Here’s some more info. on exactly how these pesky bugs live out their lives. The Life Cycle picture below comes from the Department of Health’s CDC unit, which is a great resource for all kinds of health issues. Big shout out to the CDC!

The Life Cycle of a Head Louse

You can see that the life cycle of the head louse has three stages: egg, nymph, and adult. Here’s what the CDC says about the head louse wheel of life:

Eggs: Nits are head lice eggs.  They are hard to see and are often confused for dandruff or hair spray droplets.  Nits may be found at the base of the hair shaft nearest the scalp .  They are 0.8 mm by 0.3 mm, oval and usually yellow to white.  Nits take about 1 week to hatch (range 6 to 9 days).

Nymphs:The egg hatches to release a nymph .  The nit shell then becomes a more visible dull yellow and remains attached to the hair shaft.  The nymph looks like an adult head louse, but is about the size of a pinhead.  Nymphs mature after three molts (, ) and become adults about 7 days after hatching.

Adults: The adult louse is about the size of a sesame seed, has 6 legs (each with claws, yikes), and is tan to grayish-white .  In persons with dark hair, the adult louse will appear darker.  The females can lay up to 8 nits per day.  Adult lice can live up to 30 days on a person’s head.  To live, adult lice need to feed on blood several times daily. Without blood meals, the louse will die within 1 to 2 days off the human host.

If you suspect someone in your family has head lice, it’s important to act quickly so that those pesky lice don’t spread! Come into a kid friendly Hair Fairies salon, or just call us up, and we’ll be more than happy to help out

In some parts of the country, Superlice have built up a resistance to many available head lice treatments. As Nightline explains, the problem is that highly toxic treatments have been over used, and the lice have now built up an immunity. Just like over the years, many other bugs have become resistant to antibiotics.

Hair Fairies was invited on the show, as we offer an alternative way to treat head lice, a treatment that is all natural, and one that those pesky nits don’t build up a resistance too.

Eric sees her holding a disc and he asks “did you bring your own movie along?”
She shakes her head no, and holds it out for us to see. It’s the Essential Michael Jackson Collection!! We all start laughing and ask if she wants us to put it in so she can listen to it. Jammin out to the King of Pop! Awesome!

The moral of the story? Head lice don’t have to take the fun out of your family’s life. Just grab your kid’s favorite music and come on down to Hair Fairies. We’ll provide a safe solution to the head lice and a cd player for the music

Jenn, our super smart NYC manager suddenly remembered way back from her training in LA, almost 4 years ago, that the Spanish word for head lice is piojos! She used the word and the housekeeper understood right away

For all your Spanish language needs with los piojos, you could also check out our Spanish language tutorial video.  The videos explain how you can get rid of head lice, without even coming into a salon, and it’s free!

So we decided to do something about that: we made a free tutorial Video to show how to deal with head lice using safe, natural and non-toxic products. Something to help out and spread the love, not the head lice!  

Today in our New York salon, we found an awesome message on our voice mail thanking us for the video. The woman was an ex-hairdresser from CT who had never seen head lice before and lived too far away to make it into NYC. She said it was very educational and informative. :)  We think that’s a great way to go into the weekend!

If you think you have a head lice problem, or just want to learn more, the Hair Fairies video is free and you can find it here:

Head Lice Tutorial in English

Head Lice Tutorial in Spanish

As they were talking, the dad notices our folder on the pharmacy counter, and he says “oh can I have this please?” having noticed our ad previously at his child’s school. The pharmacist says “no, that’s ours… “  Dad’s disappointed for a second, until the pharmacist continues with a smile, “but you can have this one!” and he hands him one of our Hair Fairies brochures from a big stack!

Dad pulls our address off the brochure and shows up shortly after with his daughter at our salon.  We help them out.  A New York City story with a happy ending!  Oh and a great big shout out to Duane Reade!

A head lice infestation can be a traumatic experience for the family. If you’re a mom who’s been combing the kids’ hair for weeks, with mayo nightmare oil goo, and washing 100s of sheets, you’ll know this. The Hair Fairies blog is a place where you can find some psychological therapy to wash away your pain. Go ahead and tell us your battle stories! Express, vent, share, let it all out! We’d love to hear about your experiences, and we’ll be happy to offer you advice and bring back those smiles. Hair Fairies only ever uses safe, natural and non toxic products, and we never use mayo.

Of course, the Hair Fairies salons are always buzzing with kids and families, so we have tons of cute stories that we’re going to share with you too. Like the 4 year old Chicago girl who had so much fun in the Hair Fairies salon, that she asked her mom if she could have her birthday party right there. Or in the LA salon when 2 separate families came in at the same time, and both moms were called Diana and both daughters were called Elspeth AND they were all wearing Ugg boots! Everyone made friends and exchanged phone numbers.

Our blog is also a full-on educational resource. Check out the categories to the right of the webpage. Want to know more about treatment or prevention? Just click on the category and you’ll see all the blog entries for the topic you choose. If you have more questions about head lice, just go ahead and call any one of our salons on 1.877.285.0069 and you’ll get some free advice over the phone. Together, we will beat those pesky head lice!

Oh and don’t bug out, but these are what head lice look like:

•     Head lice do not live on animals.

•    School age children are infected with head lice more commonly because they are in closer contact to one another.

•    Scratching is not the only indication you may have lice. You scratch because of an allergic reaction to the bite, but not everyone is allergic.

•    It is important that you are washing all hair brushes and combs in between usage.  You do not have to boil them or wash them in hot water.  Using our Laundry additive will help in disinfecting your hair brushes and combs.

•    It is important for parents to get into the routine of checking their children once a month for head lice. This way you detect the problem right away.  Getting to an infestation early on will lead to a quicker road to a lice free status.