There is no way to look at a nit with the naked eye and determine if it is dead or alive. And although some people claim it does, popping them does not prove that one way or the other either. They are just too small. The only proof is when they don't hatch 7-10 days later.
Although sometimes more tedious than chemical methods, mechanical lice treatment methods are far more effective at destroying lice for good. Lice may develop resistances to certain chemicals; however, they will never be able to resist being squished, zapped, smothered, or manually removed by the human hand.
The nit is laid by the female near the base of the hair shaft and usually takes about 8-9 days to hatch. Viable eggs are usually located within 6 mm of the scalp. A nymph is an immature louse which matures into an adult in about 7-12 days after hatching. A nymph must feed on blood to survive.
New eggs are attached to the hair shaft very close to the scalp. Eggs that still contain a louse embryo are brownish in color, while the empty egg shells are white to grey.
If nits are yellow, tan, or brown, it means the lice haven't hatched yet. If the nits are white or clear, the lice have hatched and just the egg remains. Lice eggs hatch within 1 to 2 weeks after they're laid.
If you spot nits, but do not see any lice, it is possible that they are hiding and scurrying from the light as you search the hair and scalp; they can move quite quickly! Focus your search to their preferred hideouts, behind the ears and at the nape of the neck.
Lice eggs (nits).
These look like tiny yellow, tan, or brown dots before they hatch. Lice lay nits on hair shafts close to the scalp, where the temperature is perfect for keeping warm until they hatch. Nits look a bit like dandruff, but aren't removed by brushing or shaking them off.
Head lice survive less than one or two days if they fall off the scalp and cannot feed. Head lice eggs (nits) cannot hatch and usually die within a week if they do not remain under ideal conditions of heat and humidity similar to those found close to the human scalp.
Malathion lotion, 0.5%;
Malathion is pediculicidal (kills live lice) and partially ovicidal (kills some lice eggs). A second treatment is recommended if live lice still are present 7–9 days after treatment. Malathion is intended for use on persons 6 years of age and older.
Dandruff can shake right out of your hair but lice eggs don't budge. Lice eggs secrete a glue-like substance and they will not move if you shake your hair or run your fingers through your hair. Nits (lice eggs) must be individually pulled off with your nails or a lice comb.
You can actually feel the nits stuck to the hair shaft; each one will feel like a bump on the hair. For many people checking for head lice on our own scalp or even that of another family member can be challenging as you are unsure of what these tiny insects look like on the head.
It is only as the embryo develops do you then see the egg or nit. That nit becomes hard protecting the embryo inside. When you pull them off the hair you can pop the hard shell of the nit – if it pops you know the egg was viable and ready to hatch.
Live lice eggs are small brown or tan coloured dots on hair shafts close to the scalp. These can be incredibly difficult to spot. Broken egg shells, or nits, are easier to spot. It's common for parents to mistake nits for dandruff.
Generally, if no live crawling insects are seen three weeks after the treatment, it's safe to assume that they are gone. Nits would have hatched by that time if they were alive. Nits and their shells may remain in the hair for some time but won't be viable.
Just like with mattresses, lice can only live on any bedding—whether it's sheets, pillows, or comforters—for 1-2 days. Without a human scalp as a source for food (blood) for longer than 1-2 days, lice cannot survive.
What kills head lice instantly? No methods have been found to instantly kill lice, though tea tree and lavender oil combinations in carrier oils have proven to be effective and time-efficient.
Since eggs do not need a host to survive, they will continue to live until a nymph hatches from it. A louse will ultimately die without a human host. However, it can still live for 1-2 days on a pillow or sheet.
In fact, it can take up to six weeks for a child or adult to develop the typical itchiness that might prompt a head check. And even then, half the people with lice still won't exhibit any symptoms associated with lice.
Then use a fine toothed “lice comb” to systematically work through the hair and remove adult lice. Regularly wiping the comb on tissues or paper towel will reveal the dispatched lice. This approach works but must be repeated twice, about a week apart, to break the life cycle of the head lice.
Females will lay their first batch of eggs around 2 days after mating. Females can keep laying eggs for the next 16 days — up to 8 per day. After — at most — 35 days of life, the adult lice die.
If any nits are missed and they hatch, the 2nd or 3rd treatments are easy and perfectly timed. Those treatments will eliminate young lice before they have a chance to mature and lay more nits. Keep in mind, a person is only contagious with an adult female louse.
Nits often appear yellow or white although live nits sometimes appear to be the same color as the hair of the infested person. Nits are often confused with dandruff, scabs, or hair spray droplets. Head lice nits usually take about 8–9 days to hatch.
Nits are minuscule, smaller than the head of a pin. They're hardy too, attaching on the hair shaft close to the scalp with a glue-like adhesive. This is what makes it so tough to get rid of head lice permanently. Lice eggs hatch around a week after being laid, and the new lice are mature about ten days after that.