The female head louse lays an average of 8 fertilised eggs a day. These eggs take approximately 7 days to hatch into what is called head louse nymphs, it then takes around 10 days for these little creatures to mature and start breeding. Head lice have the ability to breed exponentially.
To brake the breding cycle of head lice it is advised to treat 2 to 3 times per week for up to 6 weeks. Although to drench our children in the chemicals that are currently available so often raises alarm bells for me and many other parents. Most products irritate and burn our children and leave the hair smelling of harsh chemicals. these products can also strip the hair of all the natural oils.
There are so many alternative measures that can be used but our children do not respond well to most of these either, like shaving their heads or cutting their hair extremely short. An old trick I learnt to help prevent infestation is to plate or braid the hair and spray the hair with hair spray, but most hair sprays also contain harmful chemicals. Below is a photo taken by a microscope of head lice infestation that I found on the net. OOh YUK!
