The Head Louse

There are five hundred different species of sucking lice; one of these is the head louse, as the name suggests the head louse is found on the human head. There are many different types of louse that can live on the human but the head louse is the only louse that lives on the head, in the human hair.

Unlike other lice the head louse is long and thin with six legs close together, most lice are shorter in appearance and have legs further apart due to their terrain.

Like all lice, the female head louse glues her eggs towards the root of the hair using her saliva. The eggs are very small in size; they are normally no bigger than a grain of sand.

The eggs take about seven days to hatch, before the young nymph comes out. Once the nymph has ventured out of its egg it needs to feed, before feeding it is almost transparent. The nymph will feed on the blood of the host by biting the scalp and sucking the blood out of the skin.

The nymph takes 12 days to become and adult, in this time the nymph will go through a lot of changes, including shedding its exoskeleton on numerous occasions.

Once a fully-grown adult the head louse, as it is now called, will now produce fertilized eggs. These eggs, just like the one they grew from will take seven days to hatch and the cycle starts again.

The adult head lice have a life span of about 28 to 30 days in total, so from the moment an egg is laid till the moment the adult head lice dies is a life cycle of less than fifty days.

Head Lice Treatments

All the treatments below are supposed to be good forms of combating infestation; they all need putting in the hair and leaving before combing or rinsing out. There are many other treatments on the market, all possessing to be the best form of removing infestation but these are the main ones available.

-- Olive oil

-- Louse comb

-- Insecticide lotions, creams and shampoos

-- Shaving the head completely

-- Tea tree and peppermint

-- Neema seed oil

-- Alcohol

The History Of The Head Louse

The head louse has been around for over one million years and has evolved many times, with many species dying out over the centuries.

The head louse has been close to humans since the dawn of its existence because of its need to be in human hair. There is a belief that the head louse started out in life infesting our Homo erectus ancestor and it wasn't until 100,000 years ago that they started infesting the Homo sapiens, which is the species of human that lives today.

Each species of louse has been able to adapt greatly over the years and find its own niche area where it has been able to grow, and live a comfortable life. There is no real explanation as to why different louse have ended up with such small living areas like the head louse.