Déparaz

Déparaz is a Belgian range of head-lice treatments based in the city of Tournai. Marketed as Déparaz Poux, and earlier known for a lotion sold as DÉPARAZ-PRO, it consists of lotions and shampoos that the company classes as CE-marked medical devices rather than cosmetics. Its central idea is a patented plant-derived active ingredient, Crystalysine, which according to the company crystallises on contact with water and cracks the shells of lice and their eggs (nits) [1].

The brand presents itself as an alternative to the insecticide-based lice treatments that many parents know, stressing that its products need no combing afterwards and contain no silicone. It is sold through pharmacies and online, and its activity is documented chiefly in Belgium and France. The brand is active: its website was being updated in 2026.

Déparaz is headquartered at Passage des Travailleurs du Livre in Tournai, Belgium. No founding or launch year is published. The homepage describes the team as "lice experts for 15 years", but it does not say from which year that period is counted [1]. Because of this, the brand's age can only be estimated loosely, and this article gives no founding date.

The products are developed for one specific problem, head lice, rather than for general hair care. The brand nonetheless sits close to hair care in everyday use: its treatments are applied to the hair and scalp, rinsed out with shampoo, and promoted as suitable for all hair types, including coily, curly and wavy hair.

The best-known product, the treatment lotion, has carried several names. It appeared as DÉPARAZ-PRO in press coverage from 2023 and as DÉPARAZ-PRO® Crystal Lotion in online retail listings and in a 2024 customer review, before the range settled under the Déparaz Poux name used on the company's website today. The lotion remains on sale as part of a wider line that now also includes two shampoos and a fast-acting spray lotion.

Much of the brand's recent history is told through laboratory testing. In 2023, the University Laboratory of Ectoparasites in Tours, France, carried out an in-vitro efficacy study of the treatment shampoo and preventive shampoo, which the company cites on its product pages. A 2025 publication in the journal Cureus, by Toubate and colleagues, covers an in-vitro study of the treatment lotion, and the Tours laboratory tested the newer Lotion Flash in the same year [1]. "In vitro" means the tests were done in a laboratory, on lice and nits outside the human head, not as clinical trials on people.

The company has also built up material aimed at pharmacists. A training programme called the Crystal Challenge, first published on the website in 2024, teaches pharmacy staff about the product's mode of action and about head-lice infestation more generally, including which areas of the head to inspect and how to advise on prevention.

Two companies are named in connection with the brand, and the relationship between them is not explained in public sources.

The brand's own legal notice states that the website is published by Laboratoires Marie-Louise, a company with registered offices in Tournai and the Belgian VAT number BE0809.952.572. The same notice names Laboratoires Marie-Louise as the holder of copyright in the site, while the administrative and technical management of the website is handled by a company called L.M. SRL [3].

The French pharmaceutical and parapharmacy reference database VIDAL, by contrast, lists Laboratoire DUHOT as the manufacturer and distributor of the Déparaz products. Its entry gives the same Tournai street address and lists the preventive shampoo, the treatment shampoo and the DÉPARAZ-PRO Crystal lotion [9]. The footer of the brand's website also links to a separate Duhot laboratory site. This article follows the brand's legal notice and gives Laboratoires Marie-Louise as the parent company, while noting that VIDAL attributes manufacture and distribution to Laboratoire DUHOT.

No acquisitions, sister brands or changes of ownership are documented.

Déparaz describes its range as "the next generation" of lice treatments and uses the tagline "the crystallising revolution against lice and nits". The positioning rests on a contrast with older products. According to the company, its treatments contain no neurotoxic insecticides and no silicone, ingredients it sets its products apart from.

Convenience is the second theme. The brand says its products need no combing after use and no re-application, and that they are non-greasy and easy to rinse out. The company's homepage also groups customer reviews under the heading "Recommended by mothers", which signals the parents of school-age children as its main audience.

Some outside coverage repeats this framing. The parenting blog ConsoBaby&Kid, in a promotional article from August 2024, set the product against traditional treatments that rely on chemical insecticides and require long combing sessions. The same article said that repeated use of such insecticides had led some lice to become resistant, and presented Déparaz as a gentler option for sensitive scalps [8].

The French innovation news site NeozOne described the approach as mechanical rather than chemical: in its account, the formula clings to the shells of lice and nits and turns them into crystals when water is added, after which an ordinary shampoo washes everything away.

The range has four products, each tied to a stated treatment time.

- Treatment Lotion (Lotion traitante), the lotion earlier sold as DÉPARAZ-PRO® Crystal Lotion. It is applied to dry hair and left for 15 minutes; the hair is then dampened and massaged for a minute, which triggers the crystallisation, before being washed with a gentle shampoo. The company says it gives protection for up to four days. - Treatment Shampoo (Shampoing traitant), a shampoo-format treatment with a ten-minute application time. - Preventive Shampoo (Shampoing préventif), meant to replace a household's usual shampoo during outbreaks. The brand describes it as giving two months of protection for two months of use, and the French version of its website lists it as free of sulfates. - Lotion Flash, the newest product, which can be sprayed or poured onto dry hair and is left on for five minutes.

For each product, the company makes a "100% effective" claim, and each of these claims carries a footnote pointing to one of the in-vitro studies described above. The brand's summary is that lice are eliminated and nits are left unable to hatch.

### Crystalysine

The active ingredient behind the range is Crystalysine, which the company describes as a patented plant-based active derived from a plant resin. The homepage cites Luxembourg patent LU92931 as the basis for the patent claim [1]. NeozOne reported that the resin comes from the Amazon region, from the plant Protium heptaphyllum, and that the substance has the property of setting on contact with water [7]. ConsoBaby&Kid added that the crystallisation acts on chitin, the tough material that forms the outer shell of lice and nits.

### Medical-device status and age guidance

The treatment lotion carries a statement that it is a regulated healthcare product bearing the CE mark, and the company advises users to read the leaflet and to consult a healthcare professional. Because of this status, the range is regulated as medical devices, not as cosmetic products.

The age guidance differs between sources. The brand's current website says the treatment lotion can be used from the age of one, and also by pregnant and breastfeeding women [1]. The 2023 NeozOne article, however, described the lotion as suitable for babies from six months [7]. The website is the more recent of the two and carries the brand's current instructions.

### Evidence and its limits

All of the efficacy claims made on the brand's website rest on laboratory studies. Outside coverage has at times gone further. A photo caption in the NeozOne article stated that the invention's efficacy had been shown in a clinical study in humans, while the body of the same article cited a study from the University of Tours which, it said, found only three anti-lice solutions to be effective, DÉPARAZ-PRO among them [7]. ConsoBaby&Kid described a May 2023 study at the University of Tours' pharmacy school that tested 16 products [8]. The company's own footnotes refer only to in-vitro work.

Déparaz uses several sales channels at once. The website offers a customer portal for home delivery and a separate pharmacy portal for pharmacies that want to stock the range, and the brand is positioned as a pharmacy product. The lotion is also sold through Amazon in France, and the products appear in the parapharmacy listings of VIDAL.

The pharmacy training programme offers registration for pharmacies in Belgium and France, the two markets where the brand's presence is clearly documented. The website also runs a free telephone helpline and a store locator.

No awards are documented. Press coverage has come mainly from general-interest and family media rather than beauty publications.

In 2023, NeozOne published a feature on the lotion, crediting its development to Pierre-Yves Duhot, a pharmacist based in Tournai. The article also reported that he had explained the product's mechanism on the regional French television channel France 3 Hauts-de-France, and that more than 15 tonnes of the lotion were being produced each year [7]. The article was later updated, most recently in December 2025.

ConsoBaby&Kid, a French parenting blog and product-review community, published an article on DÉPARAZ-PRO in August 2024. Its tone was promotional throughout.

The brand's own "TV appearances" page lists segments on the French channels M6 (in its 19.45 programme), France 2 and BFM TV, an item on Télématin, which it places on France 3, and a feature on the Belgian regional channel Notélé [6]. These appearances are reported by the company itself.

Customer reviews published on the homepage, dated from 2024 to 2025, are largely positive. Several reviewers nevertheless mention that they still passed a lice comb through the hair to remove dead nits, despite the brand's no-combing message.

Déparaz is an active brand. Its English homepage was last modified in July 2026, the website footer carries a 2026 copyright notice, and the pharmacy training page was updated in January 2026. The newest customer review on the site is dated July 2025, and the range includes Lotion Flash, a product supported by a 2025 laboratory study.