The Actual Size of Lice

Head lice are small parasites that attach themselves to human hair in order to feed off of the scalp. Lice also breed in the hair, and you can identify an infestation through the appearance of nits.

Nits

• A nit is an egg laid by the female louse. They are usually laid near the scalp and look like dandruff, but are much more difficult to remove from the hair. Nits are tiny, approximately the size of a period at the end of a sentence.

Nymphs

• A nymph is a young louse that has just recently hatched from the nit. In appearance, it is virtually identical to an adult louse, yet it is about the size of a pinhead.

Adults

• An adult head louse can live on a person's head for approximately a month, but it will die within one to two days if it falls off and has no food source. An adult louse is tan to grayish-white in color, and it is about the size of a sesame seed.