Genetic evidence suggests that human ancestors acquired
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.
You may never know where your case of lice came from, but it started when either a pregnant louse or two live bugs made their way to your human head through head-to-head contact with another human head hosting an active case. If you just have eggs, then there was at one time one pregnant louse on your head.
Genetic studies suggest that lice developed about 1.68 million years before homo sapiens emerged, and that they started their relationships with humans about the same time human evolution separated from chimpanzee evolution.
The First Humans
One of the earliest known humans is Homo habilis, or “handy man,” who lived about 2.4 million to 1.4 million years ago in Eastern and Southern Africa.
Ancient Head Lice Treatments
If you became infested with head lice, the Egyptians treated themselves with an aromatic head lice formula made of water, vinegar, oil of cinnamon, oil of rosemary, oil of terebinth. They would treat ancient head lice with the formula and use a fine tooth comb.
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. They lived a life of itch, itch, itch!
“We've discovered the 'smoking louse' that reveals direct contact between two early species of humans,” probably in Asia about 25,000 to 30,000 years ago, says study leader Dale Clayton, a professor of biology at the University of Utah. “Kids today have head lice that evolved on two species of cavemen.
Adult lice can live up to 30 days on a person's head. To live, adult lice need to feed on blood several times daily. Without blood meals, the louse will die within 1 to 2 days off the host. Life cycle image and information courtesy of DPDx.
It evolved a new variety, the body louse, with claws adapted for clinging to fabric, not hairs. In 2003, Mark Stoneking, a geneticist at the Max Planck Institute in Leipzig, Germany, estimated from DNA differences that the body louse evolved from the head louse about 107,000 years ago.
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.
Head lice reproduce sexually, and copulation is necessary for the female to produce fertile eggs.
Head lice do not come out of the air or from the ground. They are human parasites and have probably been here since the beginning of time. Desiccated (dried up) head lice and their eggs (nits) have been found on the hair and scalps of Egyptian mummies.
Exposing lice and nits to temperatures above 125 degrees F for 10 minutes is lethal. Most personal articles of clothing and bedding can be disinfested by machine washing in hot water or machine drying for at least 20 minutes using the hot cycle.
Anyone can get head lice. They are not a sign of being dirty. Most people don't know they are infested until they see the nits or lice.
Medieval folklore suggests that lard was used to try and suffocate lice and nits off of a scalp. Others propose simply keeping the hair combed through and clean was of so little a priority that no one even bothered with lice.
Genetic work on living lice had suggested they arose during the time of feathered dinosaurs, but fossil lice are few and far between. The tiny creatures are unlikely to fossilize, and even if they do they're hard to spot.
Fortunately for the lice population, if not for their hosts, conditions of trench warfare proved ideal for their rapid spread. Of the three types of lice - head, pubic and body - the latter was far and away the most common. Lice could only thrive in warm conditions - which was provided by body heat and clothing.
The proportion of lice killed varied from 10% with the bonnet‐style hair dryer to 80% with the Louse‐Buster with hand piece.
2. Blond hair was the colour of choice in Viking culture, so they would use strong soap to bleach their hair and beards blond. This also had the added benefit of eliminating head lice!
It also appears that Romans regularly used delousing combs to rid themselves of lice and fleas, Mitchell said.
Introduce natural predators (Ladybugs)
Ladybugs can eat 100 lice a day! Plant lice, anyway, but I'm sure it's the same with head lice. COVER YOUR CHILD IN LADYBUGS. You can purchase them at any of those “Brew 'n Grow” type stores where people grow weed by equipment and pretend to grow tomatoes with it.