What are these things anyway?

Before you can learn how to remove lice, you need to know what lice are. A louse is a little bug that feeds off of your blood. Think of him as a tiny mosquito that you cannot see and that is limited because he can’t fly or jump. Once he gets to a head, he’s stuck there unless the infested head touches another and he makes a run for it.

What do they eat?

Blood. Believe it or not, they actually prefer to stick to the same blood type they started with. So unless the head that gets close to their home head is the same blood type, they’d prefer to stay put.

Who gets lice?

Anyone with hair can get lice.

  • Every year in the US, 6 to 12 million people get lice. That’s a lot of lice.
  • Children ages 3 to 11 years of age are most commonly afflicted with lice, likely because they have more head-to-head contact than older children.
  • While lice actually prefer clean hair, they don’t discriminate. Everyone, regardless of hygienic state, can get lice.

How do they reproduce?

They lay eggs. Papa louse and his harem of six or seven mama lice take residence on their new head of hair. Each mama louse lays 6 to 8 eggs a day. Eggs hatch 7 to 10 days after being laid and are fully mature 14 to 24 days after being laid.

How do we know we have lice?

  • Half of all people who get lice never itch.
  • The only way you know for sure that lice are present is by wet-combing with a WelComb®.

What’s a nit?

Nits are eggs and empty egg shells. They are tiny grey or white teardrop shaped objects glued to the hair shaft. They are usually found in clusters above the ears, at the nape of the neck or at the crown of the head. You may see a nit before you see a louse.

How do I prevent lice?

The only sure-fire way to prevent the spread of lice is to not touch heads/hair with someone who has lice. That’s it. Preventative combing detects lice early, allowing for physical removal of nits before they hatch.

What’s the best way to remove lice?

If you’re wondering how to remove lice, all you need to do is purchase a WelComb® Lice and Nit Removal Comb! You can purchase the WelComb® on Amazon or you can buy the Dollar General Lice and Nit Removal Kit from your local Dollar General. Once you have your WelComb, simply follow our lice removal steps. We know that physical removal is the only way to kill nits. Contrary to popular belief, there is no shampoo, conditioner or other treatment that will kill nits. That’s why it’s all about the comb!

If only manual removal kills nits, how do modern pesticide-based lice treatments work?

Short answer: they don’t! Pesticide-based treatments work by supposedly killing all the existing lice on the head, but they leave behind the nits (eggs). They require additional treatments to kill all the newly hatched lice a few days later. And then additional treatments a few days after that. And so on!

We now know that many lice are resistant to the common pesticides on the market, so the effectiveness of the treatment to kill lice to begin with is not guaranteed. Also, pesticide-based treatments require you to apply pesticides directly on a child’s head (multiple times!). Who feels comfortable exposing their children to pesticides? We certainly don’t!

I found a treatment that says it kills lice and nits and is pesticide free. Will it work?

If it kills pests, it’s a pesticide. That’s what the word “pesticide” means! Sadly, the bottle is lying if it claims to both “kill lice and nits” and is “pesticide free”. It’s likely that the company marketing the product is playing a semantics game.

Lice infestations seem scary, and pharmaceutical companies try to capitalize on that fear. We can assure you that lice are not that scary! They cannot jump, fly, or carry diseases. With a WelComb®, a lice infestation can be eliminated in an hour or two. No pesticides required!

Can the pesticides used in head lice treatments harm my children?

Maybe. A recent study in Occupational & Environmental Medicine discovered a correlation between the use of lice treatments that contain pesticides and abnormal behavior in children. Children with the presence of certain pyrethroids (synthetic chemicals often used in head lice treatments) in their systems displayed more abnormal behavior than children who did not. While the study shows a correlation and not cause, why take the risk? You don’t need pyrethroids to kill lice. All you need is the WelComb®.

How can I learn more?

Now you know more about how to remove lice. But if you’re getting as nerdy as us about lice combs and simply must know more, check out this amazing article about the history of lice combs. Yes. There is an article about it. Seriously.