Facts of Lice - What you always wanted to know (and more) about HEAD LICE, by a real-life professional lice eradicator (such jobs do exist)!

Facts of Lice - What you have always wanted to know (and more) about HEAD LICE, written by a professional lice eradicator. Yes, such jobs do indeed exist.

-- Let me preface first by saying millions of folks before you have mistakenly believed what was on the internet and subsequently covered, heated, poured, blown, shouted, cried, sprayed, burned and vacuumed all in the name of head lice. Trust me. Stay off the internet (besides reading this article of course) and do not call Aunt Betty who has 12 homemade head lice concoctions. You get my point... You will waste tons of time and cause yourself to itch (more than you already do)- and psychosomatic itching is not good for anyone, especially those around you.

-- Vocabulary lesson: ‘Louse’ is singular for lice (as in mouse and mice). ‘Nits’ are the eggs. The eggs are what are glued to hair shaft by the mommy louse. That glue is impenetrable. That is why the above mentioned never works. ‘Nymphs’ are baby lice, freshly hatched. How cute! In about 7 days they turn into adults and the boys find the girls and….

-- Once a female louse mates once, she is pregnant for life. Seriously?? She lays up to 10 eggs per day and her life span is 30-ish days. So you do the math...

-- Lice don’t jump or fly or hop; they crawl from one person to another - there is a very cool claw they have that is specifically intended for hair. Picture attached

-- Head Lice do not care if you live in a tent or in a mansion. Nor do they care if you shower 4 times a day or 4 times a month. Your socioeconomic status and your cleanliness (or lack there of) do not matter to these critters.

-- Latin Lesson: ‘Pediculus humanus capitis’ is Latin for head lice. Who knew?!

-- Fido and kitty are fine. These critters are human parasites. Head lice may be on your head, your child’s head, your noisy neighbor’s head, your annoying mother-in-law’s head or your spouse’s head, but it won’t affect your pets. They have fleas to deal with! That is plenty.

-- No itching does not equate to no lice. Sorry. Only 50% of people actually itch. Everyone in house needs to get checked even if you are in utter denial because nothing itches.

-- There are three types of lice: 1) head 2) body and 3) ‘down there’ or pubic. And Lice Happens ONLY deals with head lice. So do not bother asking for a lice check in other places! Yes, this has been a request.

-- Head lice are mainly spread from head-to-head contact, but at times are spread from sharing brushes, hats or bedding. After a good cleaning, just put all those in a ziploc and place them in freezer over night. Easy.

-- Your nice furniture does not need to be thrown out or taken to Goodwill or put in the garage covered in plastic. Lice do not penetrate furniture or bedding like bed bugs do. That is a whole other booming bug industry!

-- Lice do not and nits and Nymphs cannot live off human head. So the whole world of advice about quarantining your household is a myth. Stop. No unnecessary housework is needed. Really.

-- There are no (I repeat N.O.!) shortcuts to removing lice. None. We promise. The only way to remove lice is the long, hard, manual way. The phrase ‘nit picking’ originated from this process. And 100% (not 99%) of the adults and eggs have to be removed. If you leave just one egg behind… Plus have you seen what a lice egg looks like with an untrained naked eye?? Nothing! Because you cannot see them.

-- Head lice do not cause serious health problems. Not to worry. You may get a rash on your head, but that is it.

-- Take a deep breath. It’s just lice and lice just happens sometimes.

Tracey Fudge, Owner Lice Happens, mother of two children (i.e. real life experience) , and damn good lice eradicated!  #LiceHappensAtlanta

24/7 Lice Line: 770-776-7913 or email at tracey@licehappens.com