Does the thought of very small bloodsucking bugs making their home in your child's hair make you nauseous? For many of us, the idea of any parasites anywhere near our family makes our skin all crawly and ick. What's interesting is that for the most part, head louse are so common that it wouldn't be a big stretch to say that they are probably represented in almost every school throughout the country.



While head lice have a way of making us feel repulsed and dirty at the same time, they have not been linked as disease carriers. Head lice are more of an annoyance than an actual health danger to us, their human hosts. Still, lice are considered a parasite and very contagious, because they're easily transmitted from one person to the next. This is why schools and day care centers, aggressively deal with any outbreaks when they occur.

Most head lice infestations are caused by the generous nature of our children and teenagers. Because head lice are so easily transmitted, a simple sharing of a hat or other piece of clothing can easily infect another person. How many times have you seen teens swapping hats are playing "keep away" with someone's headgear? Being an opportunistic parasite, this is all it takes to claim another head, as it's personal living quarters. Other ways head lice may transfer to another person include:

1. Sharing of Headbands, Barrettes and Other Hair Adornments

2. Common Use of Hairbrushes Are Combs

3. Trying on Hats at the Store

4. Shared Protective Headgear in Amateur Organized Sport's

5. Hair to Hair Contact. Ie: Hugging Someone and Touching Heads

A visit to any high school girls bathroom and it's not uncommon to see sharing of various hair care tools such as combs and hairbrushes that can easily transmit head lice.

The most common symptom of head lice is an itchy scalp. On close inspection, it's not uncommon to see the small, whitish ant like bugs running throughout your child's hair. This by itself should be enough to make you want to go on the offensive to read your child in your home of his contagious parasite. An infestation will usually have all three stages of louse including nit's which are eggs, nymphs – the pre adult and adult louse.

There are both safe and effective treatments available to end a louse infestation. For additional information on how to effectively treat an infestation of head lice before it grows to infect everyone in your home, visit the link below to get a free report titled "Attacking Head Lice to Win."

While there have been many reported success stories, using common household products such as olive oil hair conditioner, and even mayonnaise in an attempt to suffocate the lice, realize that if even one nit remains, your child's head will quickly become re-infested with yet another generation of head louse.