How to Prevent Head Lice

The best way to prevent head lice is to stay away from people that have head lice.  But it is pretty difficult to know if someone had head lice.  So the next big thing is to just avoid head-to-head contact.   Lice cannot fly. They cannot jump. They cannot swim.  But they are very good crawlers. They spread head-to-head contact by crawling from one hair shaft to another hair shaft on a different head. So as much as you can avoid head-to-head contact such as selfies, hugging, taking pictures, and sleeping next to each other. Sleepovers are a big one there. Another good idea is to not share brushes, combs, hats, and scarves or things like that between children or people that might have head lice. It is not very common that they will move head to head on those objects but it is certainly possible and it is best to avoid transferring those as much as you can.  Wearing your hair in a bun or even a ponytail gives the lice less of a chance to grab your hair strand. Another good idea is to wash your bed linens and sheets and things like that if someone in your household has lice. It is not always necessary because head lice do not like to come off the head in the first place and will die within about 15 hours if off the host scalp but it is not a bad idea if you want to make sure not to spread them around.  Applying a daily preventative mint spray can be help reduce the likelihood of getting lice since lice do not like the smell. Just to be sure, if you think you might have head lice do a thorough head check on yourself. If lice is found on a family member, it is very important to screen the whole family since immediate family members are all at high risk of getting lice when a family member is infested.