Head lice are tiny, wingless parasites that inhabit your hair and scalp feeding on blood from your scalp. Their bite can cause continuous itching, skin irritation and scalp infections. It can cause a great deal of social embarrassment too. Head lice are a treatable problem and adequate preventive measures can help you avoid the problem from occurring repeatedly.

Symptoms
Common symptoms of head lice infestation include:

• Intense itching and scratching.
• Small red bumps or sores on the scalp, neck and shoulders.
• Lice eggs, also called nits, which look like tiny, oval shaped, white or clear dots.       Nits usually stick at an angle on hair shafts.
• A constant tickling feeling as though something is crawling on your scalp
• Lice on your scalp, behind your ears, at the base of your neck or on your clothing

Causes
Personal cleanliness and hygiene have nothing to do with getting infected with lice. It is a myth that being unclean or living in unhygienic conditions puts a person at a risk of getting infected. Lice cannot fly, jump or walk on the ground, and they are not transmitted by pets. The fact is that head lice get passed on from person to person through close body contact or head-to-head contact. You can also get lice by sharing hats, pillows, beds, towels, combs, clothes, headphones and other items with a person who is infected. Anyone can get head lice, but they are more common among school-aged children. Head lice spread more easily among children 3–12 years of age because they share their belongings more often than adults and play close together. Females of all ages get head lice more often than males do.

Prevention
It is difficult to prevent the spread of head lice, but taking certain precautions can be helpful. Here are some of them:

• Do not share combs, brushes, hats, headphones or hair decorations.
• Use your own pillow. If you have to travel, pack your pillows too.
• Use hot water to wash any bed linens, towels and clothing recently worn by the person       who had head lice.
• Use a vacuum cleaner on things that cannot be washed, such as beds, carpets, car seats       or stuffed toys.
• After a shower, comb wet hair with a fine-toothed comb (or a nit comb) to remove lice       from wet hair. Comb through all of the hair one section at a time every 3 days or more       often, for at least 2 weeks or until you stop seeing head lice and nits.

• Maintain short hair until you are cured of lice.
• Use medicated lotions and shampoo regularly. But before you use them, take your       doctor’s permission.
• Wash combs and brushes with very hot, soapy water or soak them in rubbing alcohol for       an hour.