Head lice are small insects that can live on a human scalp; they can also thrive on eyebrows and eyelashes as well.
They are not dangerous, and they do not carry disease, but they are generally gross and disgusting in nature.
Head lice is spread by close contact with an infested individual. The usual breakout spot for a case of head lice is a school, day care center or any other place where humans may have close contact.
Whenever a head lice outbreak would occur in school when I was a child, letters were sent home with all of the children to make the parents aware. I can remember a time when my third or fourth grade teacher instructed her aide to bypass us black kids, because we do not get lice.
I know that I am not the only person to have heard such a thing, so I thought I would research the issue and bring forth some good knowledge – here we go:
A Mini Lesson on the Construction of Hair
In case you didn’t already know it, hair is hair – it is all composed of the same stuff, a protein called keratin.
The difference between the hair on an African American person’s head and a European American person’s head is the curl pattern. “Black hair” is more tightly coiled than “white hair” (this one ought to be obvious).
Because of the construction differences in our hair, black hair and white hair require different maintenance routines to keep it from popping off and breaking.
Back in the day, black people used hair grease as a daily maintenance tool.
Hair Grease, Head Lice, and All That Jazz
Today, we know that hair grease is smothering to the hair and scalp (although some folks are reluctant to break old habits). Again, back when I was growing up, slathering hair grease on our scalp was the thing to do…
It was once thought that head lice could not withstand black hair because of the hair grease. This is only partly true.
Head lice mainly do not like black hair because of the construction of black hair. It is hard for the tiny insects to “get a foothold” on all of the twists and turns of black hair, so they tend to prefer European hair because it is easier to navigate.
Think about it, if you were going to strike out on your own and set up shop in a new territory, are you going to prefer a smooth terrain or a bumpy landscape?
How it All Boils Down
Historically, African Americans are not bothered by lice nearly as much as Caucasians for the reasons I mentioned above. However, the fact is this…anybody can get lice.
Black people can and do get head lice. I suspect that even more black people get head lice today, because more black people use chemical relaxers on their hair, and we use far less hair grease.
Soooo… the next time you see a black person with a box of RID in their hands…do not scratch your own head in disbelief, just know that some unlucky insect family is about to be evicted from a home they didn’t like very much to begin with.
– Sources –
University of Nebraska Study on Head Lice
Mayo Clinic Head Lice FAQ