What are lice afraid of and do they die from the cold

Knowing what lice are afraid of, you can remove them in almost a few hours, and with a competent approach - in just one time. Usually, the procedure for the destruction of lice on the head or other parts of the body requires repeated use of pediculicides, and its success largely depends on how effective the drug is used.

So, let's take a closer look at what lice are most afraid of and with the help of what methods of physical and chemical influence on them you can quickly get rid of both the parasites themselves and nits.

 

Frost: how to get rid of lice with low temperatures

Lice are afraid of the cold. However, like most other insects, they can withstand temperatures as low as 0°C and can remain alive for some time even at sub-zero temperatures. Lice die in frost at minus 5 ° C for 20-30 minutes, while a stronger frost kills them almost instantly.

At the same time, lice die in the cold only when they are away from the human body. For example, you cannot kill head lice by simply walking down the street in winter without a hat.The hair will still retain warm air from the scalp, and although its temperature will be far from optimal for lice, there will definitely not be frost that is deadly for parasites.

On a note

Similarly, skinny dipping in an ice hole will be ineffective in case of pubic pediculosis. The water temperature, even in the sea, rarely drops below minus 1 ° C, and lice can easily survive such an immersion in icy water. An ordinary person (not a "walrus") can suffer from hypothermia much more than the lice themselves.

It should also be borne in mind that lice are quite resistant to a lack of oxygen and can easily tolerate long-term diving of the host under water.

Nits are also afraid of frost, but not as much as the lice themselves. At negative temperatures, nits are able to survive longer than larvae and adult parasites, and after cold treatment, some of them can remain viable.

You can use the fear of cold lice mainly to combat body (linen) lice. They spend most of their time on clothes and only for feeding move to the human body.

To get rid of linen lice, you should take all infected clothes and hang them out for several days in a hard frost. While the lice are dying in the cold, only clean underwear should be worn, which is guaranteed not to be infected. After three or four days, all the lice and nits in the clothes will die.

It is interesting

Lice and cold - rarely found in nature side by side. The optimal temperature for reproduction of all lice living on humans is +31°C, and already at +20°C they cease to multiply, and the development of their eggs (nits) practically stops. However, at this temperature, adult insects remain active and continue to feed.Therefore, generally speaking, “cold” for lice is still quite comfortable temperatures for humans. But in the cold, lice cannot move at all, eat and somehow be active.

Review

“In Koyanov, no one knows about these pesticides of yours. There are two remedies for lice - kerosene and frost. My grandmother also told me that lice are afraid of frost. You just take your linen and hang it outside in the winter for a few days. It froze - changed it, and hung the removed one too. And all business. But this only works with linen lice. The pubic or head should be poisoned with kerosene ... "

Pavel, Koyanovo

If, in addition to body lice, other types of them (head, pubic) also parasitize on the body, frost will not help here. You should not even try to freeze parasites from the head, or, moreover, from the pubic part - you can get supercooled and seriously harm your health. In this case, lice should be disposed of by other methods.

And further: You need to know the enemy by sight - detailed photographs of lice and nits (including macro photography). Terrible thing...

 

High temperatures

High temperatures are also difficult for lice to tolerate. At +40°C, they stop reproducing, at +45°C, the development of nits stops, and at +50°C, adults die within half an hour.

Higher temperatures kill parasites almost immediately. However, nits can survive at temperatures up to +60°C, and therefore removing lice by taking hot baths is ineffective.

High temperatures are used against lice in a different way:

• body lice and their nits are destroyed by boiling contaminated clothes
• pubic and head lice are removed by blowing hot hair dryers at the appropriate places with an outlet air temperature of about 50 ° C. This treatment does not kill the lice, but the parasites become lethargic and practically fall off the hair, no longer able to cling to them. Immediately after that, the hair is combed out with lice combs.

In general, it can be noted that lice are afraid of hot, dry air. Lice infestation in the desert regions of the world is lower than in humid forests and swampy tropics for this very reason. By the way, the technology of using a lice blow dryer was developed precisely in the desert states of the United States, where local researchers found that parasites were susceptible to quick death in conditions of heat and dryness.

 

Specialized insecticides

These substances are used in the composition of most modern shampoos, gels and balms. As a rule, they paralyze the nervous system of lice and lead to their death within a few minutes after applying the product to the hair.

As such toxic components in the composition of pediculicides, mainly various pyrethroids are used - Cypermethrin, Deltamethrin and some of their analogues. They are contained, for example, in lice preparations such as Medifox, NOC, Bubil, etc.

Effective against lice and a special kind of silicone called Dimethicone. It works in a slightly different way: effectively flowing into the respiratory tract of insects, Dimethicone leads to suffocation of parasites. The substance is part of the Nyuda remedy.

Means based on modern insecticides are very effective against lice and at the same time relatively safe to use - they rarely cause allergies and do not lead to intoxication. They are most often used in the fight against lice in children.

 

Kerosene

Kerosene is a rather outdated folk remedy for lice, which, nevertheless, due to its high efficiency is still often used to remove parasites. It poisons adult lice and partially dissolves the shells of nits.

And further: You need to know the enemy by sight - detailed photographs of lice and nits (including macro photography). Terrible thing...

Lice are also afraid of the smell of kerosene, and die when the substance enters the chitinous surface of the body. A half-hour treatment of the head with kerosene allows you to destroy all adult lice and larvae, while a second session a week later ensures the extermination of young larvae that have hatched from surviving nits.

Important!

Incorrect use of kerosene can lead to extensive scalp burns and poisoning, especially in children. When working, one should not forget that kerosene is very flammable, and its vapors can ignite from the slightest source of ignition.

 

Vinegar

In its effect on lice, vinegar is somewhat similar to the effect of kerosene. At the same time, it dissolves the shells of nits much better (more precisely, it softens the adhesive mass with which the nits are attached to the hair).

Lice die from table vinegar (9%) in diluting it in a ratio of one part vinegar to two parts water. When using vinegar, you should follow the same safety precautions as when killing lice with kerosene - undiluted vinegar can cause skin burns!

 

Cranberry juice

Cranberry juice is another great home remedy for head lice and nits. Lice are afraid of it and die when the hair is treated with juice, and nits, when using this remedy, easily peel off from the hair when combing out.This can be used when using cranberry juice with lice combs.

On a note

Lice and nits are generally afraid (relatively speaking) of strong organic acids. For example, among folk recipes for lice, there are products with citric, malic and grape acids.

 

hellebore water

Hellebore water is mostly afraid of adult lice. This tool can be used both to combat parasites and to prevent infection by them.

In the first case, hellebore water is applied to the head in the same way as lice shampoo, and in the second case, it is applied to the hair behind the ears before a possible meeting with an infected person or before visiting a place where there is a risk of infection with parasites. Lice in this case are much less likely to move onto hair sprayed with hellebore water from an infected person.

 

What lice are definitely not afraid of

And here is what lice are definitely not afraid of:

• Prayers - although this will upset especially believing readers, but psalms and appeals to "higher authorities" on parasites will not have the proper effect if such prayers are not reinforced with insecticides or at least kerosene.
• Conspiracies - the situation with them is similar to the situation with prayers.
• Talismans - lice on a person do not even suspect that somewhere on the neck and arm, it turns out, there is an object that should frighten them. By the way, lice are practically blind and stones on the wrists, even with a strong desire, will not be able to see.

Most of all, lice are afraid of simple hair removal. Shaving the pubis or head allows you to get rid of parasites literally within an hour without chemicals, combing and the risk of poisoning. Therefore, a shaving machine is the worst enemy of lice on the body.

 

Interesting facts about the life of lice

 

Useful video: how to properly and effectively deal with lice and nits