Head Lice Information
HEAD LICE are about 3mm big when fully grown and cannot jump or fly. Their legs have claws which help them cling to and crawl through human hair.
Click here to see some videos of what head lice look like.
Head to head contact with an infested person remains the most widely respected scientific view of how head lice are spread from one host to another. There are conflicting views amongst scientists as to whether lice can spread through sharing pillows, hats or combs.
Life Cycle of a Head Louse
The life cycle of a head louse can be classified in three distinctive stages, egg, nymph and mature lice.
Louse eggs: This is the first stage in the life cycle of a head louse. Louse eggs are usually laid at the base of hairs, about 10mm from the scalp where they hatch after 7-10 days. A female louse can lay as many as five to six eggs each day. The eggs attach to the human hair with a material like super glue which makes it difficult to remove these eggs.
The nymph: Lice eggs usually hatch within 7-10 days. Hatched eggs are called nymphs. They are similar to an adult louse in characteristics but they differ in size. Nymphs are much smaller than a mature louse. Nymphs moult three times before becoming a mature head louse. This process takes 9-12 days.
Mature head lice: An adult head louse is about 3mm long and can lay as many as 50-100 eggs in its lifetime. Head Lice feed on human blood, making humans indispensable to their survival. Head Lice cannot survive for more than 2 days if they fall off their human host.
Nits: The empty egg-shell is called a nit and remains firmly glued to the hair. They are snowy white in colour. They cannot be easily brushed out and can sometimes be confused with dandruff.
