Inside: Can mixed hair get lice? Yes and this is how you treat lice on curly mixed hair without damaging it.
You know what one of the biggest fears of school aged parents is?
Lice.
There’s not a parent on this planet who wants their kid to get lice!
I’ve heard the horror stories from parents whose kids had lice…some cases were so bad that they shaved their kids head! (They were boys but still that has to be pretty severe!)
All I could think about was, oh my goodness my daughter has so much hair, and I don’t even want to consider shaving my kids heads!
However, I wasn’t sure if my kids could get lice or not, because they’re biracial.
Throughout the years I had heard from my friends who are Black, that they don’t get lice.
So I accepted that as a fact and didn’t think too much of it until I started registering my daughter for kindergarten.
Then the thought popped in my mind again, what if people with biracial hair can get lice?
I asked my husband if he knew and he said nope, absolutely not, our kids can’t get it because Black people don’t get lice.
Well ok then, cue the sigh of relief!
But then I decided to do some research just to be on the safe side, and lo and behold I found out that yes, Black people can get lice!
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So How Do You Treat Lice On Curly Mixed Hair?
To answer that, let’s first take a look at what they are and how you get them.
What are lice?
Lice are small, parasitic insects that feed on human blood. Adult lice lay eggs (called nits) on the hair shaft and the eggs don’t come off easily. (source)
You can get lice from person to person contact, such as; sharing hats, scarves, or other clothing. You can get it from head to head contact, or by sharing brushes, combs, headphones, hair clips, and headbands.
School age kids are more at risk of getting lice because they’re in such close proximity with each other at school and at play dates or sleepovers.
Can Black people get lice?
According to the CDC, while it’s less common for African Americans to get lice, it’s not impossible.
They suggest that the head louse, (the singular term for lice) in the United States have claws that are better adapted for grasping certain types of hair. (source)
The type of lice that are in the U.S. aren’t suited for grasping onto African American hair.
So while that’s good news that your mixed child is less likely to get lice, it’s not guaranteed.
Gentle treatment options for lice in naturally curly hair
I know this isn’t a topic that most people like to think about, but the fact that mixed kids can get lice means you need to be prepared in case it happens to your kids.
There’s two steps to getting rid of lice.
First you need to kill the existing adults and eggs with a lice treatment.
Second, you need to get all the eggs out of your child’s hair. In order to do this successfully, you need a nit comb.
I won’t lie, this is a long process…you have to take a small section of hair, and comb through it using the nit comb. They need to be small sections because the nit comb won’t make it through a chunk of hair, and because you have to basically comb through every strand on your child’s head to make sure there’s no leftover nits or lice.
It’s really important to make sure you get all the eggs out because if even one live nit is left in the hair, your child will get lice all over again. Same with making sure there isn’t even one live adult louse left, because the cycle will start all over again.
You’ll want to make sure you check your child’s head every day for about a week to make sure you didn’t miss any lice or nits.
Some traditional methods of lice removal have chemicals that are very harsh for naturally curly hair and can damage it.
I work way too hard keeping my kids hair healthy to potentially damage it with harsh chemicals! So I did some poking around to see if there were treatments that are gentle on biracial hair.
Related: A Step by Step Mixed Hair Care Routine
Thankfully there are options that aren’t harsh, but are still effective at killing and removing lice!
Head Hunters Naturals Wipe Out Lice Treatment
This is a chemical-free effective way to get rid of lice. There’s a nit comb that comes with it too.
The treatment is all natural so you can reuse this as many times as you need, (like if any nits accidentally get left behind).
This also boasts that it can kill all variations of lice, even super lice!
Fairy Tales Lice Good-Bye Survival Kit For Lice Treatment
This is a pesticide-free, natural treatment that’s safe for kids.
In the kit you’ll get a lice treatment, nit comb, a sectioning clip, and a conditioning spray that repels lice.
Honeydew Head Lice Treatment Shampoo
This shampoo is a homeopathic solution with no harsh chemicals so hair stays healthier. The ingredients repel lice and deters them from coming back. It’s also great for getting rid of dandruff, preventing hair loss, and promoting hair growth!
While the shampoo kills lice and repels them from coming back, you’ll still need to get a nit comb to make sure all the eggs are gone.
Get the entire mixed hair care routine, tips, and management below!
Final thoughts
While you hope your kids never get lice, at least if they do you know exactly how to treat lice on curly mixed hair.
If your kid gets lice, you definitely want to kill off the lice and nits, but you don’t want to damage their hair while doing it.
These methods of lice and nit removal will safely get rid of the problem, and keep your child’s curls in good health, (so no shaved heads here!).
Related Reading:
16 Mixed Curly Hair Hacks To Make Your Life Easier
12 Common Curly Hair Mistakes You Could Be Making and How To Fix Them
How To Get Knots Out Of Biracial Curly Hair
The Solution To Dry Mixed Hair You’ve Been Searching For
