Can Dirty Hair Cause Head Lice? Let’s Find Out…
If you have ever been a victim of a head lice infestation, you’re probably familiar with that hyper self-awareness mode you always kept switched on in public, afraid of being judged for something that was never your fault. That fear and nervousness is natural; you can probably trace the origins of the commonly believed “knowledge” that lice thrive in dirty hair all the way back to primary school, where kids poked fun at any unfortunate individual caught incessantly scratching their head.
To this very day, you probably wonder if it’s really dirty hair that “causes” lice.
Bewildering Breakouts
First off, lice are not “caused”; the word implies that there is some force in the universe that decides, hey, that person hasn’t washed their hair in a while, let’s give them lice! The human body is capable of a lot of wonders, but growing head lice is not one of them. That said, the only way you can get lice is by contracting them from someone else, either through direct-to-head contact, or if the lice crawl to your hair when you use an infested person’s belongings. As far as the hair is concerned, let’s put it this way: head lice, annoying as they may be, are firm believers and practitioners of equal opportunity. So, whether you are black, brown or white; rich, doing well or poor; have curly, wavy or straight hair; a neat-freak or a generally messy person, lice will get to you the first chance they get no matter what. Of course, this does not in any way give you an excuse not to take that shower, because hygiene is always important. However, one thing is for sure: head lice have no preferences for dirty hair. All they care about is these few things:- There should be hair on a scalp, any kind of hair
- The scalp should have a healthy supply of blood
