Do Lice Like Dirty Hair Or Clean Hair

A: No, head lice similar both make clean and muddied hair.

Published 11/06/2008

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In that location are few things are more annoying and hard to get rid of than head lice, they are universally reviled (ever heard anyone say a nice matter near head lice) despite the medical view that they are little more than a nuisance.

Despite the irritation and frustration that accompany a head lice infestation, many of us have some comfort in the knowledge that lice but like to nest in make clean hair. But do they?

Professor Rick Speare has spent many years researching these pesky piffling critters and he says there's no evidence to support the theory that head lice prefer to alive in clean hair, nor is at that place research to propose lice prefer dirty hair.

"The underlying message, which is supported past show, is that caput lice occur in hair clean or dirty," Speare says.

While this comes as no surprise, there are some other interesting facts virtually head lice that researchers have constitute:

caput lice are more mutual in long pilus
infestations are two to four times more common in girls
head lice spread through head-head contact – explaining why they spread through childcare centres, schools and families
caput lice don't always brand your head itchy – so y'all need to look closely to find them
head lice tin't survive for likewise long off the head – focus treatment on the hair not the firm.

Speare says new research has found i of the biggest problems with head lice is that people either don't know how to care for them properly or aren't satisfied with the treatment options bachelor.

"People desire to motion on from a treatment method that is more than than nine,000 years sometime (nit comb and chemical practical to hair) to something that suits their modern lifestyle. The problem is what they want is possibly non widely available."

There are a number of reasons head lice are difficult to treat:

lice can be resistant to many of the insecticides designed to kill them
no unmarried product kills the lice and their eggs at ane fourth dimension
people don't like using toxic chemicals in their hair (specially their children'south hair)
you need to spend time combing hair with a fine tooth comb to remove the lice and eggs – this needs to be done on several occasions and can be time consuming.

There's no silver bullet for head lice whether information technology exist keeping your hair clean, not washing your pilus or zapping head lice with a product, only applying conditioner to stun the suckers while y'all rummage them out is a good place to start.

For more information, read Professor Speare's fact sheet on how to treat head lice.

Rick Speare is a professor with the Schoolhouse of Public Health, Tropical Medicine and Rehabilitation Sciences at James Cook University in Townsville. He was interviewed by Claudine Ryan.