Lice Salon Expert: Symptoms of Head Lice

Even in a head lice salon, it can be challenging to separate fact from fiction. For example at, no, head lice are not dangerous. However, they are very contagious, and they are annoying. They are also one of the most common reasons why a child will miss school. However, you can rest assured that lice cannot live in an external environment, and a lice infestation is not a sign of poor hygiene. Of course, you are probably wondering about the symptoms of head lice.

Signs of Head Lice

1. An unprovoked “ticklish” feeling on your hair or your scalp.

If your hair or scalp feels “ticklish,” it could be a symptom of something far worse. It could mean that you have head lice that are moving around in your hair. Although head lice are only as small as a sesame seed, they tend to roam around quite often on your hair. Unlike dandruff, the nits and eggs of lice will not fall out of one’s hair as easily.

2. Brown or grey “spots” that appear to be moving around on your scalp.

Another common symptom of head lice would be that they actually can be spotted moving around on an individual’s scalp. This is a common lice symptom because they will always be about the size of sesame seeds, making them not that difficult to spot under a close examination.

3. You have a family member or close friend who has had a recent bout with head lice.

If this is the case, then you need to be extremely careful. It’s a sad fact of life that lice can spread very quickly from person to person. Any head to head contact can cause them to spread. Hugging and other similar activities could be problematic. Take precautions such as thoroughly vacuuming out any upholstered furniture and carpeting. You will have to thoroughly wash any clothing, bedding, or towels that the infected person might have used. Keep any toys or stuffed animals separated and bagged up for a few weeks to “starve out” any possible population and to avoid getting it re-infested.

4. Small red bumps on the scalp, neck, and shoulders.

Because lice will need to feed on human blood every couple hours, you might see the evidence of their presence simply by these small red bumps on your neck, scalp, or shoulders. These bumps might be even more prevalent if nits have been found, simply because they will hatch into nymphs in about a week and they will be as hungry as any other newborn insect would be.

5. Itching

One of the most common symptoms would be the itching on your neck, ears, or scalp. The louse saliva can cause an allergic reaction in many people, and this is how this constant itching can occur. Once itching has started, this is usually bad news since it will often only happen several weeks after infestation. Thus, this means that you already have an established group of lice present on your scalp. In this case, you must take action.

False Positives

Of course, a lice outbreak usually is most commonly associated with children at a school. When you receive that dreaded letter from the school, it can lead to a lot of stressful and conflicting information on the part of you and your child. Because no one wants to be subject to this parasitic insect, once this difficult letter is received, parents and their children not only have to guard against avoiding lice, but they also have to prevent a “false positive” as well. This is a psychosomatic issue where your head immediately starts itching even though you have no trace of lice simply because of the reported case of lice at your child’s school. Even writing about this issue caused my own head to itch! Psychologists call this a “hysteria” phenomenon.

Prevention

However, remember to take a proactive approach if you get this disturbing news. As long as you make sure to take action at the first sign of lice symptoms, you should be able to stop your lice problem for good if you follow all treatment directions.

Learn about: Head Lice Salons

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References

Insider: Signs of Lice

KidsHealth: Head Lice

Quora: Head Lice & Hairdressers

Great Clips: Lice Quick Guide

Washington Post: Psychosomatic Lice