The 2021 holiday season should be merry, bright, and without lice. Unfortunately for residents of Lancaster County from Adamstown, Witmer, Ephrata, Ronks, Rheems, Narvon, and beyond, lice may be as present as holiday lights this year. Yes, lice are finding Pennsylvania towns like Paradise to be a paradise for holiday-season parasite infestations. You may have noticed that lice have been having a “Silent Night” of their own during the past few years. It’s not just your perception. Social-distancing measures have cut down on lice activity significantly since the start of the pandemic. Holiday season 2021 is marked for a comeback. Take a look at everything your family needs to know to be prepared for the likelihood of lice coming home for the holidays.

Why Is Holiday Season 2021 Going to Be a Bad Year for Lice Infestations?

Everyone is finally feeling confident enough to get back together for the holidays! As a result, they’re gathering together at home to sing carols by the fire, watch Christmas movies, reinstate the time-honored tradition of the cousin sleepover, bake cookies, and gather under a blanket for some board games. The problem is that they’re bringing lice along when they come knocking at your door.

The reason why the holiday season 2021 is going to be such a messy year for lice is that everyone has their guard down. While we may be monitoring for signs of COVID-19 before visiting with our loved ones, nobody is paying attention to itchy scalps. In fact, many people who picked up lice over Thanksgiving are simply dismissing that itchy feeling as being caused by the colder, drier weather.

How Is Lice Spread at Family Gatherings? Can Only Kids Get Lice?

Around 90 percent of lice infestations are caused by person-to-person contact. However, sharing hats, pillows and brushes can also contribute to lice spread due to the fact that lice can lay in waiting for up to 48 hours after getting stranded on a surface. Here’s a look at the most common ways people are getting lice for the holidays this year:

• Hugging and kissing family members.
• Sharing screens with their heads close together.
• Sitting together on the couch.
• Squeezing in for a group selfie.
• Sharing a bed during sleepovers.

A lice transfer can happen in seconds. It just takes one strand of hair touching another strand to create a perfect “louse bridge” from one victim to another. While it’s possible to pick up lice anywhere from an airplane seat to a hotel room, these aren’t the most common infection spots. Don’t assume that lice transfers only happen at the kid table! While kids are more likely to get lice simply because they tend to be in close contact with groups of other kids, they certainly don’t have a corner on the lice market by any means. Once lice travel back home with you from the holiday party, all bets are off for every single member of the family.

Lice Facts From the Experts: Here’s What Lice Lifters of Lancaster County Wants You to Know

At our lice center in Lancaster County, we see clients from spots like Elizabethtown, New Holland, Drumore, Brownstown, Lampeter, Landisville, Talmage, Quarryville and Lititz every single day who are shocked that they have contracted lice. The truth is that anyone can get lice. While kids are the most common victims, your entire household is susceptible. Take a look at some fast facts to know if this is your first time dealing with lice:

• A louse can’t survive away from the human head for more than two days.
• Lice eggs cannot hatch without the warmth and comfort of a human head!
• While we often think of lice as “jumping” from person to person, the truth is that lice can’t actually jump or fly. They do all of their damage by crawling from person to person.
• Having lice isn’t something to panic about! However, proper treatment is still needed to avoid serious complications.

The most common complication of having lice is an infection caused by scratching an itchy scalp. The persistent itchiness of lice can easily cause a person to scratch until they have head sores. Don’t let it get that far! Get treatment!

While everyone seems to have an opinion on how to treat lice, very few people actually know the correct way to treat lice to fully stop an infestation. Over-the-counter lice products available at drugstores are ineffective. The reason is that the lice have actually become resistant to the pesticides used in store-bought lice treatments.

Many people are quick to suggest “holistic” remedies for getting rid of lice that “suffocate” lice using oils. While that may sound very reasonable, the problem is that lice can hold their breath for up to eight hours without breaking a sweat. What’s more, they can actually breathe as soon as oils heat up to the body’s core temperature. Don’t let ineffective lice treatments make you the person who brings lice to the party. Come see us at Lice Lifters of Lancaster County to stop lice in their tracks. We’ll have you completely free of lice in one easy treatment without the need to spend time trying to kill lice off with ointments at home. We can even help you prevent lice infestations by arming up your head ahead of social gatherings by purchasing some Lice Lifters Mint Detangler Spray, Lice Lifters Mint Deterrent Shampoo and Lice Lifters Mint Deterrent from Amazon, Walmart and or your neighborhood Lice Lifters Treatment Center right here in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania.