What you need to know about Headlice

Head lice are insects. They live in peoples hair. When they move about and feed they make your head feel itchy. Head lice are the most common insect infestation of humans.

All lice are parasites. Different types lives on other animals in the fur or hair. Some suck and others bite. The human head louse is a sucking louse, and that is why they make your head feel itchy. Other lice, like the biting lice live on birds and eat bits of skin and feather. They do not suck blood for food. For this reason biting lice on animals cannot transfer to the heads or bodies of humans.

Head lice do not have wings. They have short feelers. The body is soft and flat. Sometimes head lice are white and sometimes they are brown. This is the reason that they are sometimes difficult to spot.

Head lice have short legs with hooks which help them to hold onto hairs on our heads. They have sharp mouthparts called stylets which they stick into people’s heads.