Truth or Myth: Lice Are More Active in the Summer

Truth or Myth: Lice Are More Active in the Summer

/in /by

Lice always seems to be an annoying problem, especially in the summertime. With summer happening right now, there are a couple of important questions that need answering. “Does heat kill lice?” and “Where do lice come from?” Keep reading to discover the answers to these questions and stay head lice free this Summer. 

Does Heat Kill Lice?

The simple answer to this question is yes, but it requires a certain temperature. At Fresh Heads in Orlando, Fl, we have a patented AirAlle treatment. This treatment uses a machine that applies warm heated air to the scalp in order to get rid of head lice or any eggs that are left. All the activities that happen during summer can promote head-to-head contact which lice love and can transfer to another person. Activities like sleepovers, summer camp, and just playing rough can get all the contact that is needed to transfer lice. 

Where Do Lice Come From?

After a long day of your children playing with each other, they might come home with an itchy head. The only way head lice can transfer from host-to host is by head-to-head contact. Now this doesn’t mean that with every head-to-head contact that your children will get infested with head lice, but the chance is there. Head lice do not jump, swim, or fly. The only way head lice can transfer is by touching hair strands. Head lice are very quick moving on hair strands. It does not take much time for head lice to transfer hosts after head-to-head contact is made. Whatever games or activities your child is playing is increasing the chance they get head lice if one of them has it already. 

Fresh Heads in Orlando, Fl.

It is important to not only check for lice on your child but also yourself. If you have done a thorough check and you notice an out of the ordinary feeling, come on down to Fresh Heads Lice Removal. Lice are active all seasons, but it is always a good idea to keep an eye out if your child is involved in summer camps, traveling, or other activities.  Book an appointment or give us a call today to get started right away. We have two other locations in Jacksonville, FL, and Savannah, GA.

Schools Without Lice.

Schools Without Lice

At Fresh Heads Lice Removal, our mission is to get rid of lice in schools across the United States. We’ve partnered with the Lice Clinics of America to create the Schools Without Lice program. Through this program, we provide school nurses and teachers with free screenings, resources, and treatments. Together, we can have schools without lice!

As COVID-19 Cases Lessen, Are People Are More at Risk to Get Lice?

As COVID-19 Cases Lessen, Are People at Greater Risk to Get Lice?

/0 Comments/in /by

With news stations constant coverage of COVID-19 it is easy to forget about head lice but with kids already back at school, it’s important to remember COVID-19 is not the only thing that could affect students this year. Head lice affects between six and twelve million people every single year. Now that most school systems are returning back to in person classes, it is a no brainer that head lice will be returning as well. Fresh Heads Lice Removal is prepared to help!

What is Head Lice?

Head lice are small insects that live on the human head. Lice can be identified in three separate stages: the egg, the nymph, and the adult. Although young lice are hard to spot on the head, it is easy to point out adult lice in a head of hair. A full-grown head louse is comparable in size to a sesame seed. A common symptom of lice is itching and tickling on the scalp.

Back to School Season

Classrooms and playgrounds provide ample opportunities for head-to-head contact. When your head directly touches another head that is infested with lice that is considered head-to-head contact. Head lice cannot fly, swim or jump, so the spread is usually through heads being relatively close or touching. Anyone, anywhere can contract lice, but it is much more common in children and their parents or teachers. Once someone contracts lice, the lice will use their claws to crawl to the scalp and lay eggs.

In person classes in school means that you should be on the lookout for head lice infestations on kids. Kids often have trouble sleeping when they have contracted lice because the lice are most active at night. Along with trouble sleeping, they may feel tickling on their scalp or have sores on their heads from scratching. If your child comes home with any of these symptoms it is important to diagnose and treat them quickly.

How to Treat Lice if You Get It

Fresh Heads Lice Removal  in Jacksonville, FL, Orlando, FL, and  Savannah, GA, provide professional lice treatments.We have many different plan options in order to fit every family’s needs and budget. And remember, when treating lice it is important to stay away from over-the-counter products. These products often contain pesticides that are harmful to humans and overtime these over the counter products have become ineffective at treating head lice. 

Protect Yourself From Head Lice!

In these times as we return back to normal it is important to protect yourself and your family as much as you can. Whether it is wearing a mask or checking ahead for lice, both of these options can help make the back-to-school season a safer transition. Fresh Heads Lice Removal in Jacksonville, FL, Orlando, FL and Savannah, GA is happy to support you and your family in any way we can.  

Schools Without Lice.

Schools Without Lice

At Fresh Heads Lice Removal, our mission is to get rid of lice in schools across the United States. We’ve partnered with the Lice Clinics of America to create the Schools Without Lice program. Through this program, we provide school nurses and teachers with free screenings, resources, and treatments. Together, we can have schools without lice!

Is it Lice? Signs and Symptoms of Head Lice

Is it Lice? Signs and Symptoms of Head Lice

/0 Comments/in /by

Head lice are a common problem in schools, but a big problem nonetheless. That’s why, as the new school season begins, it is important to be aware of the different signs and symptoms of head lice. The intense itching that most people experience with lice can take weeks to develop, which leads to the spread of the problem. The sooner lice can be recognized, the sooner they can be treated, and the lower the possibility of spreading the parasite to others. Here are some signs and symptoms that might help you recognize lice before they can spread.

Signs and Symptoms

The most common symptom of headlice is an itchy scalp, caused by an allergic reaction to the saliva of the head lice. What most people don’t know is that not everyone reacts the same to this saliva, and it can be a while before the skin becomes irritated. Over the course of that time, the lice can infest not only your hair but the hair of those around you.

“Dandruff”

As the case of headlice worsens, some of the lice and their eggs will probably make their way out of your hair and onto the surfaces around you. The appearance of these tiny eggs and bugs takes on that of the white flakes we all know and love, dandruff. The eggs, called nits, are small and white, about the size of a pin head. The lice themselves look like grey dots, about 1 to 3 millimeters. It’s pretty obvious why these are easily mistaken for dandruff, but if you look closely you can see that some of them are moving.

Bumps and rash

Scratching too much can cause a bacterial infection, which results in swollen lymph nodes, and crusty oozing sores around the neckline, temples, behind ears, and the crown of the head. If treatment is delayed, a fever can develop as a result of the infection but can be treated with a course of antibiotics. 

A tickly feeling on the scalp

As the lice move around the scalp, it is possible to feel the tiny critters crawling around. It might not feel like much, but it is one of the sure signs that you need to check for lice.

Itching

Sometimes, just the thought of head lice is enough to have you scratching your head, but the itch that is caused by lice is an unmistakable, insatiable itch that continues no matter how much or hard you scratch. 

If you are experiencing any of these symptoms, it is imperative that you do not wait to investigate the issue, and the only way to guarantee a lice-free scalp is through professional treatment. Fresh Heads, professional lice treatment center in Jacksonville Florida, Orlando, FL, and Savannah, GA, offers a chemical-free lice removal service, and they are dedicated to stopping lice in their tracks. If you are worried about lice this school season, more information can be found on the Fresh Heads website.

Schools Without Lice.

Schools Without Lice

At Fresh Heads Lice Removal, our mission is to get rid of lice in schools across the United States. We’ve partnered with the Lice Clinics of America to create the Schools Without Lice program. Through this program, we provide school nurses and teachers with free screenings, resources, and treatments. Together, we can have schools without lice!

These boys are happy now that they no longer show any signs of lice.

How to Tell If You Have Lice: 3 Signs to Watch Out For

/0 Comments/in /by

As a parent, you need to protect your growing child from the many dangers in their environment. This includes preparing them for social activities, such as going to school or playing sports, to more practical safety measures, such as knowing about their allergies. Dangers that can happen to your child include injuries during sports, allergic reactions towards food, and even lice infestations.

Preventing Lice Infestations Before It’s Too Late

Lice infestations are transferred through head-to-head contact and while that might make it seem like the chances of spread are low, anyone who has had lice knows how easy it can spread. Removing lice from your child can take hours, especially if they have thick or long hair. This is why you need to spot the signs of a lice infestation before they can become too problematic to handle.

In this article, we will share three warning signs that your child may have a lice infestation:

1. Their Head is Always Itchy

One of the most typical symptoms of lice infestations is having an itchy scalp, which is itchiness caused by the body’s allergic reaction against louse saliva. The danger of experiencing an itchy head is that the body’s allergic response to the lice may not be present for as long as two to six weeks until lice have started nesting in a person’s head.

An itchy head alone isn’t a surefire reason that you have head lice since it can also be caused by increased production of dandruff and skin irritation from eczema. Nevertheless, you need to be extra cautious about other symptoms to make sure that you can protect your child from a potential infestation.

2. They Start to Feel Crawling Bugs on Their Scalp

A recurring feeling in having a lice infestation is the feeling of crawling bugs along your scalp. You should ask your child if their head’s itchiness is also related to this symptom. If you’re not too sure about their responses, you should know how to identify lice by yourself or get a professional head lice check.

Louse appears similar to small light-brown sesame seeds that can crawl on people’s hair, skin, or clothing. If you happen to see an adult louse on your child’s head, then there’s a high chance that several lice are nesting on their head, together with their eggs.

Lice eggs, also known as nits, can be confused for dandruff but they won’t move when touched. You will need to use a special comb to remove these pesky eggs since they’re hard to remove from a hair shaft. Keep in mind that eggs found less than .25 inches down the hair shaft may have already hatched, which makes it harder to remove them.

3. They Experience Sleeping Difficulties

Lice infestations can cause your child to have difficulty sleeping because lice are most active in dark environments. This leads them to have sleepless nights, which can also lead to them being cranky in the morning.

If your child is infested with lice, their constant scratching can cause noticeable sores in their head. You should inspect these sores as they can be infected with bacteria on your child’s skin and be further aggravated by the lice’s saliva.

Prevent the Spread of Lice

Dealing with lice is no simple matter since they can lay six eggs per day, making your efforts at removing them at the end of the day pointless. This is why you should contact professionals to make sure that your child’s head is completely clean from lice and nits.

Head Lice Treatment in Jacksonville, Orlando and Savannah

Fresh Heads Lice Removal is a head lice treatment center that offers professional head lice treatment in Jacksonville, FL, Orlando, FL, and Savannah, GA. Get in touch with us today to inquire about our AirAllé® treatment, which can solve your lice troubles in just 30 minutes! We make sure that your worries with lice are handled with expert care!

Schools Without Lice.

Schools Without Lice

Our mission at Fresh Heads Lice Removal is to eradicate lice from schools across the United States. So, we’ve partnered with the Lice Clinics of America to create a program called Schools Without Lice. Through our program, we provide school nurses and teachers with free head lice screenings, resources, and treatments. Together, it’s possible to have schools without lice!

Lice and dandruff can look very similar in this woman's hair.

Lice vs Dandruff: Differences in Symptoms and Treatment

/0 Comments/in /by

When someone experiences an intense head itch, we often associate it with these two situations: they have lice or dandruff. Both are irritating conditions that can be treated, but they are not the same. The only similarity between lice and dandruff is that they are conditions that happen on a human scalp that gives an itchy and uncomfortable feeling. Other than that, their causes and treatments are different in many ways. Let us talk about the two conditions in detail.

Lice vs Dandruff: How the Two Differ

Lice are parasites. They are alive, six-legged parasites that come in three forms. First, they are seen as eggs. These are the tiny white specks with a tail that hold onto human hair. When they hatch, they turn into nymphs. These are tan-colored insects in a tiny size that runs around one’s scalp. When they become adult lice, they get as big as a sesame seed. Lice rely on human blood to stay alive, and when their saliva touches a human scalp, it causes itchiness.

Dandruff, on the other hand, are not insects. It is a scalp condition, also called seborrheic dermatitis. It often leaves your skin or scalp dry, flaky, and itchy. It is a non-contagious and non-inflammatory skin condition that usually affects adolescents and older adults. Babies can also experience a flaky scalp, which is called cradle cap.

Dandruff and Head Lice Infection: The Cause

The main difference between dandruff and head lice infection lies in the way they appear on one’s scalp.

You do not simply get lice. It is caused by head to head contact, from an infected person to another. If you have a family member who has lice, it is easier for you to get them as well. Close interaction is necessary before you get infected by lice.

On the other hand, you can never catch dandruff from anyone else. However, if your family is prone to dandruff, there is a higher chance that you will also suffer from the same scalp condition.

Dandruff and Head Lice Treatment

While shampoos exist for both conditions, shampoo for dandruff can be effective, while OTC shampoo for head lice is not. Lice is best treated professionally.

• On Dandruff

There are special shampoos dedicated to treating dandruff. These shampoos have the following ingredients: coal tar, salicylic acid, ketoconazole, or selenium sulfide. They help slow down the skin-shedding process and treat the fungal infections that cause the skin-shedding.

• On Lice

OTC head lice shampoos contain harsh chemical pesticides such as permethrin and pyrethrin. The shampoo companies recommend using the product repeatedly, at intervals of around seven to ten days, to get rid of the infestation. Unfortunately, this puts your child through repeated exposures to harsh chemicals. In addition, most species of lice prevalent today are super lice, which OTC shampoos are ineffective at killing.

The Prevention

Since they are two very different conditions, prevention for dandruff and head lice is very different too.

• On Dandruff

Using the right shampoo for your scalp can prevent your condition from worsening. Avoiding chemicals like hair dyes or hair sprays can also help. Regular brushing of hair and massaging it instead of scratching are few ways to improve your condition.

• On Lice

Lice has nothing to do with hygiene. Anyone with human blood can be infested with lice. The best way to prevent being infected with it is to avoid close head to head contact with someone who has lice. Using lice prevention products can also help.

Diagnose and Treat Early

Lice and dandruff are two conditions that you would not want your children to get. They cause inconvenience and irritation. Although they cannot always be prevented from happening, there is a solution to improve or get rid of both of these conditions. You just need to be aware of what is happening on your child’s scalp and make sure to attend to them as soon as you can.

Head Lice Treatment in Jacksonville, Orlando, and Savannah

For head lice treatment in Jacksonville, Orlando, FL, and Savannah, GA, turn to Fresh Heads Lice Removal! Our lice removal clinics offer different treatments and protection plans, depending on your child’s needs. Book an appointment with us today!

Schools Without Lice.

Schools Without Lice

At Fresh Heads Lice Removal, our mission is to eradicate lice from schools across the country. To accomplish that mission, we’ve partnered with the Lice Clinics of America to create a program called Schools Without Lice. Through this program, we can provide teachers and nurses with free head lice screenings, resources, and treatments. Together, we can have schools without lice!

Two girls sitting on a bed playing with a stuffed toy.

How Is Head Lice Spread and Is It Contagious?

/0 Comments/in /by

When you’re holding a notice from your child’s school informing a recent lice outbreak, it’s easy to panic at the thought that your kids may be infected with the pesky critters. However, you don’t need to keep the children home from school just yet.

If you’re dealing with a lice outbreak and want to keep you and your child’s head safe from lice infestations, learning how to identify lice and how it spreads can save you from head-scratching moments.

Are Lice Contagious?

Head lice can be contagious, but not in a way you would think. When people say the word ‘contagious,’ it’s easy to imagine how viruses or diseases spread from one host to the next using airborne methods. Lice, on the other hand, will only invade your hair if you come in direct head-to-head contact with a person who has lice.

Even if lice fall off hair strands, keep in mind that it cannot survive for more than 24 hours off the human scalp. It also cannot jump, and its only way of travel is through crawling, which means that you won’t automatically get head lice just by sitting next to someone who is harboring one.

This means that the only way to spread head lice is if you or your children come into personal contact with the infected person’s head.

How to Spots the Tell-Tale Signs of Lice Invasion on Your Kid’s Head

If you’re afraid that your child has come into close contact with someone who has head lice, it’s best to look closer at their head for any signs of unwanted life crawling out and about. The most obvious symptom is when your children start to itch, especially in areas like the neck, hairlines, and behind ears.

However, itching doesn’t necessarily start in the earlier stages. If you want to get a head start before the infestation becomes too much to handle, watch out for the following warning signs of head lice:

  • Direct light on their head. Lice hate the light, so they will start to move away quickly. Adult lice look like small, sesame seeds with a 1/16 inch long body and reddish-brown color. Nits, on the other hand, are whitish eggs that are firmly attached to individual hair strands.
  • Even if you only see nits, consider seeking professional lice removal treatment as it is a red flag of a start of a head lice infestation.

Removing Head Lice Once and For All

If you or your children get infected with head lice, there are options to get rid of the pesky insects. However, you should avoid home remedies and over-the-counter shampoos as they are ineffective, which increases the risk of infecting other people, especially other children living within the same household.

Professional lice removal offers a quick solution that can eliminate the lice living in your kid’s locks for good. Just to be safe, it’s best to clean your home, sanitize brushes, and change your children’s sheets to ensure any lice are eradicated before they become an issue.

We’re a professional lice removal service in Jacksonville and Orlando, FL, and Savannah, GA. Book your appointment today!

Schools Without Lice.

Schools Without Lice

Our goal at Fresh Heads Lice Removal is to eradicate lice from schools across the country. That’s why we’ve partnered with the Lice Clinics of America to create a program called Schools Without Lice. This program gives teachers and nurses free screenings, resources, and treatments. Together, we can have schools without lice!

Eggs hatch into nymphs after 7-10 days, another 10 days after that, those nymphs have grown into adults.

How to Calculate How Long You Have Had Lice

/0 Comments/in /by

The news has broken, and your kid has lice. We know the drill. Panic immediately sets in while a million questions run through your head at the same time. You’re thinking how long could you’ve had lice? How did this happen? How do I get rid of lice and fast ? We’re tackling the first question among many—how to calculate how long you have head lice.

Lice Life Cycle

To be able to calculate how long you’ve had lice, we’ll need to understand the lice life cycle.

  • Once the lice have spread to the person’s head, the female louse will start to lay their nits or eggs; an infestation has begun.
  • The first nymphs, or baby lice, will appear 7-10 days later.
  • Nymphs will continue to eat and grow over the next 7-10 days.
  • Before becoming adults, nymphs will molt their exoskeleton three times in order to mate. You can think of this as the louse teenager stage, based on the various molting phases the louse might be.
  • During the third and final molt, the gender is determined based on what is needed for a growing colony and are now officially adults.
  • Once genders are determined, the females will mate, and the life cycle begins again.

It is important to note, after the first successful lice generation, the females mate only one time and lay nits for the remainder of her lifespan. The louse lifespan is usually between 30-33 days, and females can lay up to 10 nits (eggs) a day.

Calculating How Long You Have Had Lice

Now that we’ve learned all the fun details on the life of lice let’s get down to the bottom of how long you’ve had lice. Lice infestation is typically noticed in 30 days after the nymphs have become adults and begin to mate. Female lice are larger than male lice, which means they can be easier to spot in someone’s hair. When you examine the scalp of a person with lice, you will be able to see lice at the various stages in their life: nits, casings (shell after hatching), nymphs, teens, and the adults. By understanding the life cycle of lice, if there are more nits than adults on the head, we can assume you’ve had lice for longer than 30 days. This means there has been longer than one louse life cycle on the head because the adult lice were able to lay and hatch their nits.

Nit on a Strand of Hair

Nit on a strand of hair.

Hatched Louse Casing

Hatched louse casing.

Nits and Lice in Hair

Lice and nits in hair.

 

For a more technical calculation of how long you’ve had lice, we can measure how far from the scalp the eggs (nits) are. Female lice lay their eggs as close to the scalp as possible, and hair grows about 1 cm per month. For example, if you find nits in your hair and they are measured 2 cm from the scalp, we can calculate you’ve had lice for two months.

Head Lice Treatment in Jacksonville, Orlando, and Savannah

It’s time to cut the lice life cycle short and get rid of them once and for all. Picking the nits, casings, and louse out of the hair yourself will be time-consuming, back-breaking, and eye-straining. It can be easy to miss those one or two nits, and you’ll be left with a breakout yet again. Even those over-the-counter lice treatment products are filled with chemicals and toxins not safe for anyone’s yet. Sometimes they don’t even kill the nits. The safest and most effective lice treatment on the market is our AirAllé device here at Fresh Heads Lice Removal. Our revolutionary device uses only warm air to kill all nits and adult lice in under an hour. Schedule your appointment to be lice free today.

 

Schools Without Lice.

Schools Without Lice

Our mission at Fresh Heads Lice Removal is to get rid of lice in schools across the United States. We’ve partnered with Lice Clinics of America to create the Schools Without Lice program that gives teaches and nurses free screenings, resources, and treatments. Together, we can have schools without lice!

Woman checking for lice on her own head.

How to Check for Lice on Your Own Head

/0 Comments/in /by

If one of your children has lice, it’s important to do a head check on yourself, as well as all the other members of your family, in order to detect lice early and prevent a full-blown infestation. Many people feel a bit apprehensive about checking their head for lice for the first time and are a bit unsure of where exactly to start. We’re here to outline some tips for how to check your own head for lice—tips that you can also use when checking other family members.

How to Check Your Own Head for Lice

Checking a child’s head for lice tends to be a little easier than checking your own, since you can lean in for a close look while working. However, the steps for a lice check are the same regardless of whose head you’re checking. In order to check your own head for lice, follow these steps:

  • Work with hair when it’s damp, such as after a bath or shower.
  • Using a detangler will help the comb glide through the hair more easily, especially if you have wavy or thick hair. Apply your detangler of choice and comb it through completely.
  • Now grab your nit remover comb and lay it flat against your head at the root of your hair.
  • Glide the comb all the way from the scalp and roots down to the ends of your hair.
  • For short or medium hair, comb all your hair to the right, then back to the left. Repeat by combing front to back and back to front. For long hair, you’ll part hair down the middle. Place one side in a ponytail while you comb through the loose side. Then switch.
  • Pause about every 5 strokes to wipe the comb onto a white paper towel and inspect it check for nits/lice.

What Exactly Am I Looking For?

A critical part of knowing how to check for lice on your own head is knowing what to look for. When checking for lice, you’re primarily looking for three things: nits, nymphs, and adult lice.

  •  Adult Lice: Adult lice are the easiest to spot. You’ll see small bugs with legs, and they can be dead or alive. They are grayish tan, and are typically the size of sesame seeds.
  • Nymphs: Nymphs are immature lice that have just hatched. They have the same shape as adult head lice, but are much smaller—about the size of a pinhead. Nymphs start out very light gray or tan, but darken as they start feeding and maturing into adults. Nymphs reach maturity 9-12 days after hatching.
  • Nits: Nits are the eggs laid by female lice. They are extremely small (barely visible to the naked eye) and oval-shaped, and at first glance can just appear like grains of dirt or sand. Nits are comprised of a translucent outer casing that houses a baby louse (nymph) inside. They start out clear, and then darken to a light tan as the nymph grows. After the nymph hatches from the egg, the empty casing can appear clear again, or white. Nits will be “glued” to the hair shaft, close to the scalp for warmth, which is why it is important to make sure you position your comb at your scalp so as to not miss them. Note that it is just as important to identify nits as it is to identify live lice, because even if you kill the adult lice, if any nits remain, they’ll hatch after about 8-9 days, and you’ll be re-infested.

Head Lice Clinics in Jacksonville and Orlando, FL, and Savannah, GA

Learning how to check for lice on your own head can be difficult. At Fresh Heads Lice Removal, we are experts at identifying and treating lice. Our professional technicians and experts take a safe, effective and affordable approach to treatment, stopping lice in their tracks using cutting-edge technology. If you are interested in learning more about our lice treatment options, contact us today.

Schools Without Lice.

Schools Without Lice

Our goal at Fresh Heads Lice Removal is to get rid of lice in schools across the United States. That’s why we partnered with the Lice Clinics of America to create the Schools Without Lice program. This program gives nurses and teachers free resources, screenings, and treatments. Together, we can have schools without lice!

Girl scratching her head due to head lice.

Lice: What to Look For

/0 Comments/in /by

You’ve just received information that one of your child’s friends has head lice, and so you frantically grab the nearest flashlight and rat-tail comb and begin to inspect your child’s head. But then you realize that you are unsure what lice look like. Are the brownish dots you see head lice? Is that flakiness just a result of a dry scalp? What about those translucent ovular tubes that you notice on the comb—is it lice or just some sort of scalp debris? For most parents, uncertainty in identifying a lice case adds to the already stressful situation of your child potentially having lice. Below we’ll describe what lice looks like in hair, as well as some commonly found scalp debris.

Adult lice on strands of hair.

Adult Lice

Adult lice are about the size of a sesame seed, and they have six legs and no wings. They are usually brownish with their color ranging from a pale sandy color to yellowy, grey-brown or dark brown.

Lice nit.

Nits

Nits or lice eggs are just as essential to identify as live lice are. This is because even if you identify and kill adult lice if nits remain, they will hatch and “re-infest” your child. Nits have translucent outer casings that house baby lice inside. The nymphs are brown, and so nits will appear brown when placed against a white background. Each nit is round on one side and pointy on the other with a tail-like antenna coming out of the pointy end. Look for something about the size of a sesame seed and close to the scalp rather than farther down the length of the hair. It is possible to identify nits in your child’s hair, but don’t feel bad if you have trouble; they are often difficult to recognize to the untrained eye and often require professional technicians or medical personnel to spot them.

Hair Casts

Hair casts, which are also called pseudo nits, are thin, elongated, and white tubes that are found along the hair. Because most people assume that nits are white, hair casts are often mistaken for nits. If you see these narrow and cylinder-shaped white tubes along your child’s hair shaft, rest assured that they are not lice, but rather a normal hair concretion.

DEC Plugs

DEC Plugs or desquamated epithelial cells occur when oil glands in the scalp become overly active to compensate for the drying effect of chemical treatments. They are white, irregularly shaped pieces of fat, and completely harmless. They are distinguishable from nits because of their white color and their positioning.

Fresh Heads Lice Removal

Understanding the warning signs of lice is essential to avoiding a long-lasting outbreak. When you know what you are looking for, coming in for treatment starts earlier. Fresh Heads Lice Removal wants to keep you, your children, and your family lice-free for the years to come. If you are a resident in Orlando, FL, Jacksonville, FL, or Savannah, GA, contact our offices today.

 

Schools Without Lice.

Schools Without Lice

At Fresh Heads Lice Removal, our goal is to eradicate lice in schools across the country. We have partnered with Lice Clinics of America to create the Schools Without Lice program, which supports our nurses and teachers with free resources, screenings, and treatments. Let’s take another step toward lice-free schools!

What Do Lice Eggs Look Like?

What Do Lice Eggs Look Like?

/0 Comments/in /by

Lice eggs (nits) are often more difficult to identify than live adult lice, and many parents have a hard time finding them in their child’s scalp. Parent’s are often unsure how to identify what they see in their child’s hair, and nits are often confused with dandruff, or even hair casts—leading to unnecessary false lice scares. Because we frequently encounter parents who are unsure what lice eggs look like, we thought it would be helpful to put together a short guide on how to identify lice eggs and distinguish them from other common scalp and hair debris.

What Do Nits Look Like?

Many parents look solely for live adult lice in their child’s hair, but we like to stress the importance of also looking for and identifying nits. Nits are just as important to identify as live lice are because even if you identify and kill adult lice, if nits remain, they will hatch and “re-infest” your child. Nits have translucent outer casings that house baby lice (called nymphs) inside. Many parents think that they are looking for “white lice eggs” in their child’s hair, but nits will appear brown in appearance, not white. This is because the nymphs inside the translucent casing are brown, and so when placed against a white background, the nit will also appear brown. Nits are round on one side and pointy on the other with a tail-like antenna coming out of the pointy end. If you see something that fits this description and is about the size of a sesame seed (maybe smaller), you are likely looking at a nit.

Lice Eggs on Hair Clippings

Lice eggs on hair clippings.

 

Lice egg under magnification.

Lice egg under magnification.

Hair Casts and Dandruff

Hair casts and dandruff are common scalp debris that is often mistaken for nits. The easiest way to distinguish between dandruff and nits is that dandruff easily combs out of the hair, whereas nits don’t comb out. Nits are very difficult to remove from the hair because they secrete a cement-like bonding agent that adheres them to the hair shaft. Also, nits typically remain close to the scalp, whereas dandruff flakes can migrate farther down the length of the hair.

Hair casts (often called “pseudo nits”) are thin, elongated, and white tubes that are found along the hair. Because most people assume that they are supposed to be looking for white lice eggs, hair casts are often mistaken for nits. If you see these narrow and cylinder-shaped white tubes along your child’s hair shaft, rest assured that they are not lice, but rather a normal hair concretion.

Let Our Trained Professionals Look for Lice Eggs

It is possible to identify nits in your child’s hair but recognizing what lice eggs look like can be difficult, and you shouldn’t be upset if you have trouble finding them. Nits are often difficult to recognize to the untrained eye and often require professional technicians or medical personnel to spot them. At Fresh Heads Lice Removal, we pride ourselves on being a lice service that your family can rely on for the safe diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of lice. Our trained technicians can identify eggs or lice at any stage of infestation, and help you get the lice treatment you need. To learn more about our list of services and featured products, contact us at one of our Jacksonville, FL, Orlando, FL, or Savannah, GA locations today!

 

 

Schools Without Lice.

Putting an End to Lice in Schools

Fresh Heads Lice Removal clinics want to keep our children safe in schools across the country, which is why we have partnered with Lice Clinics of America to create the Schools Without Lice program. Our goal is to completely eradicate lice in schools from California to Florida, and everywhere in between. By supporting our educators, we can take another step toward creating schools without lice. Learn more about Schools Without Lice!