How do you catch head lice?

Head lice can’t jump or fly – but they can crawl quite quickly. They spread when the head they’re living on comes into contact with the head of another person. Classrooms and playgrounds are full of opportunities for them to pass from one child to another. Head lice quickly die if they don’t stay close to the scalp. Therefore, it’s very unusual to find live head lice on hats, scarves, pillows, towels, hair brushes or combs. Head lice aren’t caught from the fur of pets – they only live on human heads.

Head lice – up close!

A fully-grown head louse is similar in size to a sesame seed – and can vary in colour from light brown to dark red. Like all insects, head lice have six legs. The legs of head lice end in a hooked claw which they use for clinging to human hair. Head lice feed several times each day by sucking tiny amounts of blood from the scalp. This causes some peoples’ heads to itch. Adult head lice die after about 30 days. However, in that time, a female will lay about five eggs every night, sticking each one to the base of a hair where heat from the head keeps it warm. After around 7 days the eggs hatch and new lice are released. It takes these new lice 2 weeks before they also start laying eggs – numbers then start to rapidly increase. Each louse is always on the lookout for a chance to move heads by crawling on to any new hair it comes into contact with. The empty egg shells are known as a nits. These white blobs stay stuck to the hair for some time – usually around 1 inch away from the scalp.