You might have read around the internet that tea tree oil kills scabies, and some testimonials from people who have used tea tree oil as a scabies treatment with some success.

The good news is the answer is yes – tea tree oil is one of several natural remedies for scabies that work.

In this post I’m going to talk about some of the evidence behind tea tree oil’s effectiveness and some ideas on how to treat scabies with tea tree oil.

Does tea tree oil kill scabies?

Some studies in Australia have shown that scabies are becoming resistant to the synthetic drug permethrin. Permethrin is considered the standard prescription treatment for scabies – which is an insecticide that you smother all over your body for 8 hours – enough time to reach and kill any scabies under your skin.

Now that scabies have shown some resistance to this, researchers have been looking for natural treatments, one of them being tea tree oil.

In this study of essential oils and scabies, tea tree oil was found to the be second most effective essential oil for killing scabies (behind the ultimate scabies killer – clove oil). Th

What this means is many people are turning to tea tree oil as a natural alternative in scabies treatment. Studies have actually shown that in some cases, tea tree oil is actually more effective that permethrin and ivermectin anyway, kill scabies faster as well as being more safe for humans.

How to treat scabies with tea tree oil

These are some of the best methods for treating scabies with tea tree oil:

Mix it in with your moisturizer

Take a standard body lotion such as this one and mix a few drops of tea tree oil with each squeeze. Moisturize your whole body as usual. You don’t want to put too much on, as tea tree oil is quite strong and can burn, but you also don’t want to put so little that it does nothing. To treat scabies with tea tree oil in this way, I’d recommend around 2-3 drops per squeeze of moisturizer.

Soak in a tea tree oil bath

One of the best ways to get essential oils into your skin is in a bath. Fill up a warm bath to cover your legs and torso, and then add around 12-15 drops of tea tree oil. You can also use other essentials oils – some good ones for scabies are palmarosa oil and clove oil.

Make a tea tree oil wipe

Mix 5-10 drops of tea tree oil with a cup of water and use a cloth to wipe down any hard surfaces such as chairs, desks, furniture, bags etc. It is uncommon for scabies to be sitting around off human skin but it does happen. This is a good way to be safe and avoid a reinfestation.

Make an anti-scabies body mask

One of the best treatments and the one I used for my own scabies is to make an anti-scabies body mask. This is a mixture of natural anti-scabies treatments that all work in unison to kill any scabies in or on your skin. Very effective and is one of the main treatments that helped cure my own scabies infestation. The mask is a mixture of neem oil and powder, clove oil, coconut oil, turmeric and tea tree oil. You can see the full recipe, and instructions on how to use it, by clicking here.

Looking for tea tree oil? It can be found readily and inexpensively on Amazon. This is the brand I recommend. Good luck!