You’ve probably heard about sulfur treatments for scabies. There are many ways – soaps, baths, creams, but the question we should really be asking ourselves first is; does it work?
It seems so.
One study in 2012 showed that applying sulfur ointment for 3 consecutive days led to a 91%-97% cure rate in scabies patients, the variance coming from whether the cream was applied during the day or the night. Impressive.
What makes this even more promising is that sulfur is actually very good for your skin. As long as you take precautions that it doesn’t dry your skin out too much, this can be a great double-hit method to give your skin some nourishment and knock your scabies at the same.
Below are 3 ideas to treating your scabies with sulfur:
1. Wash with a sulfur soap
Sulfur soap for scabies isn’t widely used but it is available. Instead of using your regular commercial soap, make the switch to a sulfur based soap to use in the shower each night. Using sulfur soap for scabies is an easy, affordable way to add a bit of sulfur to your treatment plan.
Naturasil makes a great sulfur/lavender soap that is suitable for treating scabies.
It’s made with 10% micronized volcanic sulfur and lavender oil.
You can get it directly from Amazon here.
Sulfur soap works best if you let it sit on your skin for a while.
What I do is lather up and then turn the shower off for five minutes or so.
Do whatever you want for that time – watch a Youtube video on your phone or sing yourself a song.
After five minutes, wash it off.
2. Take a sulfur bath
This is one of my favorite ways to apply sulfur as it makes it easy to combine with a bunch of other treatments.
Fill up a warm bath to cover your legs and torso, and add a few scoops of sulfur powder.
The smell isn’t all that pleasant (smells like eggs), but it’s bearable. You can also add in a few scabies-killing oils, such as tea tree oil and clove oil.
Another great way to get a sulfur bath is to use natural sulfur pools.
Natural sulfur pools, you ask?
Yes! They exist.
Depending on where you live, natural hot pools are often rich in sulfur.
Simply call the operator and ask, or if it’s simply there in nature for public use, you may need to do a little research.
I luckily have one about 2 hours drive from my home, and I made a visit during my scabies infestation as part of my 3 day house quarantine. If it’s possible, highly recommended.
3. Use a sulfur ointment
Using a sulfur ointment is probably the most popular way to use sulfur to treat scabies.
In the study cited earlier, sulfur ointment was used consecutively for 3 days in order to achieve a 91%-97% cure rate. I probably don’t need to tell you that 91% is very good – that’s actually higher than permethrin and ivermectin in a lot of studies.
The sulfur ointment for scabies I would recommend using is this one.
To apply it, you should apply it similar to the way you apply permethrin. That means you need to apply it everywhere – that includes under the armpits, under the fingernails, behind the ears, in the bellybutton, between the bum cheeks, soles of the feet and so on.
Yes, everywhere.
FAQ:
Can you buy sulfur cream at Walgreens?
Yes, you can buy sulfur cream at Walgreens. Walgreens sells sulfur cream and other sulfur products like sulfur soap, ointments and shampoos.
Can you buy sulfur cream at Walmart?
Yes, you can buy sulfur cream at Walmart. Walmart sells most household sulfur products, including soaps and ointments. They also sell sulfur powder if you plan on doing a sulfur bath.
Can you buy sulfur products OTC?
Yes, you can buy sulfur products over the counter. Sulfur products are safe and natural. You do not need a prescription to buy sulfur products.
Good luck!
This is what worked for me after going batty. for me no symptoms for a month so thought i was clear. After I had increasingly severe symptoms I relented to my husband and took permethrin which made it much worse, severe reaction painful. Mine didn’t look like internet pics at first so hubby and 1 doc didn’t diagnose; pediatrician wouldn’t let us in her office but did diagnosis positive. both docs gave Rx. Tea tree oil worked for my son.
What Worked:
Dyna gro neem oil hot baths, kleen free spraying after baths, tea tree oil or kleen free dabs on itching
1 use linens, towels, clothes and extra 30 minutes in dryer for wet laundry; only 30 minutes for clean laundry/ linens (takes 20 minutes high heat to kill the mite and dryer cools down the last 10 minutes of cycle).mite proof mattress and pillow encasements- Bedical brand
Massive cleaning dusting and vacuuming of course, storing lots of extra things especially fabrics, dehumidifier especially in the storage room,
After treating for a couple of weeks and extremely dry skin (humidity keeps them alive so didn’t want any lotion) started using grape seed oil with tea tree oil after bath and continued with kleen free spot spraying through day. This and the guided imagery was such a relief.
** Listened to guided imagery- was critical for resilience and physical healing- i fell asleep to it- free at kp.org/listen podcasts for immune system, stress, pain, sleep.
Steam cleaning (a real hot steam cleaner, not just hot water), carpets and upholstered furniture, dunked the cat in a Kleen free bath (which she took in stride, pets can carry them like a rug even though the mites don’t bite them) and DE powder (with masks because of superfine powder can aggravate breathing even though it’s non toxic) on carpets and places we couldn’t steam clean right before leaving for vacation for a week (I believe i was scabies free by then and just suffering from side effects of Rx, super hot drying baths, etc, but brought new mattress encasement and my own bedding, furniture covers and cleaned with kleen free)
also used sulfur and mineral soap and shampoo on myself and son, but not sure how they figured into cure
I’m very fortunate to have been able to afford all these things, and lucky our vacation timed with needing to get out of the house. If you can’t do all of these I’d say to: use clothes and linens once only before cleaning or drying, 30 minutes drying already dry linens and clothes, storage of extra things, dusting and vacuuming your butt off, kleen free and dehumidifyer, and the Free guided imagery. Tea tree oil hot baths (Radha is good quality and value on amazon) and sulfur soap worked for my son but not me. I also drank Lots of water and more veggies, vitamin C, zinc, tumeric tabs, icelandic kelp
Sending Love and wishing you and yours health and comfort!
You are right, it can become costly. I was also lucky that I could afford to try everything.
The link to the Sulfur powder that you put into the bath water is no longer leading to a valid web page. What kind of Sulfur powder are you using? Is it just regular Sulfur powder or the crystallized salt kind? Please let me know or provide with an example. Thank you.
I think either work fine. I was just using a basic powder, which means you can mix it with lotion too. At the end of the day it’s just sulfur! Nothing fancy about it 🙂
Jon are you talking about sulfur like in coal or the river or are you referring to MSM Organic Sulfur or are they the same?
I think they both come from the same source?
I have health anxiety concerning using medicines , I had a bad reaction to painkillers the doctor gave me years ago and ended up hallucinating . Because of this frightening experience I am paranoid about using any medications. I have been diagnosed with Scabies and have been given the cream from docs , but I’m scared of having bad side effects . I realise it’s a bit over the top and I really want to get rid of it . Can I use the natural stuff instead of the Permethrin cream ? Thanks .
You can make your own scabies lotion, ive tried it all. I believe sulfer is the game changer, still working on the formula.
Who knew we were training to become chemists and biologists.
And i recomend ivermectin, its fairly natural, and is worth a try to end the suffering.
Mix, aloe vera, neem leaf/ oil, tea tree, thieves oil. Dont go super heavy on the essential oils or creames and lotion.
Really oily skin doesant seem to help, and may be makeing ir worse.
Hydrogen peroxide for a patch treatment to dry up some colonies.
If u can handle it wipe yourself with that in private before you shower.
I find it anoying to do that, but its usefull
Use a bit of neem oil. Sulphur and neem are natual insecticide
Been dealing with these things for over a week, done ivermectin once and permethrin 3x. Have small kids in the house so I’ve stocked up on sulfur salts and cream and soap, neem oils and powder, teat tree everything. Bagging and cleansing clothes, etc.
Some questions about limiting the spread:
Do these things rinse off when washing hands? (Can’t find ANYTHING addressing this!)
Does spreading cream spread the mites?
Does washing with sulfur soap spread them? Do I have to be methodical about bite-free parts first then move to Rashi parts to keep from spreading? Or is the sulfur soap keeping them from spreading?
I don’t know the answers but I have the same questions. Hopefully someone will answer. The only thing I can add is That Jon mentioned putting cream on starting with the neck down so maybe that’s a good place to start for washing and applying other creams
No they do not rinse off. You can use a scrubby pad and exfoliate your skin. They like below the eladermis, the dead skin layer. If you exfoliate heavily daily they have no place yo live. Exfoliate in a hot shower only. Scrub well until your skin starts to turn pink. Then apply insececide , permethryn or sulfur powder.
Repeat twice a day for several weeks. Until at least two weeks AFter noticable symptoms have dissappeared.
Scaboes will come back if you end the treatment too soon thinking your cured.
Sulfur has been around for thousands of years. Mixing it with oil and using it like a salve is the best way to get rid of scabies, but it takes nearly 100% skin coverage over three days time for the complete treatment, and that is near impossible in this day and age.
I have used 5% sulfur powder like you would buy from a feedstore for the garden and mixed that up with mineral oil to completely cover a poodle mix that was near death from sarcoptic mange within three-days hair growth was established, and after two weeks the pooch was 75% cured. The animal licked it off constantly so it was reapplied several times daily, and it did give the dog the runs.
Personally, I mix garden variaty 5% sulfur powder with vasolene and apply it regularly where I can stand to have it topically, especially my feet between the toes. When Re-exposure to scabies is constant, like in my situation, but sulfur is the only thing that works for me.
what is the ratio of sulfur powder to petroleum jelly (coconut oil or CeraVe lotion), to use on scabies? I have read it is 1/2 a jar of p.j. to 2T. sulfur powder.
I fought this things on/off for four years.
Everyone wants a “All natural Cure” NEWS FLASH: Permethryn is all natural, It is an extract from the cyrthansmum plant.
The trick to curing scabies to to be methidical, very through to a ridicilous degree. Very clean, several baths aday. and Move. Put your pet in a kennel.
Find a new home and take nothing with you.
They claim they can only lve in hard surfaces for four days. BULLSH*T.
I have put clothing and tools in seperate sealed bag and that into another sealed bag. I the bag froze over the winter in my car for two months.
FYI: Unless you heat the bag contents to over 165°F or 15 minutes the scabies will just go dorment. I unknowling opened up the infected bag 9 months later and got reinfected. Real bad and real quick. I did not realize it but in 24 hourts I was miserable again.
Heat is the only sure way to kill them.
I then went to a motel because I did not want to infect my home again. I covered myself in insecide took a bath and scrubbed my skin and took Ivermectin. Repeated this three times a day to kill the re-infection.
After four weeks and no symptoms for two weeks, I moved back home.I in the mmeantime have my place sanitized, Catpets steam cleantd ans fumigated. Jist to be sure.
The problem with scables is, you can kill the adult scabies but the eggs and the baby chiggers are much harder to kill. Chiggers frequently do not itch and only give a white persion a mild light pink rash that goes unnotivd until they become adults..
At the same time eggs are hatching. You kill one wave and two more are ready to take their place.
The longer you have had scaboes the longer it will take to get rid of scabies.
Then the other day I put on some gloves, just for a few minutes, … I thought were new. My hands immeadiatly started to itch.
I took ovv th gloves, Sealed them in a bag and treated my hands and arms. took a full shower and deloused myself.
I repeated this twice a day for a week.
Fortunarely I think I got them all on my first treatment..
So now I knve thrown out any clothing I can not boil. YES BOIL Or soak and microwave util it is steaming.
I buy new clothes frequentally and keep them seperate form old clothes.
My bed stays sealed in layers of plastic bags.
My carpets are high pressure proffessionally steam cleaned monthly.
I dust my home with DE and Boric acid powder. Including the vents.
Heppa filters.
They are worse than roaches.But no Scabies for nearly a year now.
But I am waiting
Reinfection is immeient.
Very few people can do all this to get rid of a bug though. It’s not realistic for most people. Also, it’s really hard to know what to do because everyone seems to have their own individual cure regarding what worked the best for them. I’m still not clear on how much sulfur cream should be used. There’s so much conflicting info. It’s all very confusing. Apparently, a person should use 10% sulfur cream for three days in a row but how often during the day? Twice? For how many days after a few days pass after the three initial days? Also, it’s truly bizarre as to how US drs. will not diagnose of treat scabies. I don’t know what is behind this very, very odd behavior.
I keep wondering why they don’t diagnose either. I had an urgent care doc think that I may have scabies, but then the dermatologist next day was real quick to say in no uncertain terms that it was definitely not scabies, from across the room he was able to tell. Really? That just seemed weird to me. So I keep wondering why everyone has this difficulty in getting diagnosed and then I got to thinking that perhaps it’s a huge disruption for these docs in their practices, because I would imagine that any person who entered their facility, all employees and their families, and anyone with any type of connection to them would have to all be notified and treated, right? A logistical nightmare I imagine.
My Dr. did not even check Me He just wrote out the cream and pill/. Their in My hairs so I am sitting here with 10percent sulfur soap in My hair I think sulfur is better that the Dr.”s treatment . Put some in a lotion bottle about 2 teaspoons and apply it two times a day if You can . Take hot showers. Do not know about clothes yet . I dry them an hour and wash in hot water. Seems promising so far. Vacuum everyday . told they only last 2 days off body . I am not sure about that one. Hope this helps I was almost suicidal .
i have bagged clothes for months after wahsing and drying hot for an hor. then when i put on clothes 6 months later immediate itching . can i wash clothes and add sulphut powder to the wash cycle. will it stain clothes
I want to do a “sulfur bath” and add in tea tree and clove oil so I can soak all the way up to my chin. Since it’s a full tub of water how much tea tree and clove oils would I need? Also, how long would the soak time be?
I’ve been using the sulfur soap that was recommended and am very happy with it. I just think a soak would be easier and more relaxing than standing in the shower waiting 5-6 minutes before rinsing. I like having the bath soak as an additional option.
In a full bath you would probably need 20+ drops of tea trea but be careful of the clove oil – it’s very strong. Try start with a small amount (maybe 4-5 drops) and work your way up.
I’m so happy to have found your site with truly useful information!!! I’m using your body mask, body lotion and body moisturizer recipes in addition to my prescriptions for permethrin and ivermectin. I would like to incorporate the sulfur body soak. My question is how many drops of tea tree and clove oils would I apply to a tubful of water? Also, I’ve heard a carrier oil should be used so the essential oils won’t sit on top of the water, does this sound accurate? If yes, I’m thinking coconut oil but how much would I need to use? Thank you so much for all the research you invested your time in and for sharing this information. You make the world a better place and have helped countless numbers of individuals like myself.
Thank you, Jon, for all the good info. Going through this process has taken a toll on my mental health. Before I read your articles, I had gone to the dermatologist, who summarily said it was allergies and only prescribed permethrin to shut me up. 7 days after the the 1st permethrin treatment, I followed all your instructions and actually did both, the cream and the mask, but on day 7 (permethrin and ivermectin) i found about 8 new bumps. I am trying to keep my psicosis in check but I wonder if I waited a day too long. So my questions:
1. Do the new bumps mean mites survived and made new burrows?
2. Say, if on day 1, I kill all mites and nymphs that have come out to the surface, but on day 2 remaining eggs hatch— those will have day 2 thru day 6 to restart the bloody cycle?
You may have post scabies syndrome. Once you complete a full course of treatment. These red bumps can continue to appear for up to 4-6 weeks or in extreme cases up to a year. As the byproducts of the mite living on/in our skin need to be cleansed by your body. Also premethrjn and essential oils will cause skin reactions if used constantly. If you keep getting he track marks, that’s the sure sign you’ve been reinfected.
Personally I did 4 doses of Premethrin but kept getting track marks, started sulfur and exfoliation. It got rid of the track marks almost immediately. If you experience crawling sensations and constant itching after treatment. This is supposedly quite normal, it’s the residual detritus from the mites.
Their a melt and a half. But you’ll get through it, if you haven’t already.