Certainly head lice are attracted to clean head hair, but also at least as strongly to dirty head hair; generally even more so. For example in the late 18th century rich women at court wore huge hairdos constructed at great expense and rarely dismantled, let alone washed. Teeming head lice were so rife that long, thin head scratchers became standard accessories at court. Other times, other standards of hygiene! However romantic, such accommodation hardly qualified as "clean hair", but as archy the cockroach said: “a louse I used to know told me that millionaires and bums tasted about alike to him”.
Granted, it takes an exacting standard of personal cleanliness to evict a louse, but humourless hygiene definitely is not louse-friendly; when an infestation was detected at our sons' school, though I did find two nits, both already had succumbed to daily shampooing.
Many common crank treatments are unbelievably messy, harmful or dangerous, such as petroleum jelly, mayonnaise, meths, the wearing of bathing caps; I could hardly imagine any wingnuttery too ineffectual, risky or filthy for creative amateurs. My advice: don't muck about; modern treatments are safe, fast, and convenient. Even clean! Just please follow the instructions!
Go well,
Jon
