Head lice are small, wingless insects that live in the hair on your head and can be challenging to eradicate. They can only survive in human hair, need to feed from the scalp several times a day and can only survive up to two days off the person's head. Though not dangerous, head lice are a common problem for children between the ages of 3 and 11 and have nothing to do with personal hygiene or cleanliness and do not carry disease.

Head lice can crawl onto your scalp when your head touches the head of someone with head lice and, although rare, they can be transferred through a hair brush or hat.

Lice eggs are called nits and are about the size of a small flake of dandruff, but cannot be easily shaken off or brushed out. Lice lay their nits on hair shafts close to the scalp and rely on the warmth of the head to hatch. Nits hatch within one to two weeks of being laid and once attached, the shell looks white or clear and stays firmly attached to the hair shaft. If lice are not treated, this process repeats itself about every 3 weeks.

The most effective way to manage head lice is to check regularly (each day), treat when required and tell the school.  If you find headlice on your children, you must treat them - either using conditioner and comb or a chemical wash (and remove the dead nits and dead lice).  It takes just one family to not check - treat - report for head lice to become a problem.  

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