Head lice
What Are Head Lice and Why Do They Keep Coming Back?
Head lice are tiny insects, about the size of a sesame seed. They are grayish-brown, wingless, and live on the scalp, feeding on small amounts of blood.
What makes lice so difficult to eliminate is their life cycle:
- 🥚 Eggs (nits): the female lays 5 to 6 eggs per day, attaching them firmly to the hair shaft near the scalp. They are often mistaken for dandruff but do not fall off when shaken.
- 🐣 Nymphs: after 9 to 10 days, the eggs hatch and small lice, called nymphs, are born.
- 🪳 Adults: within just 9 to 12 days, nymphs grow into adult lice that can reproduce and lay more eggs. An adult louse can live up to 30 days on a person’s head if not removed.
👉 This is why even if you remove some lice, the remaining nits keep the cycle going, causing frustration for families.
At Goodbye to Lice, we understand this problem. That’s why we use a 100% safe, pesticide-free treatment that removes both lice and nits, preventing re-infestations and giving your family peace of mind.
Transmission
Who Can Get Head Lice?
Anyone with hair can get head lice.
Having lice does not mean poor hygiene or living in an unclean environment.
Head lice are spread mainly in these ways:
- 👧👦 Direct head-to-head contact: the most common way, especially among children while playing or at school.
- 🚫 They cannot jump or fly: lice only move by crawling from one hair to another.
- 🧢 Indirect transmission (very rare): it may happen by sharing items like pillowcases, hats, hair accessories, combs, or brushes, but the risk is very low.
👉 This is why lice outbreaks are common in families, schools, and daycares—regardless of cleanliness or personal hygiene.
What are safe options for treating head lice?
Head Lice Treatment: What Parents Should Know
There are many different products and methods available to treat head lice. Most can be purchased over the counter without a prescription.
- ✅ Treat only if live lice are found. Head lice will not go away on their own.
- 🏫 Children should not be sent home or excluded from school or daycare because of head lice.
- 👨👩👧 Check everyone in the household. If one person has lice, it’s likely that others may as well. All family members should be checked on the same day, and anyone with lice should be treated.
At Goodbye to Lice, we make the process simple, safe, and effective—helping families get back to their routines lice-free
Interesting Facts About Head Lice
- 🚫 Lice cannot jump, fly, or hop — they can only crawl from one hair to another.
- ⏳ They survive only 1–2 days off the human head. Without a host, they cannot live long.
- 🐶 Lice do not live on pets — they only affect humans.
- 🥚 Nits found more than ¼ inch from the scalp are usually empty or dead.
These facts help explain why direct head-to-head contact is the most common way lice spread, and why thorough treatment is the only way to break the cycle
What Is a Nit?
A nit is a louse egg.
- 🔸 Shape & Size: Oval-shaped and very small — about the size of a sesame seed.
- 🔸 Color: Usually white, yellowish, or translucent.
- 🔸 Location: They stick firmly to the hair shaft, close to the scalp, which makes them hard to remove with normal washing or brushing.
👉 Because nits are so strongly attached to the hair, they require special combing and treatment to be completely removed.
Do head lice cause illness or spread disease?
No, head lice do not cause illness or spread disease. However, they can be irritating because they cause discomfort and spread easily from person to person.
How do you know you have head lice?
One of the first signs of head lice is an itchy scalp, but it’s possible to have head lice without any symptoms. Most itchy scalps are not from head lice. If your child has an itchy scalp or was exposed to head lice, check their hair right away. Check again once a week for 2 weeks in case you missed them.
What do head lice look like?
Lice have 3 stages – the egg (nit), the nymph and the adult.
- Nits are whitish-grey, tan or yellow ovals, about the size of a grain of sand. They stick to the hair close to the scalp and can look like dandruff. Nits hatch into nymphs in 9 to 10 days.
- Nymphs are baby lice. They look like adult lice but smaller.
- Adult lice are hard to see since they are about the size of a sesame seed. Adult lice can live for up to 30 days on a person’s head, but they die within 2 days away from the scalp.