In any cosmetologist’s career, it is inevitable he or she will come upon the problem of lice, whether it is with a client, a friend, or even their own child. For most people, even talking about lice will make their scalp itch. It has a bad reputation and definitely should not be taken lightly. Parents, along with anyone in the cosmetology field should have knowledge about the common louse, the problems it causes in the workplace, and the elimination of the potential infestations it brings. The conversation of lice raises eyebrows all around the world but what is a louse?
According to Mayo Clinic, a head louse is a small nsect that feeds on human blood that it gets from the scalp. The female louse produces eggs that take eight or nine days to hatch, once hatched, the nymph becomes an adult louse after nine to twelve days. Adult lice live for three to four weeks. (1) Symptoms of head lice include itching, lice on scalp, and lice eggs on hair shafts. Children should be taken to the doctor before beginning treatment to kill lice. It is extremely difficult to prevent head lice from spreading from child to child due to there being an abundance of close contact.
It is a good idea for children to keep their garments away from other children’s garments. Worrying about head lice infesting your child is not a good enough reason to avoid sharing protective headgear for certain sports (Mayo Clinic 2). According to Melanie Haiken from Health Day, if a child has lice, the teacher and/or the nurse will most likely call and let the parent know. However if a parent notices the child scratching, the parents should check for lice immediately. Lice are not easily seen however, making it easy to oversee the louse.
Lice can also take on the color of the hair they are infesting. Most people recognize a child with lice by the nits or lice eggs in the hair alone, since nits are typically easier to ee. (1). Children usually get lice from a friend at school or from sharing clothes with other children. The myth about lice being product of poor hygiene or poverty is completely untrue, children in wealthy communities are just as likely to get lice as children in poverty. Over the counter lice shampoo is usually what is first used, and usually what doctors recommend.
According to Health Day, anything containing permethrin is able to kill lice. Only shampooing a child once is extremely unlikely to kill all of the lice, parents should use the shampoo plenty of times to ensure all of the lice are dead. If any of the lice or nits emain, they will continue sucking blood from the scalp and reproduce. If this happens, the child and the parents will be right where they started (Health Day 2). Head lice can not spread diseases and also there is no evidence to suggest serious concern to the environment according to the Department of Human Services.
Lice are sensitive insects, easily killed by temperatures of water greater than 60 degrees celsius, however this is too hot of a temperature to wash hair(1). No disinfection or fumigation of the salon is required (1). Having been around for thousands of years, head lice can spread to anyone if given he right chance. Head lice can only remain alive if they are on a human, if isolated they die quickly, usually within twenty four hours. Under Health Regulations of 2001, there is no law preventing an infected person from attending a salon (Department of Human Services 1).
There are many steps to finding lice states the Department of Human Services. The most effective way to ensure a person has lice is by following these steps: Comb any type of conditioner on dry hair, this stuns the lice as it is difficult for them to latch onto the hair or run around. Next, comb small sections of hair with a fine tooth comb while eeping a close eye on the scalp of the infected person. Step 3 is to wipe the conditioner from the comb and look for lice or eggs on the tissue or paper towel. Finally, repeat these steps for every section at least four or five times (1).
Only after live lice or eggs are found should the person be treated. Head lice shampoos and products must be applied to all parts of the scalp and hair. No treatment will kill all of the eggs so many treatments must be two applications, seven days apart. If a person chooses not to use an insecticide, the comb and conditioner method may be used every other day until there is o sign of lice or nits in the hair or on the scalp (2). According to the Lice Doctors, many people are inclined to run to a hair salon for help.
Many of these people want their hair cut short because of the lice, but keep in mind some hair salons can not provide help as it would be a health code violation. Salons recommend trimming the infected person’s hair in your own home, then have it treated to eliminate lice and return to the salon afterwards to have it professionally cut. The vast majority of people do not cut hair prior to treatment, unless it is unusually long or hard to tame. It will speed up the removal process if all ajor tangles are combed about before any tries to help (1). For boys however, it can be very helpful to shave the head.
This is not foolproof, for if there is any hair at all, the lice will remain. It is true that the less hair a person has, the easier lice and nits are to find. Any professional should be qualified to remove all the lice in one’s own home. The Lice Doctors will come to a home and they offer a 100% guarantee (Lice Doctors 1). In the past few years, most in upscale neighborhoods, lice salons have been popping up everywhere according to pediatric dermatologist Anthony J. Mancini, M. D (head of the division of dermatology at Children’s Memorial Hospital in Chicago). Hair Fairies and Nit Pixies are two of the most common lice salons.
Their main mission is to completely get rid of the lice while keeping the status of an upscale salon. Staff members are trained to find the lice, comb it out, and apply shampoos ad treatments to the patient to help with their infestation. Customers say the best part of these salons is the fact that the workers take away the guilt and shame of having the small insects on the scalp. In order to ensure a spot in one of these salons, call as soon as possible to schedule an appointment with a worker, the faster he treatment, the easier it will be to remove all of the lice.
At the sign of an outbreak, these salons book up extremely fast so do not put off calling. The whole family will need to be checked if one child is found with lice, the workers will do a comb through of everyone’s hair ensuring once the lice is gone, it is gone for sure. A week after the first appointment, the client will need to return in order to ensure all of the lice and nits are gone. Another advantage to seeing a professional is seeing how to properly do a comb out, for future references(1). These salons surely are not cheap, it really depends on how the salon harges.
Some charge by the hour, other by what treatment the client receives. The average cost for attending a lice salon is seventy to one hundred dollars an hour depending on the severity of the case and where the salon is located. The client’s health insurance may cover most of the cost, and it can also be covered by eligible spending plans. If a client can not afford this price, some salons sell do-it-yourself kits for a lower price so it would be useful to ask about that option (Baby Doctors 2). Like any other parasite, lice evolve causing a resistance to the lice killing shampoo. According to Cosmetic Designs by the William
Reed business, a kind of lice is invading many parts of the world. These ‘super nits’ are a new drug resistant strain of lice. Commonly used lice shampoos and lotions used to work without fail, but now many of these products do not seem to be doing their job. Experts in the UK are predicting a huge explosion in the number of head lice cases due to the new parasite and the fact that a damper spring and a warmer winter provide ideal breeding ground for the lice. Global weather patterns have been getting milder and more human worldwide, so the United Kingdom is unlikely to be the only country experiencing these problems (1 and 2).
