Lice are a nuisance and put everyone with hair at risk of getting them. It is important to know how lice spread and breed in order to help combat them.
LIFE CYCLE
Lice start as nits. Nits are eggs that are extremely small. They can often be confused with dandruff or droplets from hairspray. Nits take around a week to hatch and what comes out is a nymph. Nymphs are the size of a pinhead and they go through three different molts. Throughout their molts, they will look like an adult louse but they will just be smaller. It takes the nymph about a week to become a louse after hatching. The adult nymphs can live up to 30 days in your hair and 1-2 days without a host. The female nymphs can lay up to 8 nits per day. As you can tell lice replicate at a very fast rate. Within a couple of weeks, you could have hundreds in your hair.
HOW LICE SPREAD
Lice are able to spread with any hair to hair contact. They can be spread through hugging, sharing combs or hats, cuddling, taking a picture together, and any other position that makes it so your hair is touching someone else’s. As stated before lice can live for up to 2 days without being on a head of hair, so if you place your head where someone who is infested has then you risk catching them.
HOW TO PREVENT CATCHING LICE
Preventing lice sounds simple but in reality, it’s not so much. Knowing that someone has lice can help a lot, but if you don’t know about them then that’s where the issues start. In general, it is a good idea to avoid sharing combs and hats. You can also get a mint spray that will help prevent lice but it is not a guaranteed measure. The best thing you can do is avoid hair to hair contact with strangers.
HOW TO REMOVE LICE INFESTATIONS
The best way to remove lice infestations is to contact professionals. There are professional lice removers in Lancaster Pa that go by the name Lice Lifters. Lice Lifters is a lice treatment clinic that helps with head lice removal. Lice Lifter’s treatment is safe and effective. They are able to exterminate 99.9% of lice. Their products are also non-toxic and pesticide-free. If you have an issue with lice, Lice Lifters is the best solution.