Do Lice Prefer Specific Hair Types
No one wants to get lice, so it’s only natural to want to know how attracted the critters are to your head specifically. The truth of the matter is that lice do not care too much about the type of hair that they are attached to. The one single criterion that they are looking for is simply a strand of hair that they can use to get to their food supply located on the scalp.
There are a lot of misconceptions surrounding lice and what types of hair they will attach to. Hair that has been coated with gel hairspray or mousse is less attractive to lice than freshly cleaned hair. That being said, the lice will still try to attach to the hair, but the coating from the hair products can make it more difficult for the lice to latch on. If the head lice can get into the hair and attach to the strands, then the hair color, thickness, and texture will not discourage the lice from trying their best to feast away.
Hair Length
One of the most common misconceptions about head lice is that they only like long hair. This is simply untrue. Children with shorter hair are just as likely to get head lice as anyone else. Some parents will go as far as to buzz their children’s heads to avoid the lice, but this is not an effective countermeasure as lice can still latch onto the shorter hair too. In the situation of an outbreak, whether it’s at school or in the home, make sure to check both long and short-haired parties with equal scrutiny. One study done by Bjorn Arne Rukke found some interesting results about the correlation between lice and hair length. Short hair and long hair both had roughly the same number of headlice incidents, but medium-length hair had more cases of headlice than either of them.
Hair Color and Texture
In that same study, Rukke looked at other factors such as hair color and hair texture. Unsurprisingly, hair color did not make a difference to the head lice. Hair texture, on the other hand, is a different story. According to this study, people with wavy hair had the highest incidence of lice. People that had straight hair had the fewest number of head lice cases, and people with curly hair were between. This doesn’t mean that you won’t get lice if you have straight hair. There are a lot of factors at play when it comes to how lice spread, but lice are just as capable of attaching to straight hair as they are to any other hair type.
Lice Clinics of America in Racine
When you’re dealing with head lice, you want the best head lice treatment and hair care you can get. If you need lice removal, then it is best to act fast. Click the link at the top of the page to schedule an appointment with us today at Lice Clinics of America at our Racine location.
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