As I was surfing on the internet yesterday, I stumbled into a site that showed lice pictures. All of a sudden, I remembered a story about my childhood friend, Kate. Kate had head lice when we were kids. I remember how much she hated it. The other kids didn’t want to play with her and her head wouldn’t stop itching. Her mom, Eden, was so confused and felt really helpless because they tried practically everything and nothing worked for her.

Looking at these lice pictures now, I can’t help but be scared at how close I came to getting head lice too. I felt sorry for her and I wished I didn’t have to stay away from her. But my mom insisted that I don’t hang out with Kate while she still had lice. And as I continued browsing through the site, I was surprised to that you could get lice in your pubic hair too! They looked really disgusting and the thought of these pests crawling through my head is enough to make me lose my appetite.

Another thing I learned was that lice infestations can vary from mild to severe. Mild infestations are common among childhood and teenage years. Mild infestations are easy to treat but if left untreated it can worse and become a severe infestation. I saw pictures of a severe infestation and it was too disgusting to look at. I can still remember the image I saw, visible red spots due to constant itching on the nape of the neck. And if you scratch too much, you could cut the skin and cause an infection.

It was so shocking to know how fast these little pests could reproduce.   Lice can lay 15-17 eggs but they can lay eggs twice after one mating session. That’s 34 eggs for just one louse.

And if you think adult lice are disgusting, what until you hear what the lice eggs, or nits, can do. These eggs attach themselves to the hair shafts. They are grey or brown in color when laid and then they turn yellow to white after they hatched. They look like dandruff but the difference is that you can’t wash them off, not matter what shampoo you use.

After 6 – 7 days, these eggs will hatch into little critters known as nymphs. These nymphs are about a millimeter in size, like a small ant but with big stomachs. They feed on blood for 15 – 17 days until they become adults and be for the mating process. Wow! A single pair of female and male lice can turn into an army in a month.

But how do we get lice? Lice are wingless creatures so they can’t actually fly from person to person. They usually spread from either direct or indirect contact. When we say direct contact, this means you came in contact with someone who has head lice like hugging. Indirect contact is would happen when you borrowing things from an infected person, like his cap, comb, or clothes.

There are lots of treatments available for head lice. The first thing that comes to mind when you think of like treatment would be lice shampoos. These shampoos were quite effective before but now head lice have developed a resistance to the medication to these shampoos. So when you use them there’s no assurance you’ll be 100% lice-free.

There are also creams and lotions that can kill both lice and its eggs. But these treatments can sometimes contain hazardous chemicals and can be dangerous if not used correctly. These treatments have been known to cause side effects like scalp damage or allergies in some people.

Now, let’s talk about safe, home remedies. Do you know that a lot of these remedies can be found in your kitchen? Vinegar is very effective against lice and nits because of its main ingredient, acetic acid. Acetic acid can dissolve chitin, the protein that forms the protective exoskeleton of lice and their eggs. Soaking your hair for just 30 minutes is enough to get rid of lice and its eggs. Olive oil is also effective as this would drive away lice from your head because of its smell.

Last but not the least, nit combs! Nit combs are very important in treating lice infestations. Getting rid of lice eggs is very essential as these are the toughest to eradicate and the cause of severe lice infestations. Using nit combs after the desired treatment is very much recommended to make sure head lice don’t come back.

Looking at those pictures of lice on the internet really gave me the creeps. Looking at them made me realize I had to be vigilant so I’ll never catch head lice. No matter how disgusting they are, maybe I should keep lice pictures on my computer. Just to remind me of what I should do to avoid them and what I can do to stop them when I do get infected.