A dime for your time-demystifying the look of head lice

If I had a dime for every time that a parent looked at our 'Life Cycle of Lice' information card, and said, "oh that's what they look like", I would currently be retired and living on the Amalfi Coast, not writing about lice. This is not a disparaging comment about the parents at all, it is about how much confusion there is about the size, shape and color of lice. As a small company whose sole purpose is to provide a needed service to the community and who relies on the google for outreach and growth of our business, we are acutely aware of the dark rabbit holes of misinformation about this tiny little parasite that exist and persist.

Thus the inspiration for this exciting and revelatory photo (thanks Anna Peddy, owner of Asheville Lice). OK, maybe it is only exciting to me, but clarity brings wisdom and wisdom brings peace.

Let's start with color, or lack of it. Lice are translucent. They can darken as they age, but if you look closely even then, they have a translucent quality. If you are combing your way through your child's hair, scanning their scalp, you might see a dark spot moving along right at the base of the hair and when your eyes focus, you might realize you are seeing a louse who just had lunch. Lice are never white. They are never yellow. They are never black. Get your jeweler's loop out, zoom in, and you will see for yourself.

Both male and female lice have a pretty similar body shape. Male bugs can be a little chunkier and smaller while female bugs can often be bigger and more elongated (especially when they are fully mature). The end of the male bug is rounded and the female has a bifurcated bottom end. Does any of this really matter? Maybe not unless you are super into the science of lice. If you find any smallish translucent bug with six legs in your child's hair, you want it and its closest relatives out and dead, right? We know this to be true.

And when it comes to the size of the bugs, there is a huge difference between the size of a freshly hatched baby bug and fully grown mama. The baby is literally the size of the nit when it first hatches. From the comments we hear in our clinic about the color of lice or the size of nits, we know there is confusion out there. Suddenly, your poppy seeds and your sesame seeds take on entirely different meanings. Are they really the best comparison? We don't keep a fully stocked spice cabinet at the clinic so no seeds were available to be included in this photo. And while an adult bug might be the length of the sesame seed, it will not be the color or the shape.

Bottom line is, if you comb something out of your or your child's hair and you are unsure if it is a louse or an egg, put it on a white piece of paper and send us a photo. We can look at it and tell you whether it is or not. We are there to help you make the transition from anxiety to wisdom to peace.