Up to 12 million school-aged children get head lice in the US each year. However, anyone can get head lice, not just kids.
Although Head Lice don't cause serious illness, carry disease, or even hurt, they feed on small amounts of blood from the scalp. Execssive head Itching is the most noticable sign.
The main way they spread is from close and extended head-to-head contact. They don't jump, hop, or fly. Sharing combs, brushes, and hats can spread lice, just not as easiliy.
You can't get them from pets, and they can not survive without a human host.
It doesn't matter how dirty, clean, rich or poor you are. Lice don't care!
And having them can feel embarassing and even shameful.
Nits
Nits are the live eggs of the lice. They attach to the hair, do not move, and can be mistaken for dandruff. After they hatch the shell stays on the hair shaft.
Louse
This is just a single insect, the plural is "lice."
Nymph.
The nymph is the baby louse, just smaller. They grow into adults 9-12 days after hatching.
Seat your child in a brightly lit room.
Part their hair.
Use a fine-tooth comb (such as a louse or nit comb)
Look for crawling lice and nits on your child's scalp a section at a time.
Live lice are hard to find. They avoid light and move quickly.
Nits will look like small white or yellow-brown specks and be firmly attached to the hair near the scalp.
Nits can be confused with many other things such as dandruff, dust, and dirt. The way to tell the difference is that nits are firmly attached to hair, while other particles are not.
Never use dangerous products like gasoline or kerosene. Do not use home remedies, such as petroleum jelly, mayonnaise, tub margarine, essential oils or olive oil, because they just don't work. Do not use lindane or any toxic pesticide on children. (Click here for the best products)
Summary
I got lice from my best friend when I was a kid. (Thanks Darren!) But joking aside, It was so embarrasing that the school told everyone I was sick while I was home waiting to be clreared. Luckily, lice don't actually pose a great helth risk, but we still don't need bugs sucking the blood out of our kids, making them scratch like mad - and the social stigma is considerable.