Nits

Nits are what we commonly call an infestation of head lice. Nits are actually the head lice eggs laid by the female louse. Head lice are a tiny wingless parasite that consists of nit, nymph and louse family members. The nymph and louse family members consist of male and female sexes and are referred to as head lice.

The infestation starts with head lice that are transferred from direct human contact, once the head lice have contact with the hair they have a firm grip and will scurry further up the strand of hair to the scalp. All of this happens extremely quickly as the head lice move at great speeds.
 
Head lice adapt to their environment very quickly, once on the scalp they will begin to feed immediately, feeding three to four times a day and begin to lay eggs (nits). One female louse can lay between fifty and one hundred and fifty eggs in her lifetime – which is approximately thirty five days. In a lot of cases you can find nits close to the scalp and commonly around the back of the next and behind the ears. The eggs will hatch after seven to ten days producing a Nymph who, once moult’s into a Louse will reproduce more eggs in the next eighteen to twenty one days.

A treatment should be applied and, using a fine tooth comb (nit combs), the hair should be thoroughly combed in the best attempt to completely eradicate the nits. Sometimes treatment will need to be repeated (seven to ten days later) to catch any undetected nits during the first treatment that would now be in the nymph stage of the head lice life cycle.

Head Lice Symptoms
Head Lice Pictures