How to find head lice.

Lice can crawl and hide. The easiest and most effective way to find them is to follow these simple steps:

Step 1
Comb any type of hair conditioner on to dry, brushed (detangled) hair. This stuns the lice and makes it difficult for them to grip the hair or crawl around.

Step 2
Now comb sections of the hair with a fine tooth, head lice comb.

Step 3
Wipe the conditioner from the comb onto a paper towel or tissue.

Step 4
Look on the tissue and on the comb for lice and eggs.

Step 5
Repeat the combing for every part of the head at least 4 or 5 times

If lice or eggs are found, the child's hair should be treated.

Head lice eggs are small (the size of a pinhead) and oval. A live egg will 'pop' when squashed between fingernails.

The louse is an insect of the order Anoplura, which contains two distinct groups of lice, the typical or sucking lice, the Siphunculata, and the biting or bird-lice, the Mallphaga. Both groups are are composed of small, wingless, flattened insects which are external parasites on warm-blooded animals. They have short antennae, and legs adapted for clinging to the hairs or feathers of their hosts, and they undergo no metamorphosis in development. The sucking lice are economically the most important, especially the common human head-louse and body-louse. Each female of this species lay around 300 eggs at the rate of nearly a dozen a day.

They are known as 'nits' and are attached separately to the hairs of the body or the clothing. The egg hatches in a week and the louse lives for about 2 months.

This louse transmits typhus by means of its bite from patient to patient but the germs of trench fever and relapsing fever may get into the humban blood through abrasions in the skin either from the excreta or the crushed bodies of the lice.

Extracts of Larkspur and various other preparations are known to kill the adult louse. Careful personal hygiene is the best preventative.

The Life Cycle of Head Lice

Egg is laid on hair shaft. Egg is called a 'nit'.

Louse emerges after 6-7 days.

First moult 2 days after hatching.

Second moult 5 days after hatching.

Third moult 10 days after hatching.

Emerging from their third moult as adult lice, the female and slightly similar male begin to reproduce.
Female lays first egg 1 or 2 days after mating.
Female can lay approximately 3 to 8 eggs per day for the next 16 days.
Having lived 32 to 35 days the louse dies.

Treating head lice.

Concentrate on the head - there is no evidence to suggest that you need to clean the house or classroom.

No treatment kills all of the eggs so treatment must involve two applications seven days apart.

If you are using lotions, apply the product to dry hair.

There is no need to treat the whole family, unless they also have head lice.

Only the pillowcase requires specific laundering; either wash it in hot water (at least 60 degrees centigrade) or dry it using a clothes dryer on the hot or warm setting.

There is no product available that prevents head lice. Using the conditioner and comb method once a week will help you detect any head lice early and minimise the problem. Tying back long hair can help prevent the spread of head lice.

Combs with long, rounded stainless steel teeth positioned very close together have been shown to be the most effective, however, any head lice comb can be used.

Having 4 school aged children has taught me lots of things in life... And one main thing would have to be what are some of the best and worst treatments for head lice.

Here are my personal favourite ways to treat lice.

One of the best treatments I can recommend is to use an oil as base for removing the eggs with either a comb or your fingers. Oils are easier than conditioners, as it allows you to see what is hiding in the hair, rather than just globs of white foam. A good oil such as vitamin E or a hair repair oil.

The Ceramic Hair Straightener: The best thing about the new hair straighteners is that you don't have to spend $$$ of dollars on a "salon" straightener... You can use the budget models, as long as they have a high heat setting. One which heats up to at least 200 degrees is ideal. You just use it as normal on damp to dry hair and you will hear the eggs go POP!