

7)Bathe twice a day, make the water as hot as you can take. Add Tblsp of each -Dr Bonners castile Citrus, Tea Tree and Peppermint oil soaps to the Bath water and soak. Then wash with one of the castile oil soaps which ever one you choose for the day and shower off. Towel dry and spray entire body with a 50/50 mix of the chlorine free bleach and Water. Place towel in the plastic bag with the clothing you were wearing and off to the laundry.

8) vacuum carpets every day.

9) each day spray every room in your house from floor to ceiling (everything- walls, doors, cabinets, floor.. Etc. ) with a 50/50 mix of chlorine free bleach and water.

In 10 days and we were completely free of scabies from our bodies and home. I say 10 days because we were clear of any outbreaks in 5 days, but we kept up the cleaning regiment for another 5 days just to make sure we didn't have another recurrence in the usual 4-5 days when we were following the doctor prescribed methods.

You have to be completely ready to stay with the routine, if you decide that you are tired and don't follow through with the cleaning regiment, I promise you will be sorry. Just plan on starting over as though it is day one all over again. Trust me you can't win the battle if you aren't fighting.

Once again Thank you everyone for posting your remedies, I hope passing along our success story will help someone else. Please pay attention to your body because the chlorine free bleach and soaps are not for everyone and I wouldn't want anyone to have an adverse reaction if you have allergies or sensitive skin to any of the ingredients used, then don't use them, create a mix of your own that works for you.

http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0012079

They are supposed to be invisible to the naked eye, and I have yet to see one (despite all the evidence of them).

They do change the sheets, but not the spread or the pillows, or the carpet. I can understand wanting to run from it, but we need to think of others. Just sayin'

My evolution with mites went like yours and others that have posted. I did not post my whole story six months ago. I will because I think folks can cut to the chase by reading it. The mites first showed up on my right knee and then covered my body. Like you I went to the drug store and bought 1 % OTC Permethrim which is for head lice and useless. I then went to my MD and he prescribed 5 % Permithrim which is also useless. I then went to the Farm Co-op and bought 10% Permithrim that is used on horses. That did some good. At the same time I was doing the peroxide, borax baths and bathed with a sulfur soap. All this time I thought I had Demodex mites and it may have been. Dog mange is Demodex mites and I have cured many dogs and I can tell you that my cure is far better than Ted's. Anyway, that is the rational for using sulfur soap. I also bought the hottest Mexican pepper sauce available and coated my body while standing in my bath.

At the same time I was isolating my bed linens and washing with our hot water heater wide open. We covered my mattress with Diatomaceous Earth and totally enclosed the mattress in plastic cover. Things were getting better but not rid of the critters yet. I then went to a very good Dermatologist and carried him samples of both the male and females mites. We collected them with a lint roller. He prescribed an ointment , Triamcinolone Acetonide , 0.025% with instructions to cover my body morning and night.

All this time I had been useing my FIR Sauna daily. Read where heat of 120 F would kill them , so I upped my sauna temperature to 160 to 180 F. Went back to the Dermotologist in two weeks and he declared that the ointment had worked and just coat my body once a day. I never went back and stayed with my hot sauna's for two more weeks. He did not send the mite samples off for identification and said it was just a rash.

In hind sight, I think all these posts help, but I am convinced that it is the heat that truly rids you of these critters. For me, it seems ridiculous to think changing your diet will cure you of a skin parasite. Hope my long winded diatribe has given you good earth clinic folks a short cut to solving your mite problem. Ain't life interesting?

=========OLE ROBERT HENRY===========

So thanks to all the research online, I came across here. Read everyones stories and let me tell you, I know how it feels to have these disgusting things crawling around in your skin. It's mortifying and I will ever be the same.

When I came home from the first doctor visit I rushed to have everything washed in HOT water. I began to start washing piece by piece every single clothing we had and that became impossible. So now we have collected only a few pieces of clothing that we can wear over and over after washing over and over, manly pj's because we have been confined to these apartment walls. Every other piece of clothing and blanket I put in plastic bags tightly sealed and in front of the sun. They have to be on the skin to survive right? In those bags they will stay for a week so they can die completely!

I started up my bath and dropped a cup of bleach with the hottest water our bodies could take, following with sitting in there for a good 15-20 minutes. Washed our bodies with Sulfur soap and a all natural lavender soup to rinse off with. And when we got out we lightly dried ourselves and again rubbed some more bleach and water mixer, applying more amounts in the places where we both needed the most. I slept through the night for the first time in a month after doing this. Minor itches here and there, yes. The results are there, BLEACH is the cure for these things. Constant day to day cleaning of everything in your home and everything you touch. We washed and cleaned the carpets as an obsession that maybe they were all over the carpet. Now everything I clean I wipe down with bleach!

At first I found all of this very tiring but it's a routine one literally has to make part of their life to get rid of this condition. I have never came across with anyone besides my boyfriend and myself who has experienced this and I don't ever wish it upon anyone!

Right now we are going through the baths and constant cleaning to fight these off and little by little I know these suckers will give up with my "bleaching baths," as I like to call them.

I hope this is helpful to some like it was so very helpful to me! Many good lucks go out the the people experiencing this and trying to find ways to get rid of these suckers. Above all have faith that things will get better and that this will pass:)

I bought some diatemaceous earth which is a natural insecticide. I dusted my mattress, area rugs, couch, and my car with that.

I washed my linens daily and placed all of my dirty laundry in a plastic garbage bag to keep it seperate from everything else. I washed my clothing in hot water, adding borax to the wash.

I showered or bathed daily. I used Dr. Bronner's Tea Tree Oil liquid soap. I kept a small container of a mix of borax and sulfur next to the shower. I mixed it with the liquid soap and used it as a scrub.

After showering I would use an oil mixture of clove, neem, orange, and tea tree. I used vitamin e oil as the carrier oil and found that it worked better than coconut oil because it is thicker and therefore coated my skin better.

I took a hot bath in salted water every other day instead of a shower. I noticed that the salt water bath did wonders for any bites I had. I used sea salt. The improvment over the course of a week was dramatic!

I have not had any new bites in over a month. I will continue with the oil treatments and the tea tree oil soap, but have stopped using sulfur and borax as a scrub.

It is such a relief that I am cured. However, my skin is scarred and ruined from their bites. This has been such an awful experience, but I wanted to let everyone suffering know that there is light at the end of the tunnel! You can beat this!

Good luck and keep at it.

Like the earlier post say, it probably is a little bad for your skin, since it does dry it out quite a bit, but using a lotion afterwards solved that.

I've only done it one night, but I can say it's working because my husband and I have been fighting it for countless months and this is the most effective new treatment we've found. I woke up this morning (AFTER THE VERY FIRST NIGHT OF SOAKING) with not one new bite. At least as of lunch when I'm posting this from my desk.

The true key is a reduction in the number of live mites in your environment.

4/1 water/bleach EVERYTHING. It is diluted enough as to not leave spots on fabric. When I say everything I mean everything, all the time, always. If you can imagine. Everytime you think about it spray something with the solution or wipe it with a disinfectant. One of at all times was carrying the bottle as we went about our nightly routine spraying and cleaning everything we touched. You will begin to realize why you haven't been able to get rid of it.

You have to keep with it, it is awful. You come home from one job, just to start another one.

Steps to follow if you can't come up with something else you think if better:

1) fill bath with hottest water you can stand, add 1 cup of bleach and 1/2 peroixde. SIT, RELAX, FEEL THE FIZZLE. 10-15 min

2) This step is optional, but if you worry about the drying effects on your skin I would considered adding this.

Take a shower with oatmeal soap, tea tree oil soap, aveeno, etc. Something you find that soothes your skin. This will help the skin heal from the bleach you just sat in. The peroxide does this while sitting in the bath. At this point I was not itch, except for my very top of my shoulders that I would not get in the bath tub cause I live in a small apartment with a small tub.

3) Air dry. While I was still wet and standing in the bathroom I sprayed my skin with the bleach/water solution to be left on over night. I think air drying keeps it off the towels. the little buggers are scurrying and dying so giving them a way off your bleached body is letting them live to fight another day.

4) I went to bed naked but I understand that's not for everybody. That way there was no where they could hide. I treated my bedding, mattress, box spring, and my body. Everywhere they crawled was treated.

When you wake up you will feel the difference and be way less itchy if you still itch at all.

I also wanted to add that before I ran the bath I sprayed by bed with the solution because I knew I was going directly to bed. It was really wet, but it dries by the time the whole bathing routine is done. Surprisingly, it didn't leave that much of a smell of bleach. At least not enough to make you not keep doing it. They are most active at night so if you can survive the night without getting any new bites you know you are killing them off.

You are winning!

Treating your house is what takes the most out of you. You have to vaccum everyday. Also spray your car and work environment if you can. But definately your car's interior with the solution. If you can help it sit on hard furniture that can be wiped down when you get up. We don't sit on the couch, we got 2 plastic chairs. TREAT YOUR FURNITURE WITH THE SOLUTION QUITE HEAVILY. Since you probably sat in the same spot everyday for months before and while you were infected before you started EFFECTIVILY treating.

Good Luck!

WASH HANDS OFTEN!

Some other things I did were:

- I used permethrin. Although it didn't completely work, it did lessen the problem slightly giving me an edge on it. I did two treatments overall in three weeks

- I washed everything I touched/wore with 1/2 cup borax and the regular amount of laundry detergent in hot water. I then dried clothing bone dry (very important).

- I kept clean laundry in separate containers from all other clothing and only used clean clothes. This may mean that you will end up washing everything in your wardrobe eventually, but it's better than having scabies.

- I put anything that couldn't be washed in the freezer for a minimum of 4 days or you could dry clean. I live remotely, so that's not possible here.

- I did not wear clothing more than once and changed sheets/pillow cases daily being very careful in how I handled everything, gloves are a good idea. Consider anything unwashed as toxic and deal with it accordingly.

- I did not sit on any soft furniture for minimally 3 weeks, I sprayed it with bleach water and covered it with diotamaceous earth. If you must use yours, try to sterilize it then cover it with a fresh sheet and change that regularly. I don't have a vacuum, so I will wait to deal with it when I believe all scabies are dead. I am only sitting on vinyl or wooden chairs at the moment.

- You may hear that scabies live for only up to 72 hours, but I think it is a good idea to assume they can live for up to 3-4 weeks and proceed accordingly. It's better to be safe than reinfect yourself the way I did.

- I disinfected bathroom and other surfaces every time I used them - don't forget the toilet seat, hard chairs, computer, telephone, driver's wheel, books, etc. Wipe down anything you touch regularly, even being careful with the toilet paper. Remember, everything you touch is a potential site for reinfection

- I covered my mattress with a plastic sheet which I sprayed down daily with bleach and let dry. I also sprinkled diotamaceous earth on it before sleeping there. In the morning I would remove all bedding and put it directly into the laundry basket and then go clean myself.

- I slept just with a sheet and a hot water bottle to ease laundry woes.

- I turned the heat up in the house. It helps with drying out the critters and also lets you wear less clothing, therefore less laundry

- I made a spray bottle with water and used a mixture of at least 3 essential oils: peppermint, citronella, tea tree, eucalyptus, oregano, neem oils (approximately 20 drops of each to a regular sized spray bottle). The ones most recommended for scabies are: tea tree, neem, orange, citronella, lavender, ginger, or black pepper. I just used what I could get.

- I bathed twice a day with approx. 10-20 drops of tea tree oil in my bath. make sure you soak your hair and head as well.

- I covered my skin and even my hair with diotomaceous earth at night before sleeping. I just sprinkled it on and rubbed it in while being careful not to breathe it in.

- I washed floors at least twice a day with bleach or vinegar water and also sprinkled diotamaceous earth around the floors.

- I rolled up and put outside all carpets. I will deal with these in a few weeks by sprinkling with diotamaceous earth, leaving them for a couple of days and then shaking them out, or preferably, vacuuming them. I will then wipe them down with bleach water or essential oils.

- Steam cleaning is recommended for carpets and furniture, but i don't have access, so I have to resort to other ways

- I sprinkled diotamaceous earth in my shoes and also sprayed them with essential oil mix or bleach water

- I also sprayed down all coats or put them in a hot dryer for 20 min

- I sprayed down curtains and anything i touched, ie light switches regularly

- I always wore clean socks and tried to keep all my skin covered to prevent reinfection from my environment ie long sleeves, long pants, long, thick socks

- I have been drinking 2 tbsp apple cider vinegar daily in order to alkaline my body, other suggestions are green tea, neem tablets, 8 glasses of water a day with a few drops of peppermint oil, cloves, garlic, onions

- I put neem oil cream or tea tree oil directly on my body wherever i felt an itch and at night I would use it all over my body.

- stay away from eating sugar

- take magnesium/calcium supplements

I have been EXTREMELY DILIGENT with all of this and it seems to be working. It has been a few days now of being pretty much symptom free. Wish me luck! I wish you luck. This is a horrible and very humbling thing to go through, but I do believe that it can be overcome. I sincerely hope this information will help you. Good luck.

I also shaved my head bald. I'm not kidding. I'm a woman and I figured I wasn't going out or seeing many people anyway. It helped alot but I know it's not for most people. I also drank diatomaceous earth in water daily. There are miticide foggers also that help especially cause your so exhausted mentally and physically. And dehumidifiers and heat used together with all windows closed for as long as possible (you have to leave the premises of course. Try just hanging outside.) Always keep any furniture a few inches away from walls from now on. Never have any furniture, knick knacks touching walls. I also stopped hanging pictures and other things on walls to prevent hiding places for pests, parasites. From now on lifestyle means less is more!

One last mention is to keep any clothes, shoes, pictures, memorabilia, anything stored or not in immediate use that you would like to keep seal it tight in plastic from now on. This is important as a rule of thumb. It cuts down cleaning and having to throw things out for many types of infestation like mites, bed bugs and roaches. I hope this helps.

I then took baths in 1 cup baking soda, 1 cup epsom salt & 1 cup borax and they relieve the itching greatly. I soak in it for at least 30 minutes. I use liquid neem soap and add tea tree oil to it that also helps. I use a bar of sulfur soap as well. I put the neem and tea tree body lotion on immediately after I bathe or shower.

I bought a bag of sulfur powder and mixed some in the liquid soap and this seemed to help. I am still battling with these hellish things and wanted to share what I have learned as well in hopes it may help someone. I have considered taking Ivermectin orally but there are a lot of side effects and I prefer natural sources, I may try the liquid on my skin.

I also tried taking neem leaf capsules orally because they are good for so many things including digestive and immune support but had a reaction to it so I stopped taking it. I am going to try adding peroxide to my bath as well. I just read where washing soda and baking soda create peroxide I am considering trying that as well.

I am open to anything natural that may work. Cayenne pepper is too harsh for my skin so that is out for me. I have had so many issues since December and it is now Feb 24th, so it is going on 3 months now, I wish I knew a way to kill the eggs before they hatch. I appreciate the former posts because it helps to know I am not alone in this war.

This is what I did, and it worked.

The major problem was the scabies mites continued biting me and made it difficult to sleep. A minor problem was that I had other mites, ones that crawled in my hair, and others that crawled in my nose.

To kill scabies, I theorized that I had to keep something on my body all the time to kill the bugs and their eggs which hatch randomly, and it needed to be something non-poisonous and effective.

For me sulfur was the answer. I soaped my body with sulfur soap at the bugs' meal time, let it dry, coated myself with skin cream if my skin felt itchy and dry. Sometimes I did this twice a day, but I kept it on constantly. Sulfur has this advantage over permithrin, lindane, and ivermectin in that it has a comparatively low toxicity even though it does burn your eyes and makes you sneeze.

After four days, I felt only a few bites and little or no movement.

To aid the sulfur, I used tea tree oil full strength. I rubbed it on my hands and feet, legs and arms and anywhere else when I felt the buggers stinging me. Like clove oil, it has a short killing time. It doesn't last. However, unlike clove oil, it doesn't burn your skin at full strength and has a very low toxicity. Tea tree is a very effective "other" mite killer. It stopped the crawling mites at the first application. I used it in my hair, eyebrow (carefully) and in my nose (carefully).

Finally, I utilized a mix of hydrogen peroxide and borax to spray on furniture, bed, and floors to kill the stragglers. Just pour some hydrogen peroxide in a spray bottle, put in some borax, shake, and spray. It is an effective killer, but doesn't last long.

Sulfur is very good to put on carpets. It lasts a long time and kills the mites.

Also, I enclosed my mattress, box springs, and pillows with mite proof encasements. You must do this to succeed. I washed and dried bed clothes at high heat every other day. On the non-wash days, I dried them in the drier for a long time at high heat to kill the mites. I never wore clothes more than once without washing and drying them.

Finally, if I had a dirty laundry item I needed to wear immediately, I microwave them for 80 or so seconds. This is for emergency use only.

I wish you well.

Bro John

I had over a dozen large crusted scabies spots on my arms and legs... Dozens more smaller ones. I did some landscaping for a friend and we dug out a flower bed no one had touched for 20 years. I got poison ivy too (or pehaps not since I had never been allergic to it before), but didn't realize the scabies for a few days... Thought it was all just poison ivy at first. I 've had scabies before so I knew what they looked like, but the crusted scabies, or Norwegian scabies, is just the same mite but many, many, MANY of them. My skin was raised up, or very swollen in spots, with some diameters much larger than a silver dollar.

I used the borax and peroxide baths, omitting the peroxide alot, since I had no income for a while. I lost 3 jobs because I looked so awful and didn't want to contaminate others. I put myself in quarantine for about 6 weeks. My kids got small spots but I killed those right away. I was taking 5-6 borax baths in a 24 hour period, scrubbing down with it in the hottest water I could stand (my tolerance went up considerably over 6 weeks) and letting it dry before soaking. I could tell it was helping but needed something else. I used essential oils also- lavender, tea tree, eucalyptus globulus, rosemary, orange, others... and pennyroyal, which is highly toxic. It can shut down your kidneys so make sure you cleanse with a detox tea after and only use it once a week. I had them so bad I felt sick, so I detoxed my liver and kidneys with herbal teas- detoxing also helps your body deal with the little buggers! Also MSM, since it contains sulfur, I took twice everyday. I figured that, like candida, they thrive in an acidic atmospere, so I alkalized with cucumber and lemon water. I ate alkalizing vegetables and cut out all meat, sugar and alcohol. I ate a spoonful of coconut oil everyday, and used it topically to help my dried-out skin. I also used a capful of bleach and a toothbrush and scrubbed the spots occasionally, but I could tell that was making me sick too.

So, I went back online seeking other cures. The more cures I used, the more results I got. I feel that the Epsom salts really put the nail in the scabies' coffin, so to speak. I alternated borax baths with Epsoms baths, eventually just using the Epsoms salts, scrubbing myself with the salts and letting it dry a while before soaking. That's when they really started to die off. They hate sulfur. Maybe magnesium too? The essential oils helped with killing the eggs so they'd quit coming back. When I got it in my eyes, I used hot, soaked green tea bags on them. I'm not sure if it was the heat or the tea but they left my eyes. Also swimming in the neighborhood pool that contained way too much bromine may also have helped! Hahaha

I also cleaned my house and bedding incessantly, like others suggested, placing plastic covers on everything, vacuuming everyday. It was exhausting, and I barely slept for 6 weeks.

Besides the physical ways of doing away with scabies, FAITH is absolutely the best thing I had going for me. Don't ever lose it!! Faith is EVERYTHING. Not religion, but a pure steadfast belief in what you want. It always works.

Hope this works for you as well!!! It was hell!! - but I have valuable experience now, and we all have trials to go through. Maybe mine was so I could help others, I don't know- but I truly hope you find your cure!! I have the battle scars to prove I WON!!!

Take care and God bless!!

USE BORAX!!! take a borax bath and soak for 20 minutes. Then, get a spray bottle and fill with water and lots of borax. Shake it up good and spray yourself. I also used castor oil/borax paste and put all over myself. I woke up this morning and everything has changed! The places are GONE and my skin looks almost normal!! I spent SO much MONEY on that other stuff! ALSO, I finally listened and wrapped my mattress in plastic (buy a drop cloth at Lowe's). I was washing so much and spraying the bed, but didn't encase it in plastic. The clorax helped at first with the places, but never killed the eggs. Plus, my skin was getting raw and sore.

3/4 tsp clove oil mixed with 4 TBS olive oil

(Be careful: I made a too-potent blend and burned my skin, and the healing process was maybe even worse than the scabies! But at the 6% ratio I note above, I had no problem.)

I followed the protocols suggested in many of the postings here for laundry, bedding, bathing and general disinfecting. MMS bath 3x/day, followed by application of the clove/olive oil mixture (I also used almond and coconut oils). Apply it ALL over your body, even if you only see signs of scabies on your arm, e.g. also, I used a Q-tip and applied the undiluted oil directly onto the "bump" (I didn't put the undiluted oil on my uninfested skin).

I had scabies for over a year and by the time I tuned in to clove oil, they ranged from my ankles up to my chin! (I don't suppose details of my long mind-deranging ordeal are necessary, just imagine.)

If you want more information re the protocols I used (and helpful info from others), you can find them on Amazon.com under "Dermisil for Scabies, " 3-star review by Jennifer. As you might guess, I am not recommending this product, but it's where I first started out and because scabies are sooo horrible, I gave as much info as I could during my ordeal in order to be helpful to others.

Eternal (and I mean this) thanks to lorisayshey from San Diego (under the heading Citrus Mouthwash, 8/18/11) and Cathrine from Perth, Western Australia (under the heading Clove Oil, 8/28/11) for posting the link to the Australian study of the effects of clove oil on permethrin-resistant scabies. The link is:

http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0012079

Regarding the environment, consider gettin the DE (earth). If you just vacumn, these mites are so small, they can be blown right out the back of the cleaner! I sprinkle the DE all over my rugs and floors, THEN vacumn. This way the DE will kill them because the DE will be inside the vacumn cleaner bag along with the mites.

Regarding the Polk root- you can get Polk root in dropper form at the health food store. It is recommended that you take between 3-15 drops daily, 3 times per day. This is scary, since Polk is a poison. It is really important to work on your immune system and protect your liver at the same time. I purchased a supplement just for this purpose. I am taking very good suppletments, MMS, Vitamin B, and now have added the Polk root, and liver protector. On the exterior, I am also using Colloidal silver gel, as a topical application. By the way, if you have tried the MMS (research online) you know after a while it is hard to withstand the odor and taste. I have purchased clear gel caps to incapsulate the liquid. The caplets do not melt and it makes it much more tolerable to swallow. MMS has been proven to kill Malaria, so I figured, why not? This product definitly weakens the mites. By working on building the immune system in tandem with killing these things from the exterior, I have to be positive that it won't be long.

So far, this is the best supportive site. I have seen 6 physicians, including 2 dermatologists; one being at University of Pennsylvania. (Meca) I also drove 4 hours to visit a Chinese herbalist who has worked all over the world in third world countries. (no help) This is still the best; we are in this together..... and yet alone. Nobody really understands until they have this ailment. I hope and pray that this information is helpful; it is my way of giving back and I hope it helps! God bless, Barb

The borax and hydrogen peroxide baths (or application of a solution of the same to the entire body) are also very helpful. Baths can help because going through this is exhausting and taking a bath can be a time to re-charge and rest which is so much needed.

It has been mentioned that instead of soaking in a bathtub where larger amounts of borax and hydrogen peroxide would need to be used (or bleach in this example), one can get a container that would hold a few cups of liquid and mix the ingredients being used there, apply the solution over one's entire body from top of head to bottom of feet with a small face cloth.

A carrier oil can be used with several drops of essential oils (like Clove, Peppermint, Orange, Lavender, Tea Tree) and the oil, again, applied to every square inch of the body (being careful not to get any in the eyes). Anyone who says the mites do not go to the head are ignorant.

Oil application can work for a while, but then the pores of the skin can get clogged. Clearing that off by washing with peppermint (or tea tree, for example) castile soap and then drying off and applying a solution of aloe vera juice (100% with nothing else added in the bottle from the manufacturer) or gel, mixed with the same several essential oils (a few drops each of clove, peppermint, orange, tea tree, for example in a cup or two, depending upon how large your body is) and apply that all over from top to bottom.

Aloe Vera will be soothing to the skin and healing. This can be repeated several days in a row if necessary.

Also, one can purchase a skin lotion (choose one that is easily absorbable into the skin that does not set up a greasy barrier), dilute it somewhat with water to make it easier to apply and so it stays wet longer, and put some clove oil into that. Such a skin lotion can be applied during the day to any spots that are itchy. Or you could cover the entire body with that at night before sleep for good results as well.

No one remedy alone may be best because the skin can only take so much of certain treatments. One has to find balance and soothe the skin while still treating.

One should know that any spots that are itchy are probably scabies larva or eggs and any sites that are sharply biting are adults. Apply the lotion with the clove oil (and some other essential oils if you like) to those spots when you can't treat the entire body. Pay especial attention to locations where skin folds are found, even tiny cracks on the feet or hands and rub the lotion in during the day, or as needed. (If you cannot tolerate clove oil, then use one of the others such as orange oil, tea tree, peppermint, lavender that help).

Keep it up. You will find relief, but reinfestation is the greater problem: cleaning the environment, changing the sheets, washing in hot water with borax and ammonia, etc are absolutely necessary. A solution of water with a little ammonia will kill any mites probably more effective than strong isopropyl alcohol solution, but either will work so long as you keep at it.

Bleach is the cure. It may be dangerous but totally worth it. It took three times of doing this with spot treating with bleach and a blow dryer but I am now scabie free. Mostly it's important to know that your dog having a parasite is much different and honestly you cannot relate. Heating a spot that has brand-new bumps with a blow dryer to just past the point of being uncomfortable will kill them. Doubling that with the bleach, you're basically good to go.

However, I honestly think the bleach cleanser (bleach and water) I tried one night was the actual cure. It stopped the itching immediately and after applying it directly to my skin for a couple of nights, the mites are gone. This has only gone on for a week for me. My heart goes out to those of you who have been dealing with it so long. I'm a health care professional and have been around scabies-infected people for years but never got it until now. I was infected with scabies from having sex with a man who does not have the symptoms. He must just be carrying it. Anyway, I don't care if the bleach is bad for your skin as long as I'm cured. This has been a nightmare. Good luck everybody.

They are definitely visible if one looks closely and uses a method that is liquidy so that they climb out as they die. Creams are too thick for them to climb out so they die without being as visible. Carrier oils with essential oils, Aloe Vera juice with essential oils, borax and peroxide (in a bath or simply applied from a container with the mixture), alcohol and essential oils, or bathing in diluted bleach (strong pool water) or diluted non-chlorine bleach (releases peroxide) ... will all force them out and kill them, and then they absolutely are visible.

Even repeatedly rubbing the stronger isopropyl alcohol (or other) with essential oils (tea tree, cedar, clove, orange, rosemary, and/or others) on the skin where they are known to be will immediately get them out and they can be felt on the skin and seen.

That some comment that it is"cruel to mention one can see them, simply shows one does not know or have experience in understanding the difference between what happens when an effective remedy works, and when one is infested and untreated.

Tiny flecks of black can be seen in bath water as it drains out as well if the treatment is effective and if you look very closely.

My best advice is from an Japanese guy who taught me .He is a Veteran Uber driver in L.A. and it worked for me like an magic.

It's Lemongrass oil.

It smells good and it takes care getting rid of that nasty critters from your body and also kill them at same time.

Put drops of that oils into your shampoo & conditioner too, then put on your palms & rub it all over your body after the shower . Make sure wash your clothes in hot water and put it in hot heat dry. Clean your house, bedding, garage and yes, your car interior too.

Good luck.

Aside from finding the right remedy, I know now that everyone's skin and bodies are different and through trial and error found the appropriate mixture that has worked specifically for me. I have extremely sensitive skin and can't tolerate the majority of products (both prescription and OTC) as they often trigger adverse and allergic reactions. So remember when reading this that "less is more" when you first start out using the method and mixture ratio that has worked for me.

I used organic 100% pure clove bud oil, cold pressed 109% pure coconut oil, 100% organic pure aloe vera gel, tea tree oil face and body wash for sensitive skin, Loma Lux Eczema Pill (sulphur tablets) and white 100% cotton gloves (to sleep with on my hands to help prevent further injury of unconsciously scratching/itching open skin lesions during the night - to promote my healing.

For me the ratio of mixture that I found specifically appropriate for me was this.

1.) Seven (7) drops of clove bud oil to one (1) tablespoon of coconut oil.
2.) Two Loma Lux Eczema tablets once per day (taken at bedtime). My initial dosage was 3-4 tablets for the first two weeks.
3.) Put on a fresh clean pair of the cotton gloves daily at bedtime.
4.) Use of permetherin 5% spray to treat bedding (sheets, mattress, pillows) furniture and interior rooms on a daily basis.

Every other day in the evening at bedtime I would apply the clove bud oil combined with the coconut oil to my skin (from the top of my head to the bottom of my feet - including face, scalp, inside my ear lobes, under my toe and finger nails, etc.) And on the in between days I would apply the pure sloe vera gel several times throughout the day to promote healing.
The tea tree oil face and body wash I used throughout the day several times using a slightly textured wash cloth with warm water.

Honest to God I am finally feeling relief from the insane itching, my skin lesions are all almost completely healed. Most of the scabies and demodex mites have died and exhumed from my skin (hundreds of them). I am almost in full remission after 11 + years.

Currently I am researching for the best mite killing laundry detergent add-on and hope to update this post when I find the best additive.