What’s Buggin’ Ya?!

What is Lice?

Head lice are tiny insects that attach themselves to the hair strand. Although they consume the blood from the scalp, they do not attach themselves to the scalp. Lice has three life stages. Stage one they are eggs, after six to nine days they will hatch and move on to the next stage of life. After they hatch they become Nymphs, during this cycle they are immature forms of the louse, and after 9-12 days they will mature. During their final life stage they are Adult Lice, the average life span of adults is three to four weeks. While adults the females will produce a sticky substance that attaches 6-10 eggs a day to the hair strand. Throughout the entire life cycle lice remain wingless. With this being said, lice only spread through direct contact, they do not fly or jump, only crawl. Having lice is not a sign of poor hygiene or an unclean living environment. While a majority of cases affect mostly children, preschool through elementary, it is important to note that lice do not carry bacterial or viral diseases. While they do not carry diseases it is important to treat lice right away!

Symptoms

Spotting the symptoms and then treating these cases can be very simple, first let’s start out by getting to know the symptoms. Lice are very small insects, they are about the size of a strawberry or sesame seed. The color can range, since they adapt to their surroundings, oftentimes they are tan-gray, red-brown, or black. Even though the color can range, they are consistently a teardrop shape. It may be easy to spot these creatures, but they are often mistaken as dandruff, product residue, dead hair tissue, dirt and debris, or other small insects. The most common symptom for lice is itching, this means your body is having an allergic reaction to the louse bites. If you have never had lice before the itching may not occur for 4-6 weeks. While the most common symptom is itching, some cases will have sores on the scalp, neck, and shoulders. Treating lice can be very simple, your very first step should be going to the doctor. Before you start any type of treatment on your child or self. From there follow your provider’s instructions on how to proceed. If you decide to go with an over the counter method, you will want to rid the scalp of lice and eggs. For this you will need a nit comb, you can find these at all MJ Capelli locations. Along these nit combs we have other products that will help repel and treat these insects.

Prevention

It is difficult to prevent yourself from getting lice, but you can take steps to protect yourself against lice. The most important thing you can do is not share personal items such as: hats, combs, brushes, hair accessories, headphones, pillows, and towels. Even if you are not sharing these items it is very important that you keep these items clean. If you know someone that currently has lice avoid direct contact. Lice spreads by crawling, so they will not jump from head to head. While lice is very contagious most schools will allow children with lice to remain in class. With all of this being said if you, your child, or anyone you know has lice always make sure to see a doctor and take the proper steps when treating lice.

Products

At all MJ Capelli locations, we sell Fairy Tales. Fairy Tales is a product line specifically caters to treating and preventing lice. All of these products are natural, safe, and effective.