Head lice like selfies as much as kids, study finds
New research confirms what many parents might have suspected - kids crowding around for selfies doubles their chances of getting head lice.
The finding comes with the arrival of a new heat treatment for lice just as students head back to school.
"I don't want to even see them again - I don't," said Natarsha Gibson.
The Brisbane mother-of-three knows all about nit-picking.
Over the years she's cleaned out the chemist looking for lotions and potions that actually work.
"You could sit there for a good hour or two, maybe even longer, just trying to comb through, get them out," she told 7 News.
"And then you think you've got it, and then the next day they're still scratching."
New British research confirms squeezing up for selfies gives lice a magic moment of their own, finding there is twice the chance to spread from head to head.
"Nits are a constant bane and there's nothing we're going to be able to do to get rid of them - ever," said Ian Lowe, a Lice Clinics Australia spokesman.
There's a new method for dealing with the parasites that's much like a home hairdryer.
The hour-long remedy blows warm air through the scalp, drying and killing lice and their eggs.
"And then we comb them out and that effectively kills any chance of reinfestation because there's no eggs to regrow," said Lowe.
The $99 process is backed by published science and a one-month guarantee.
