LICE ARE LOUSY HOLIDAY GUESTS!
The holidays are here!!! This is the time of year when families get together the most. We have had almost two years of social distancing and we are all excited to see our loved ones. We greet each other with hugs, kisses and I’m sure extra squeezes to make up for the missed time together. Grandparents, aunts, uncles, friends, and cousins are going to travel far this year to spend time celebrating with family. Everyone wants to celebrate and be with loved ones. The last thing on everyone’s mind is lice!
People are ready to get back to “normal”. There may be mask-wearing in schools, but kids are back to socializing. They are hanging out together again. They may have to keep a distance at school, but as soon as that bell rings the masks are off and playtime begins. Schools don’t have lice, it’s the kids in the schools that have lice and they are spreading it. During the holidays we will all be sharing food, fun, and festivities. Families want to cook together, play games, and share jigsaw puzzles. Fun is being had by all and no one thinks about lice. It just takes a second for a strand of hair to touch another strand of hair and a louse quickly crawls from one head to the next. Lice chose their next victim by the sense of smell and blood type. These social events are amazing, but beware, they can be the super spreaders of lice.
Now that we are Post-Thanksgiving, people who were itchy before Turkey Day realize they have lice. They are shaking their heads in frustration because lice were the last thing they were thinking about. There was so much excitement to see family, food preparations, and for some travel. Those that did not realize they had lice before Thanksgiving most likely shared a bug or two during the holiday and now the new hosts will spread it to others. Lice were not on people’s minds, so even if kids are itchy, parents think it is just a change in the weather that makes their kids scratch their heads. Really, it was the unwanted guests biting.
Once a bug crawls onto someone’s head it may take only three seconds for a louse to latch on. Just lean into a phone, take a selfie or a quick hug and you can get lice. This is the most common way to get lice. It is more uncommon to get lice from brushes and hats than you think. Lice Lifters often hear from customers they got lice from a hotel, airplane seat, or the movies. We have to inform our clients that it is highly unlikely they got lice from those locations more than likely that they got it from their family/friend circle. The look of shock on their faces is quite humorous. Everyone gets lice!
The louse cannot survive off the head for longer than 2 days and eggs can’t hatch without the warmth of a human head. Lice can’t jump or fly — only crawl. Having lice is not a medical condition, it is more of a nuisance. If untreated the scratching can cause sores and create an infection. The harm is from your fingernails and not the lice.
Families in a panic often run to the nearest drug store and purchase OTC products with pesticides to treat their lice. These products no longer work; lice have grown resistant to pesticides. Frustrated, they turn to the internet and use tea tree oil, tea tree shampoos, Cetaphil, olive oil, coconut oil, mayonnaise, and other ineffective products that don’t eliminate lice. Lice can hold their breath for up to 8 hours. Once the oil heats up to the body’s core temperature the louse can clear its breathing mechanisms and breathe again. Also, these ineffective oils do nothing for the nits. Therefore, the cycle of the lice continues. Often people think they are lice-free after these treatments and a couple of weeks later they find lice again. They think it is a new case, but here at Lice Lifters we inform them it is the same case of lice and unfortunately, the treatments they used did not work. We always suggest to our customers to return the pharmacy products and get their money back.
The Lice business really slowed down in the last 2 years. Social distancing was not good for the lice industry. Lice have been around for millions of years and we knew a pandemic could not eradicate the pesky bugs. Lice Lifters knew once everyone got back together again lice would spread. It may take some time to spread to pre-pandemic levels, but it will. People are starting to socialize and kids are back to in-person learning, the much-scorned head louse has returned. As much as lice are hated, hopefully this is a sign that things are coming back to normal. These bugs depend on human sociability.
A study in Buenos Aires found lice infestations dropped from about 70% to about 44%. The social distancing may have cut down the spread of lice from one family to another, but Lice Lifters saw that the entire household was infested with lice. There were greater infestations among family members.
Customers are in shock when they have lice. They feel like they have been distant for so long and kids are distanced in the classroom. How could they get lice? The National Association of School Nurses agrees: In-school louse transmission is considered rare. Lice Lifters agrees and believes lice spread as soon as other activities resumed — sleepovers, play dates, summer camp, parties, sports, selfies, sharing screens and most importantly family gatherings — the bugs prospered once more. Over 90% of all cases of lice are Head to Head contact.
OH! The unwanted guests, HEAD LICE!
Here are some tips to follow when the family gets together to share a meal and not share anything else:
· Limit head-to-head contact by having the cousins sleep in separate beds.
· Tying hair back into ponytails, buns, and braids makes it difficult for lice to invade.
· Don’t share coats, hats, scarves, earmuffs, and gloves (Off a human host, a louse can live up to 48 hours and can lurk on these items, waiting for a new scalp to feed upon).
· Before gathering with family and during the visit, use Lice Lifters Mint Detangler Spray as a lice deterrent. Lice Lifters also sells Mint Deterrent Shampoo and Conditioner on Amazon, Walmart, and your nearest Lice Lifters Treatment Center.
If you do have unwanted guests this Holiday Season, Lice Lifters Treatment Centers are here to help make it a magical time of year!
One Quick Treatment. Done!
