Head Lice Life Cycle

Head Lice Life Cycle – Why You Need to Know
There is a strong chance that many of us will suffer from head lice at some point during our lives, particularly during childhood, as the problem of head lice infestation is surprisingly common. To understand the best ways to treat the problem, and to recognize head lice symptoms, it is helpful to understand the head lice life cycle, which we shall look at here.
There are three stages in the life cycle, and for simplicities sake we will start with the egg. More commonly known as Nits, head lice eggs are among the most obvious of symptoms, and it is helpful to view some of the many head lice pictures that can be found on the internet in order to recognize both the nit and the lice themselves.
The nit is laid by the adult lice, and is attached to the hair follicles by a very strong adhesive, this making it very difficult to remove at this stage. Nevertheless, one of the recommended head lice home remedies is regular combing with a nit comb, a special device designed to detach the eggs from the hair.
The nit will hatch in a week, and begin the second phase of the cycle as it exists as a nymph for a short time. The nymph is very small – roughly pinhead sized – and difficult to spot, and feeds vigorously for a week before it matures into a fully grown head louse. It is at this point that the creatures are easiest to remove, and they can be seen crawling around on the head on close examination.
This third stage of the life cycle is the most troublesome and problematic if the infestation is left unchecked, for a female louse lives for up to 30 days, and on each of those days can lay as many as eight new eggs. As we now know the cycle, it is simple to understand why the population can expand very rapidly in a short space of time: one adult, for example, can produce over 200 nuts in her lifetime.
The head is not the only place where the lice like to live, as pubic hair is also a preferred place, and pubic lice prevention follows the same basic routines, and displays the same symptoms, as with head lice: intense itching and discomfort, and the sight of creatures crawling around, all point to lice and should be taken as a sign that instant treatment is needed.