993 Greentree Road, Suite 200, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15220, United States
Head Lice & Nits 101
20 Facts About Head Lice
1. Human lice are only transmitted between people and never come from
animals.
2. Head lice can only crawl (not fly, hop or jump) from human head to head.
3. Adult lice can only live a maximum of 48 hours off of a human head; baby lice
(nymphs) can survive only a couple hours.
4. Transmission of head lice from inanimate objects (the environment) is very
uncommon.
5. Head lice are not carriers of any diseases. Mainly just a nuisance bug.
6. Nits are laid close to the scalp and are viable within 1/4 inch from the scalp.
7. Nits need a warm incubator (the head) to grow and humidity in order to hatch.
8. We regularly see live lice on clients’ heads after their home treatments of NIX
and RID.
9. Outbreaks are not easily eradicated with the OTC pesticides of Permethrin or
Pyrethrin due to pesticide resistance, those pesticides do absolutely nothing
against the nits (eggs).
10. Nothing kills lice eggs as far as we know. They must be manually removed. Do
not be fooled by product labels claiming to be 100% effective at ridding a head
lice infestation. Some lice may in fact survive topical treatments and nits must
still be manually removed.
11. Re-infestations are often the same infestation which was never completely
eradicated and has erupted again.
12. Dying your hair or putting large amount of conditioner will not help apart from
having a lovely new hair style; you will not get rid of the bugs this way.
13. Lice are opportunistic bugs, surviving only on human blood; they are not
affected by cleanliness or dirtiness in their need to survive.
14. Lice prefer clean, dry hair - ideally on people with better hygiene. Dirty or oily
hair is slippery therefore harder for lice to glue nits to.
15. Doing thorough head checks on all family members is crucial; treating
EVERYONE “to be safe” with an OTC pesticide is an unnecessary waste of time
and energy.
16. You can have lice up to 4-6 weeks before you begin itching your scalp and
50% of infested people have no itching symptoms at all.
17. In ongoing infestations habituation can occur and itching decreases.
18. Lice bites and nits are commonly found behind the ears, crown of head and
nape of neck.
19. The Head Lice Life Cycle illustrates that a couple of missed nits can take
upwards of 19 days (almost 3 weeks!) to become adults before a new egg is
even laid – and most likely another week before enough nits are visible to
spot. That’s one month, well outside the recommended two week time frame
to check after an infestation.
20. Body lice, a completely different strain of lice, do transmit diseases.
Head Lice and Nits