For many who have encountered these insects, the question arises where lice live except for the head. A louse happens, it is on this that its habitat depends. Lice can be:
- Head.
- Clothes (linen).
- Pubic.
All three varieties are very similar to each other, their body shape, color, size and location distinguishes them.
The head louse prefers to live in the hair on the head, the linen louse lives in the underwear and clothes of its owner, the pubic louse lives in the hair growing on the pubis, eyelashes and eyebrows, occasionally in the armpits.
What do pubic lice look like
Insects feed only on human blood, as well as. Therefore, the question of how many lice live without food can be answered, which is no more than 2 days.
Insects, depending on their variety, cause three types of pediculosis:
- Head.
- Clothes.
- Pubic.
- Itching of the skin from bites, depending on the location of the colony of lice.
- Bite marks.
- The presence of nits.
- Hair in general becomes sloppy and untidy.
Who can get infected and how
You can get lice after contact with a sick person., which is typical most often, insects actively breed in places where there is a large crowd of people, that is, in prisons, children's camps and kindergartens, military hospitals.
Pediculosis most often affects children, since it is they who spend a lot of time together, playing and exchanging personal items, for example, hats, combs, hairpins, toys. Lice do not know how to fly, they move by crawling, but this does not prevent them from traveling from one head to another.
This is because the public has been saying for many years that these diseases are characteristic only of the marginalized, but this is not so.
Pediculosis is more common in children
Many people seek to find out the answer to the question of how many lice live on clothes. If this question is about linen lice, then it can be answered in such a way that the insect is able to live on the linen and clothes of its owner for up to 46 days, getting out on his skin in order to drink blood.
Also, many people are interested in the question of how long lice live after treatment, and some, confusing them with bed bugs, think about whether they can live in pillows and bedding.
The structure of the body of these insects is such that they can live and function only on a person, wool and hair of other mammals, their blood is not suitable for lice.
The head louse dies without human blood in two days, its nits can go through a full life cycle and hatch, but they will die almost immediately without food.
linen lice
The pubic louse dies without food in 4-5 hours, and its nits immediately after hatching. Linen louse can live without a human body in its bedding and pillows, provided that it has access to a food source up to 5 times a day.
Having found uninvited guests at themselves or their loved ones, most people seek to immediately carry out the treatment with the help of pharmacy products. These products can kill insects in just one application., the action of many of them is so strong that, for example, it kills all adults in 20-30 minutes, but it is somewhat more difficult to deal with nits, since their shell serves as a powerful defense.
Special aerosols that kill insects instantly and washing linen and clothes at high temperatures are well saved from linen lice.
How can you treat hair and clothes from lice
Numerous shampoos, sprays, ointments, creams and aerosols will help get rid of uninvited guests today. Many of them are excellent at destroying adult insects, but are not able to kill nits, so after using them, you need to use a special comb in order to comb out the nits.
Shampoo your hair the easiest way, for example Nok, Veda. Sprays Nyuda, Para-Plus, Lavinal are also used. Upholstered furniture and bedding should be treated with A-PAR aerosol.
Swimming in a pond can lead to lice infestation
Scientists have also found that insects survive at temperatures from minus 5 to plus 42 degrees, and then die at lower and higher temperatures. These temperatures are quite acceptable for people, and lice can easily be thrown off their heads and clothes at them.
Many people are afraid to use pharmaceutical preparations for lice treatment, believing that they contain a lot of chemicals and prefer to use folk remedies such as hellebore water, vinegar, cranberry juice, tar soap, decoctions of tansy and wormwood. After treatment with these means, lice do not disappear completely, so their single use will not be enough.
The main methods of prevention are personal hygiene, refusal to use other people's personal belongings, namely combs, hairpins, hats.
You should be careful when choosing a hotel or inn, as some unscrupulous hoteliers handle poorly or do not change bed linen and towels after previous guests. The same applies to the choice of hairdressers and beauty salons, it is very important that the tools from a previous client are carefully processed.
In conclusion, it is worth saying that contact with people with obvious signs of illness should be avoided.
In contact with
Knowing what lice are afraid of, you can remove them in almost a few hours, and with a competent approach - in just one time. Usually, the procedure for the destruction of lice on the head or other parts of the body requires repeated use of pediculicides, and its success largely depends on how effective the drug is used.
Frost: how to get rid of lice with low temperatures
Lice are afraid of the cold. However, like most other insects, they can withstand temperatures as low as 0°C and can remain alive for some time even at sub-zero temperatures. Lice die in frost at minus 5 ° C for 20-30 minutes, while a stronger frost kills them almost instantly.
On a note
Similarly, skinny dipping in an ice hole will be ineffective in case of pubic pediculosis. The water temperature, even in the sea, rarely drops below minus 1 ° C, and lice can easily survive such an immersion in icy water. An ordinary person (not a "walrus") can suffer from hypothermia much more than the lice themselves.
It should also be borne in mind that lice are quite resistant to a lack of oxygen and can easily tolerate long-term diving of the host under water.
You can use the fear of cold lice mainly to combat body (linen) lice. They spend most of their time on clothes and only for feeding move to the human body.
To get rid of linen lice, you should take all infected clothes and hang them out for several days in a hard frost. While the lice are dying in the cold, only clean underwear should be worn, which is guaranteed not to be infected. After three or four days, all the lice and nits in the clothes will die.
This is interesting
Lice and cold - rarely found in nature side by side. The optimal temperature for reproduction of all lice living on humans is +31°C, and already at +20°C they cease to multiply, and the development of their eggs (nits) practically stops. However, at this temperature, adult insects remain active and continue to feed. Therefore, generally speaking, “cold” for lice is still quite comfortable temperatures for humans. But in the cold, lice cannot move at all, eat and somehow be active.
“In Koyanov, no one knows about these pesticides of yours. There are two remedies for lice - kerosene and frost. My grandmother also told me that lice are afraid of frost. You just take your linen and hang it outside in the winter for a few days. It froze - changed, and also hung up the removed one. And all business. But this only works. The pubic or head should be poisoned with kerosene ... "
Pavel, Koyanovo
High temperatures
High temperatures are also difficult for lice to tolerate. At +40°C, they stop reproducing, at +45°C, the development of nits stops, and at +50°C, adults die within half an hour.
These substances are used in the composition of most modern shampoos, gels and balms. As a rule, they paralyze the nervous system of lice and lead to their death within a few minutes after applying the product to the hair.
As such toxic components in the composition of pediculicides, mainly various pyrethroids are used - Cypermethrin, Deltamethrin and some of their analogues. They are contained, for example, in lice preparations such as Medifox, NOC, Bubil, etc.
Means based on modern insecticides are very effective against lice and at the same time relatively safe to use - they rarely cause allergies and do not lead to intoxication. They are most often used in the fight against lice in children.
Kerosene
Lice are also afraid of the smell of kerosene, and die when the substance enters the chitinous surface of the body. A half-hour treatment of the head with kerosene allows you to destroy all adult lice and larvae, while a second session a week later ensures the extermination of young larvae that have hatched from surviving nits.
Incorrect use of kerosene can lead to extensive scalp burns and poisoning, especially in children. When working, one should not forget that kerosene is very flammable, and its vapors can ignite from the slightest source of ignition.
Vinegar
In its effect on lice, vinegar is somewhat similar to the effect of kerosene. At the same time, it dissolves the shells of nits much better (more precisely, it softens the adhesive mass with which the nits are attached to the hair).
Lice die from table vinegar (9%) in diluting it in a ratio of one part vinegar to two parts water. When using vinegar, the same safety precautions should be observed as with - undiluted vinegar can cause skin burns!
Cranberry juice
Cranberry juice is another great home remedy for lice and nits. Lice are afraid of it and die when the hair is treated with juice, and nits, when using this remedy, easily peel off from the hair when combing out. This can be used when using cranberry juice with lice combs.
On a note
Lice and nits are generally afraid (relatively speaking) of strong organic acids. For example, among folk recipes for lice, there are products with citric, malic and grape acids.
hellebore water
What lice are definitely not afraid of
And here is what lice are definitely not afraid of:
The lifespan of a louse without a human depends on how long it can survive without food.
The life span of an adult louse is thirty days. It is during this time that the female lays about ninety eggs. After the incubation period (7–10 days), the nits hatch. In the next ten days, it turns into an adult. Then the cycle repeats again.
With regards to nits (lice eggs), in this case the situation is different. Nits, enclosed in a dense shell, can remain alive without a person for 3-4 days and hatch only when favorable conditions for survival appear.
Can lice live in things
All available remedies have been tried in the fight against lice, and the problem of pediculosis reappears. What's the matter?
Blood-sucking insects are able to live and reproduce not only on human hair - this is a fact.
Lice live in textiles, namely:
- clothes;
- bed linen;
- upholstery of sofas, armchairs;
- pillows (and not always feather ones).
Pediculosis pathogens feed only on human blood. Consequently, their habitat is closely intertwined with human skin.
Linen lice can go without food for a longer time. Therefore, they are most often found:
- on clothes, in particular on underwear;
- on upholstered furniture (upholstered sofas and beds are especially susceptible to damage);
- on bed linen (pillows, blankets, mattress).
The body louse lives only on clothes. As soon as a person puts on an infected outfit, small blood-sucking insects immediately begin to bite him.
Is it possible to get lice without contact with a person
The problem of pediculosis is quite common, because many people are concerned about the question, is it possible to get lice without contact with a person?
Find out more where lice come from, how you can get them, on our website.
Why do lice appear on the head.
Lice. Causes and treatment.
- The most popular - shampoos against pediculosis. They differ in the type of active substance, but most of them are safe and can be used in childhood.
- are characterized by higher efficiency, although they are not without certain disadvantages associated with the complexity of use, the aggressiveness of the impact and side effects. Such preparations are more suitable for clothes and bedding infested with lice.
- Lice creams are not as widely represented like shampoos. Although in their principle of action and composition, these two species are similar.
The main factors that can lead lice into a state of stupor include:
- too low and, conversely, too high temperatures;
- processing with the use of chemicals;
- lack of food;
- strong and intense odors.
Of the chemicals that adversely affect lice, the most effective are pyrethroids and cypermethrin, which are present in most anti-lice shampoos and sprays.
Ordinary hair dye containing hydrogen peroxide will also help in the fight against lice., since this component is able to destroy chitin.
Note, if a person infected with pediculosis becomes ill with ARVI with a rise in temperature, then insects move from the skin to the very tip of the hair. This increases the spread of the disease.
The lice larva is protected by a strong shell, which makes it more resistant to temperature extremes. Nits can survive even if the environment around it warms up to 50 degrees. However, she is susceptible to low thermometer readings. At sub-zero temperatures, the larvae stop developing.
At what temperature do lice and nits die
Lice are susceptible to sudden temperature changes. When plus 20 degrees is observed in the environment, their life processes slow down. Lice become lethargic, weakly attached to the hair, their reproduction slows down. The female becomes less fertile. If the thermometer reaches plus 40, she completely stops laying nits.
Influence of cold
Some people, knowing at what temperature the bloodsuckers die, think that to get rid of them it will be enough to walk without a hat in the winter. However, this method does not work. Since lice live on the skin of a person who cannot have a temperature with a minus sign.
Interesting fact. Nits can go without a human body for a week. If comfortable conditions are created for the larva during this time period, then it will calmly turn into an adult and will be ready for reproduction. How lice breed, the rate of development, you will find on our website.
- at minus 5 lice do not breed, do not feed. In nits, development slows down;
- at minus 15 adults die. However, the vital activity of the larvae continues;
- at minus 20 nits die.
Lice have a more acute reaction to high thermometer readings. They have destruction of internal organs, leading to death.
Temperature control methods
Knowing at what temperature lice and their larvae die, it is possible to fight them effectively in specialized ways.
hair dryer
After that, dry with a hairdryer for a long time, bringing the device closer to the skin. The temperature regimes of the hair dryer should be at maximum levels.
To carry out this treatment, a diffuser is put on the hair dryer. This nozzle is included in the standard set. The usual procedure time is 10 minutes. Then a break is needed.
Since home hair dryers are not designed for long-term operation. After that, the thermal effect on the lice is carried out twice more.
Attention! Hairdrying does not kill the lice, but they become lethargic, cannot hold on to the hair, and literally fall out of it. As a result, lice are easily combed out of curls. And they will be weakened within an hour.
Immediately after the procedure, you need to comb out the hair with a special comb. To achieve the desired result, hair dryer treatment should be carried out for at least a week. This is because nits hatch in 7 to 10 days.
iron
Knowing the sensitivity of insects to temperature changes, many people have a natural question, is it possible to kill nits with a hair straightener. This method has found a worthy place for the fight against pediculosis.
To get the maximum effect you need:
- Rinse your hair with shampoo.
- Divide your hair into small sections.
- In order not to harm the curls, you can use heat-protective preparations.
- Processing should start from the back of the head.
- Slowly run the iron along the entire length of the hair, to the very ends.
- Next, comb out with a blood-sucking comb.
Treatment against lice and nits with a hair straightener should not be carried out for more than 2 seconds. Since too long contact can seriously damage the structure of the curls.
Bath
Since insect eggs can do without a person for a long time, they are able to endure extreme heat for a short period.
You can kill lice and nits only in a well-heated bath, where the air temperature reaches plus 80 degrees. Nits retain their vital activity up to plus 60. When taking this procedure, it should be remembered that it is necessary not only to bathe, but also to water the hair with the hottest water possible.
Iron
Using an iron or a steam cleaner is a great alternative to boiling water. This method is used both on linen and on soft toys, furniture, blankets.
Processing should be carried out with the maximum allowable temperatures. When ironing, it is important not only to pay attention to the front side of the product. Linen must be turned inside out, close attention is paid to the seams.
Cold
Only body lice can be destroyed by cold exposure, without harming human health. To cause their death, the product should be hung in the cold for 2 days.
Cold treatment for lice and nits can also be carried out in another way. To do this, things that were in use by the infected should be put in a plastic bag. Place in the freezer for several hours.
Under such conditions, the death of insects occurs within 3-4 hours. Then it remains to eliminate them from the seams, folds. After that, it is recommended to wash clothes, iron them with a hot iron.
Advantages and disadvantages
The temperature effect on lice has undeniable advantages over chemical treatments. First of all it is:
- absolute environmental friendliness;
- complete elimination of pediculosis. Since nits and lice cannot stand high and low temperatures;
- accessibility of the method;
- the possibility of using without prior preparation.
Like any method, temperature influence has a number of disadvantages, which include:
- injury risk. Careless use of high temperatures increases the risk of head burns;
- deterioration of the hair structure. Exposure to high temperatures damages curls;
