About Headlice
When you are dealing with head lice it can help if you understand how they operate. Head lice are wingless insects that live on the scalp holding on to the hair. They are greyish in colour but turn darker after feeding from the blood in the scalp. Head lice are 2 to 3 mm in size: the male is smaller than the female. Lice live close to the scalp where they feed on blood and this bite can cause itching.
They especially love warm spots: behind the ears or around the neck. Adult lice can live for as long as a month with females laying up to 5-6 eggs a day (about 150 eggs in a lifetime). These eggs hatch after about 7 days and around 9 days later they are mature and the females can lay eggs. Baby lice take 10 days to mature and only after that are they able to reproduce.
Nits (lice eggs) are the empty egg cases left on the hair after the lice have hatched and are pale in colour. Lice spread when heads come into contact so sleepovers, after-school activities, playing with friends and visiting family are often the most common places for children to pick them up and pass them on. A louse cannot remain viable away from the head for more than about 12-14 hours.
Head lice, Once a Week Take a Peek
Checking your child’s hair only takes a few minutes and can easily become a routine, just like brushing their teeth or combing their hair.
Step 1 Use a comb made for the purpose, ideally white so the lice can be seen easily and with teeth no more than 0.3mm apart in order to trap head lice.
Step 2 Comb through the hair using a conditioner, which can help make the process more comfortable
Step 3 Ensure the lighting in the room is good. Make sure you divide the child’s hair into sections and insert the comb at the roots before gliding outwards.
Step 4 You are looking for a living, moving louse. They range in size from a full stop to a sesame seed depending on their age. When it first hatches, a young louse (known as a nymph) is transparent but after its first blood meal, it will darken to a greyish brown colour. Head lice live on, or very close to, the scalp and don’t wander far along the hair shaft unless encouraged to move to a new head.
Treating Headlice
Step 1 Choose the right treatment. It’s worth noting that treatment should only be applied if a living louse has been found, never just in case.
Step 2 Apply the treatment in the correct way. Follow the on-pack instructions carefully, ensuring the full length of hair is coated and leaving it on for the recommended amount of time.
Head lice cannot build up resistance against Hedrin products. Hedrin products have a physical mode of action, and, instead of poisoning the louse, they work by coating it and disrupting its ability to manage water causing it to die. Hedrin is a non-pesticide treatment. This means lice are unlikely to develop resistance.
Preventing Headlice
You’ve finished the treatment, now make sure your child is protected from future infestations.
If there is no sign of head lice or nits but you still think your child may be at risk of infection, following an outbreak warning from the school or with a sleep-over approaching, there are steps you can take to protect your child.
Using a clinically proven protection product, such as Hedrin Protect & Go (containing Activdiol 1%), twice a week, can protect you and your family from future head lice infections.
Buy Headrin online
Buy now on the PPRX online store
https://www.pprx.co.uk/?s=hedrin
