Head Lice Information
You have known other people who have had problems with head lice, you imagine that every homeless person in thee country is challenged with it but, you certainly did not expect it to ever become a reality in the life of you and your children!
Then, then unthinkable happened. Someone in your family was discovered to have hair lice. Maybe you discovered it yourself or more likely you got a call from the school nurse telling you of the problem and asking you to come pick up your child. How embarrassing! Now you have to fix the problem of lice and you’re not sure about the best way to deal with it.
Almost everyone has had lice at some point in their lives whether they knew about it or not. These days, the schools and daycare facilities are very aware of the threat, keep their eyes open for it and ask you to take the child home and fix the problem before they can return. You may remember how it was handled by some other family member or a friend. But what you want is to know the BEST way of handling it. Well the very best way is to get the proper information and education about treatment and prevention and then begin the correct treatment as quickly as possible.
You may ask: what does it really mean when the nurse or doctor tells you your child has hair lice. Head lice are little bugs or insects that live and thrive in the hair. They are not really dangerous and they are not the cause of or carriers of disease. Directly explained, they are a tiny insect without wings that is a parasite. They live in human hair and they get their nourishment by feeding on blood which they draw in very small quantities from the human scalp.
Having head lice is a common occurrence in children of all races and soci-economic levels. The more hair there is and the thicker and longer it is the more prone the child will be to getting infected with them. That means the problem occurs more often in girls than in boys. While everyone who has hair is a possible candidate, it is the children between the ages of 2 and 13 that are most vulnerable.
Because lice are transferred directly, there are certain things you should look for anytime you have children that are in contact with other kids at school, sports, playing in the neighborhood or park or in other social settings. Watch for children scratching their scalp. That is a common tell tale sign.
The adult lice, the young nymphs and the eggs are all hard to see and are easily missed during normal daily grooming. The itching can start early in an infestation of lice on a human or it could take a couple of weeks or more. That is largely dependant upon the sensitivity of the skin,
Probably the thing you want to be aware of and keep on the look out for the most are the nits or lice eggs. The nits can be a light tan, yellow or brown before they hatch and the shell of the egg after hatching is often a small white or clear speck in the hair. The nits are small but they can be seen with the naked eye of someone with normal 20-20 vision. They are usually attached to the hair shaft close to but not necessarily right next to the scalp.
Some people mistake dandruff for nits and visa versa. It is easy to differentiate between the two. Dandruff will easily brush out of the hair while nits will not and you can feel a nit between your fingers while that is not so with dandruff. It is wise to look for the nits rather than the actual lice because the nits are easier to detect unless the head has a very thick infestation of lice. The eggs will usually take between 7 to 14 days to hatch.
When a nit first hatches, it is usually tan and then within one to two weeks it becomes a full grown louse – usually tan and somewhat translucent. The adults are about the size of a sesame seed. In order to survive lice need a constant supply of heat and food which is found in the scalp. It is important to remember though that they can survive for up to 2 days off the scalp on bedding, scarves, combs etc.
After identifying that you or your child indeed has lice, that is the time to immediately get involved in treating the issue. The best thing to do is a little research and homework so you personally understand what your options are. It would not hurt to call your doctor and see what they advise but do your homework before your put any non-prescription or prescription drugs or commercial treatment on you child. Check out the information on this site and others and then make a wise decision and be prompt and thorough in it’s implementation.
What to Do When You See Head Lice on Hair?
What you do to your head when you see lice on your hair is very important. Lice are small creatures that reside on the human head. These hair lice are parasites. They get the food and nutrition that they need from the blood of their human host. These head lice on your hair need to live in a warm environment close to their food supply, which is why they thrive on the human head.
Head lice do not have a preference as to the kind of person they live on. A louse has no gender preference, race, age or socioeconomic preferences. Even though lice don’t carry any contagious disease, they can easily be spread around. A simple direct contact of heads or hair can be the cause of a lice infestation in the head. Once it is confirmed that head lice are already present in the hair, it is important to take action immediately.
What you need to do to your head when you see lice on your hair is clean up. Use of shampoo and conditioner can be very helpful in the initial process of dealing with hair lice. Use of shampoos and conditioners results in smoother hair. Using these products can help in washing away the insects residing in the scalp and some of the eggs in the hair. The next thing to do after discovering lice on your head is to research a little and consult experts on the matter. You have started that process by reading this article and coming to this website. Hair lice can be very hard to deal with. There are a numerous aspects that should be considered so that lice may be completely removed from the hair properly.
For one thing, it is likely that the lice on the head are much greater in number than initially estimated. Also, a person can be sensitive or allergic to many of the hair lice removal remedies. Some home remedies may not be able to effectively remove lice. The experts on this subject can provide advice on how to effectively remove the lice on your head. Some experts recommend insecticides. Some of these insecticides include pyrethin products and malathion. These products help in removing lice by killing them. Normally, these products suffocate the lice, effectively decreasing the chances of your hair being infested in the future.
The best thing to do to your head when you see lice on hair is to do frequent combing. This is the safest treatment to effectively remove lice in the hair. Combing may take time more effort because it is a mechanical procedure than using chemical products but it is deemed the safest way. Most experts recommend the use of nit combs or sometimes called lice combs.
Nit combs are specially designed fine toothed combs, usually made out of metal, that aid in removing lice. These nit combs are effective because they help in removing the eggs that are laid by female lice. These combs are recommended to be used with a conditioner or some oil to keep the hair moist. It makes combing easier and less tedious. The oil and/or conditioner itself can help by making the hair smoother and as a result, the lice and eggs can come unattached from the scalp and the hair more easily. Combing is also recommended to be done in all parts of the hair and the scalp. This is to ensure that all parts of the hair are lice-free. But whatever procedures prescribed by the experts that you choose to follow, the best way to remove lice is to maintain a rigorous hair and scalp cleaning routine.
What Happens to Hair Lice When You Use Hair Dye?
What happens to hair lice when you use hair dye? The answer to that question has been debated. Hair lice are small insects that can thrive on a human’s head. A single louse lives off the human host by sucking the blood. These insects crawl in the scalp and the female ones lay their eggs. These eggs are attached to the hair shaft. Lice are hard to get rid off without proper solutions and equipment. This is why a lot of people have resorted to different means to get rid of hair lice. One of the traditional mechanical techniques is using a fine toothed comb, along with a hair conditioner. Some people use insecticides that are especially made to kill adult lice. Some use natural home remedies such as coconut oil or rubbing alcohol to get rid of the unwanted parasites. Some people resort to dyeing the hair.
Normally, what happens to hair lice when you use hair dye is that the lice die. This can be because the hair dye suffocates the lice eventually causing them to die. Some claim that it is possible that in using hair dye, when the scalp and hair are heated during and after the dye treatment, the lice die.
Other proponents of the hair dye method say that the use of hair dye loosens the hold of the insects on the scalp. In the process of getting the hair dyed, the lice are said to be washed away. The hair dye may also have chemical contents that cause the hair lice to die. But whatever the mechanism is behind hair dye being an aid in removing hair lice, what is important for people is that it can be a procedure that works.
However, in spite of being able to kill the hair lice or wash them away, what happens to the lice when you use hair dye may be just a temporary fix. Sure, some of the hair lice may die or wash away but it is not always completely effective. It still has to be accompanied by some other means for it to be truly effective in removing both the lice and their eggs. Some people use conditioners and/or oils after their hair dye treatment. This aids in suffocating and/or further washing away the remaining hair lice.
Most people that use hair dyeing as an effective treatment for hair lice also use metal toothed comb. The hair dye may be able to wash away or kill the mature lice but the nits or eggs of the lice are not removed. This is where additional help, such as fine toothed combs, would come in handy to get rid of the lousy problem.
Many people have attested that lice die when hair dye is used on them. Some claim that they have done all possible treatments but none have worked, except for the hair dye method. Opponents of the method suggest though, that the hair dye does not actually kill the hair lice. As ridiculous as it may sound, some people claim that the lice simply become better hidden because they are dyed the same color as the hair during the process of hair dyeing.
Regardless, in removing hair lice, remember that not all procedures work for everybody. It is possible that what one used to successfully remove hair lice may not be effective for another person. If a person with lice problem dyes the hair and the lice are removed from the scalp and hair completely, then for that person, they can note that they have found a procedure is effective on that person.
