Head Lice 101

Head lice are by no means an uncommon problem. The fact is that vast majority of the world is more than familiar with this problem. 

These tiny little bugs are well known for the incessant itching that they cause on your scalp. Although certainly not life threatening these pesky little critters cause a great deal of annoyance to their human host.

Head lice can also spread quickly from person to person setting the stage for head lice long term infestations.  Needles to say this raises the priority level of getting rid of them as soon as possible.

Let’s take a moment to examine what head lice are so that you can have a better understanding of these bugs and can know how to best deal with them.

Let’s take a look at the typical life cycle for the louse.

There are essentially three basice stages in the life of these annoying little critters.

• Nit (egg)
• Nymph stage
• Adult stage

The term ‘Nit’ is used to describe the eggs that the head louse can hatch out of. Obviously, these eggs are very small in size and have an oval shape to them. The eggs essentially are glued to the hair follicle. Thus, allowing for ample opportunity to develop without you knowing.

These nits can only be laid by live head lice that are already on your head.  Once the head louse lays an egg on your hair follicle, there is typically a seven to ten day period of gestation before the egg hatches.

Newborn lice are a clear color. However, soon after they begin feeding, the surface of their bodies begins to take on a dark red color. Once born these guys grow quickly not spending much time in the aforementioned nymph states… they go right to adulthood. In fact, in about only seven to ten days a now fully mature louse will be able to produce its own eggs and when the female louse is laying eggs she can produce up to one hundred eggs.

So you can see that a total infestation of head lice can take place in very short order. The individual louse’s lifespan is not long (about thirty days), but as you can see it doesn’t have to be in order to cause problems for the human host.

Head lice are actually very small insects (about the size of a sesame seed) with legs and tiny claws that enable them to hold on tightly. These tiny insects don’t hop, or fly… they just crawl. Their life line is human blood… without it they don’t survive… if fact less than 24 hours.

By the way… head lice love (and need) human hosts to do well, so it’s improbable that you contract them from your pets.

With this bit of background you will be better able to diagnose a head lice problem and possible avoid any head lice long term infestation.

Although quite annoying, getting rid of head lice only takes just a bit of effort. The important aspect of a head lice infestation to remember is the need to eradicate it quickly so they do not spread to other people. Because of the potential to spread rapidly, if you think you may have become infested, avoid contact with other people.

See Also:
Removing Head Lice