If you think you have lice and see a small, oval blob on a strand of hair, it's probably a nit. 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.
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 take about 1 week to hatch (range 6 to 9 days). Viable eggs are usually located within 6 mm of the scalp. ) and become adults about 7 days after hatching.
Head lice eggs (nits) are brown or white (empty shells) and attached to the hair.
Dead nits are often black in colour and are found well away from the scalp. Nits are laid on the hair shaft within 1cm of the scalp and take about 7-10 days to hatch into head lice.
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.
Spinosad topical suspension, 0.9%, was approved by the FDA in 2011. Since it kills live lice as well as unhatched eggs, retreatment is usually not needed. Nit combing is not required. Spinosad topical suspension is approved for the treatment of children 6 months of age and older.
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.
Children can have a few nits without actually having a case of head lice. Usually children have no more than 10 to 20 live lice. Good lighting is important when you are checking. Head lice move fast and are hard to see.
Lifespan of Lice
The nits (eggs) hatch into lice in about 1 week. Nits (eggs) that are over ½ inch (1 cm) from the scalp are empty egg cases. They are very white in color.
Nits are lice eggs. They are hard to see and are often confused for dandruff or hair spray droplets. 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.
Head lice nits usually take about 8–9 days to hatch. Eggs that are likely to hatch are usually located no more than ¼ inch from the base of the hair shaft. Nits located further than ¼ inch from the base of hair shaft may very well be already hatched, non-viable nits, or empty nits or casings.
Baby lice or larvae are called nymphs. They look like miniature adult lice, about the size of a pinhead, or 1.1–1.3 mm. They crawl to the scalp to feed on blood daily. Nymphs undergo three stages of molting or shedding skin before entering the adult stage.
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.
It may be possible to have nits but no lice. If a person cannot find any nymphs or adult lice in the scalp and the nits are more than a quarter of an inch from the scalp, these may be dead and from an old infestation. However, the lice could be in hiding.
The only way to prevent them from hatching would be to remove them with a good metal nit comb, or your fingernails. Nits are laid by the mother and attached with a glue she formulates, to sit on the hair shaft in the perfect spot to incubate and hatch.
Are lice eggs soft or hard? When lice lay their eggs, they lay invisible sacks of liquid. These are so soft that they squish unharmed through the nit comb. It is only as the embryo develops do you then see the egg or nit.
Nits can stick to hair even when lice are gone (for example, after treatment that kills the lice). You should only treat if you see live lice, not if you only see nits.
Do not use a conditioner. It can keep the lice medicine from working. Rinse well with warm water and towel dry. Do not use the towel again until it has been laundered.
Suffocate the Lice
Soak your child's head in olive oil or coconut oil. Cover with a shower cap for at least 2 hours (or preferably overnight). When ready, remove the shower cap, and separate the hair into small sections, then use a metal nit comb to carefully remove the lice and eggs. Rinse the hair well with shampoo.
When treating head lice, it may be difficult to tell whether the nit is still alive or if it has hatched. The simplest way to tell is by looking at the color — live and dead nits are brown while hatched nits are clear.
Dandruff, hair casts, globules of hair spray, and scalp conditions such as psoriasis or eczema may easily be mistaken for nits.
Lice eggs (called nits) look like tiny yellow, tan or brown dots before they hatch. If you pull one off the hair, it may look like a flat speck with a tiny tail (which is the residue of the hair shaft it was glued to). After hatching, the remaining nit shell looks white or clear.