Firstly, it is important to understand that all types of hair can get head lice and no hair type is immune to them. In fact, curly hair is often more vulnerable to catching them because it has more volume than straight or thin hair.
The basics about lice
Lice are tiny insects that live in hair, bite, and can multiply quickly, laying up to 10 eggs a day. And lice don't discriminate! Anyone can get lice, regardless of age, social status, race or gender. Luckily, lice don't spread disease contrary to popular misconception, but they do itch!
As far as we know, there have not been any clinical studies proving any human population to be immune to head lice. However, head lice can have difficultly attaching their eggs to hair that is thick or coarse; therefore, those individuals may be less likely to experience head lice infestation.
In fact, adults can get lice anytime their hair is in close contact with the hair of someone who has lice. Whether public transportation, concerts, or crowded areas, any situation in which there is hair to hair contact puts adults at risk of getting lice.
In the United States, infestation with head lice (Pediculus humanus capitis) is most common among preschool- and elementary school-age children and their household members and caretakers.
Experts do suggest however that keeping long hair pulled up and back is a good way to ward off lice and nits. If hair is out of the way it is not as easy for someone to brush up against it and pass on a louse, or a nit to find its way on a scalp.
Hairspray makes it harder for the louse to grab hold. The smell of hairspray and the use of solvents (sad but true) in them can also deter creepy crawlies from finding their way in. Not to mention that if you're tying longer hair back, you've got a double whammy.
Adults are not immune to head lice. In fact, if you have any close contact with children or even parents of children you can be at risk of catching them if they have them. Lice transfer primarily through head to head contact, so you would have to get close to the other person.
The most common symptom of head lice is itching, especially on the back of your head and neck and near your ears — areas where lice are more likely to live. Symptoms of head lice include: Feeling like something in your hair is moving (tickling).
'' Generally, children are less protective of their personal space, more likely to come into physical contact with one another, and more likely to share personal items like clothing or hairbrushes, which make it easy for the bugs to travel from person to person.
Lice and nits can't survive the high heat. It's true that lice and nits can't survive temperatures above 113°F (45°C). This makes them susceptible to any heat source, such as a hairdryer or the plates of a hair straightener.
Items that cannot be laundered such as headgear, earphones, and bike helmets, can be placed in a plastic bag and put in a freezer. If the freezer is 5°F or lower, all lice and eggs should be dead within 10 hours. Also, keep items and areas off-limits to people for 48 hours to limit exposure to any live lice.
Lice are attracted to the blood they get through your scalp – short, long, clean or dirty. Doesn't matter! You have to clean every crevice of your house after a lice infestation.
Head-to-head contact with an already infested person is the most common way to get head lice. Head-to-head contact is common during play at school, at home, and elsewhere (sports activities, playground, slumber parties, camp). Although uncommon, head lice can be spread by sharing clothing or belongings.
How soon do symptoms appear after exposure? Some people may not have symptoms, particularly with the first infestation or when the infestation is light. It may take 4-6 weeks for itching to appear the first time a person has head lice.
You may not experience itching until about 4 to 6 weeks after lice exposure. This is because the lice take time to multiply and cause symptoms of itchiness. The itching reaction is usually due to your skin becoming sensitized to the saliva that lice release when feeding.
You may be able to see the lice, but they're often hard to spot because they're small, avoid light and move quickly. Lice eggs (nits) on hair shafts. Nits stick to hair shafts and may be hard to see because they're very tiny. They're easiest to spot around the ears and the hairline of the neck.
Eggs and nits also stick to the hair shaft, so they don't come off easily. If you try to pull one out of the hair with your fingers, it won't budge—it will move only if you use your nails to get behind it and force it off.
Using your finger to check for and extract nits (eggs, each of which houses a baby louse) is an integral part of a lice check and can be helpful when treating an infestation. You can actually feel the nits stuck to the hair shaft; each one will feel like a bump on the hair.
It turns out that white people tend to have round cross sections for their hair, a shape that our European lice are well adapted to. Black people, on the other hand, tend to have an oval cross section shape to their hair. This oval shape is just different enough to make lice uncommon with African-Americans.
African American people can still get head lice. However, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) state that African American people get head lice much less frequently than other people. The reason for this may be that most head lice in the United States have claws that more easily grip onto uncoiled hair.
In the middle ages, humans couldn't get away from lice. They were an unavoidable part of their life and lice didn't discriminate; they infected all parts of society from serfs to royals. People in the Middle Ages took lice to their grave as well.
Coconut, tea tree oil, lavender, eucalyptus, rosemary, lemon grass, and peppermint are scents popularly believed to repel lice. Using any coconut scented shampoo and conditioner is an easy way to increase your defense. At 1% concentration, tea tree oil killed 100% of head lice after 30 minutes.
Rosemary Repel Daily Shampoo combines rosemary, citronella, tea tree, anise, lavender and geranium oils to help repel lice.
You might think "does bleach kill lice?" Thankfully, bleach is effective for disinfecting and killing lice.