As head lice professionals, we want to clear up some of the most common myths so you can rest assured. Myth: Head lice prefer dirty hair. Lice are non-discriminatory when it comes to hair cleanliness. They simply require any human hair, whether squeaky clean or completely greasy.
There is no specific hair type that lice prefer. All lice need is a clean strand of hair to attach to. It doesn't matter the thickness, the length, if it's been colored, if it's straight, or if it's curly. It has been found that people with longer hair tend to report getting lice.
Unsurprisingly, hair color proved to be the least important factor when it comes to head lice, but hair texture did play a role. He found that students with straight hair had the least number of lice, followed by students with curls, and the students with the highest amount of headlice cases were students with waves.
"We find that you can get head lice on almost every type of hair imaginable — thick, thin, long, short, clean, dirty — it really doesn't make a difference," Dr Webb said. Having particularly thick or long hair might increase your chances of picking up head lice, simply because you have more available hair.
Lice are more common in straight hair, but they can still attach to curly hair. According to Henry, lice are more likely to attach to straight hair because of the shape of the follicle.
Why Do Kids Get Head Lice More than Adults? The answer is pretty straightforward. It's not that the pesky critters prefer children's blood to adult's. It's the simple fact that kids are in closer contact with one another on a daily basis.
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.
Kill head lice by washing infested articles in hot water (at least 140°F) and drying in a hot dryer. 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.
Wet or dry hair? You can check for lice in either wet or dry hair, but we recommend wetting the hair and preferably adding conditioner. The lice do not move as much and they attach more easily to the lice comb (10, 13).
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.
Some studies suggest that girls get head lice more often than boys, probably due to more frequent head-to-head contact. In the United States, infestation with head lice is much less common among African-Americans than among persons of other races.
No one is immune, but frequent head checks help
Anyone can get lice, and personal hygiene has nothing to do with the likelihood of being infested, Rukke said. “Personal hygiene and how often you wash your hair is of little importance. Having head lice doesn't mean you are unclean.
The common braid, a French braid, a fish tail braid, or a crown braid are all excellent hair styles to keep your hair up and out of the way of others. Any braid type that keeps your hair pulled back and contained is perfect for helping to prevent your contact with head lice.
Body lice live in your clothing and bedding and travel to your skin several times a day to feed on blood. The most common sites for bites are around the neck, shoulders, armpits, waist and groin — places where clothing seams are most likely to touch skin.
While lice do prefer fine, straight hair strands over coarse, curly hair, so it is indeed less likely, lice can nevertheless still affect every person regardless of race or hair type.
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.
The proportion of lice killed varied from 10% with the bonnet‐style hair dryer to 80% with the Louse‐Buster with hand piece.
Piperonyl butoxide with pyrethrins is an ingredient found in medicines to kill lice. Poisoning occurs when someone swallows the product or too much of the product touches the skin.
While our hair perfume is perfectly safe for your precious little head, the scent from each of the 9 bottles of hair fragrance makes all the little lice bugs totally freak out. They like the scent of your head, so when you add in another flavor, they are not interested! Basically we can call them picky eaters.
Avoid sleeping in the same bed as the person with an active lice infestation. Avoid sitting where the person with lice has sat in the past two days. Wash linens and clothing in hot water and dry on high heat. Place stuffed animals, pillows and items that cannot be washed into an airtight bag for two weeks.
Getting Lice While Bald
They find it difficult to feed and quickly die off. Lice may attempt to attach, but the environment is unsuitable for their survival. While bald people may become temporarily affected by head lice they often leave for a better suited host or die off. Thin or sporadic hair can still attract lice.
Lice are also not overly keen on testosterone in the blood, so this is another reason to prefer adult female blood to adult male blood. However, it is not impossible for men to catch or have head lice as an adult. This risk is higher if the man is a close carer of the children.
Lice are tiny, measuring only about 2-3 millimeters, about the size of a small seed. Adults are oval-shaped and grayish-brown with no wings. From a distance, they look like little more than tiny specks. That might be why it is so easy to miss a lice infestation.