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About lice and nits
Head lice (Pediculus Humanus Capitis) are small insects, parasites greyish-white in colour, 2 to 4 mm long. They live exclusively in human hair, and cannot survive longer than 48 hours away from the scalp. They do not appear on any other part of the body, nor do they appear on animals. They do not dig themselves into the skin but move around in the hair. Live lice survive on blood, sucking it from the scalp of the host four to five times a day, leaving red bumps behind. Lice emit saliva during feeding which causes an intensive and unpleasant head itch; because of this a person scratches the scalp and can cause wounds which could become infected. Without the blood, lice can survive 2 days at most. They live approximately 2 months.
How do you get lice and where are they located?
Lice are mostly transferred with the direct contact between heads. They are mostly located where the hair is the thickest and where is the warmest, i.e. close to the neck and behind the ears. There we could find most of their eggs – nits. Lice do not have wings and could neither fly nor jump as it is often thought, but they could be transferred to another head. They could also be transferred with caps and all other head covers, combs, pillows, towels, cloth collars (cloths on the hangers should be separated), with cloths that is dressed over the head. It is not possible to transfer them via swimming pool water, or via house pets. Lice appear in wealthy and poor environments almost all around the world.
They are often found in school and kindergarten population; they could be “caught” in play areas, theater plays, trams and collectives. Schools are not the only source of lice because children are in contact also outside the school hours.
Lice do not represent a health danger since they do not transfer other diseases, but they do spoil the general condition; they create uneasiness, loss of sleep, concentration disorders and cause an unpleasant feeling of labelling, which is, unjustifiably, connected to social status. Lice infest children and adults despite thorough cleaning through body hygiene, and are not, as society sometimes labels, exclusively the problem of the families of lower social status who live in worse conditions.
Lice history
During the history, they were always been connected to the man, sometimes in the epidemic form. Mummified lice have been found on the old Egyptian comb (see picture). There are lice even today, everywhere in the world since they became resistant to the old, traditional agents, which have been used to destroy them before, as well as to the aggressive chemical agents that are also used today.
They are reproducing with eggs called nits. Nits are small, light, mostly white, shiny, long eggs, long about 1 mm that stick strongly to the hair.
A mature adult female produces about 200 to 300 eggs (nits) during her life, which she lays close to the root of the hair, mostly near the neck and behind the ears where they are fixed with a sticky substance to the hair. It is possible to confuse them with dandruff, which can easily be removed from the hair, unlike the nits. It is easier to detect them in strong light, and a magnifying glass can also help. In about a week, a nit becomes a louse. A young louse is not sexually mature yet, and it is called a MAGGOT or NIMPHE. It needs about 1 to 2 weeks to become sexually mature; it copulates with a male and starts to nest new nits. In case of unfavourable conditions, nits could lay dormant for longer than a month.
How to find and recognize lice and nits?
With careful scalp examination it is possible to detect live, movable lice or, more often, only nits. A grown up female is 3 to 4 mm long and is a bit longer than a male. She is gray or light brown in colour. She is gray or light brown color. 
Lice have three pairs of legs that end with “small claws” which help them to stick to the hair and position themselves so the mouth is accommodated for blood sucking. Lice can be detected with the help of a special electric comb, Robi Comb Pro that sends an audio signal when it registers and kills a lice.
Recently there is a possibility of prevention, more exactly LiceGuard Repellent spray which protects, or repels lice from nesting in hair. A dose is effective for 24 hours and it is useful to use it on children before they go out and mingle with other children in lice season. It is possible to purchase it in pharmacies and via the internet. It is non-toxic and has a pleasant smell of wild flowers. More about LG Repellent...
What to do when they are noted?
The presence of lice can be ascertained through hair examination, searching for visible lice or nits. If parents notice lice or nits, children should not be sent to school before they are removed in the appropriate way. It is necessary to inform the collective, school or kindergarten since a louse came from someone, but could have also jump to someone’s hair. It is also desirable to check all family members in case lice are noted with one family member. In order to remove lice it is possible to use different means and ways, and at least possible aggressive and toxic agents.
It is very important to stop their reproductive cycle. Some of the agents contain toxic substances that are very aggressive. They should not be used often or in large quantities and it is also necessary to be careful so they do not come into contact with eyes, nose or mouth of a child, especially a small child. Lice could be removed mechanically, which is the most secure way for children, by combing with Robi Comb Pro electric comb for detection and lice 
removal. It is a very elegant solution that is recommended for dry hair. Robi Comb Pro kills lice with the help of electricity while combing the child’s hair. When you comb the hair the comb kills a louse each time it comes across it and it announces it with by stopping it’s audio tone. With this comb, the process can be repeated each day until you are sure that there are no more living lice and that you have killed all “new” lice that hatched from nits or which a child received from someone else. In order to detect wether a child brought lice home from school or kindergarten, you can use Robi Comb Pro comb as a preventive measure even before a child gets lice or after you get rid of them, in case it is lice season. Lice do not need lots of time to adapt to a new host. After a treatment, you should wash in a hot water all bedclothes, clothes, caps and soft toys, combs and hair pins where lice could remain. You could place items which can be frozen in a freezer for 48 hours. When presence of lice is strong and long lasting, it is recommended to cut the hair short, since it is easier to remove lice and nits from short hair. It is especially recommended to cut long blond hair since lice are almost invisible in it. Long hair should be put in a pony tail by any means as long as lice are removed.
Regardless of which treatment you apply, it is recommendable to remove all (or as many as possible) nits from the scalp, since even one nit is enough to produce a new generation of parasites, and the process itself is faster and more secure if you are get rid of lice and nits at the same time. Although there is a note on some products that they destroy nits, it is necessary to remove them mechanically. Either one by one, or, much easier, with a very thick and good metal comb such as Lice Guard professional comb. A process of combing nits from the hair is more effective and much easier 
if you use a special shampoo that is used for dissolution and weakening of glue that holds nits to the hair. LiceGuard Shampoo serves this purpose. It is made with natural ingredients and does not contain toxic substances, and therefore could be used every day, even on small children. Lice Guard comb for combing lice and nits can be sterilized by boiling, which is definitively recommended.
Epidemiological data does not project the real situation of the spread, although lice infection, as any other parasitism or infection is reported to the epidemiological service. Facts that prove that the lice infection is not decreasing is proven by sales of items that are used in the fight against lice as well as the fact that in the last couple of years some schools and kindergartens were forced to close for some time. When there is a lice infection, schools and kindergartens are forced to inform the whole class or a group on the necessity of lice removal from all members and should give written instructions together with the school specialist and epidemiologist to all parents on how to do it. As soon as a lice infection is noted in the community and all people in a community fight the infestation together the sooner it will be solved.
Conclusion
The task of ridding people of lice is often a huge and lengthy process! Usually there is no fast and immediate solution. It is a big help if the whole family is involved. One should focus only on the head, not the environment. Use the time to talk with a child and explain that in today’s world it is a normal social problem that should not be ignored or hidden in shame. It is not shameful to have lice, but if you keep them then you could be burdened and feel unpleasant and they should be removed as soon as possible. One should not hide a problem but should learn/ask how to do it..
