Can you get bed bug eggs in hair? Will bed bugs lay eggs in your hair? These are some of the questions posed by some of our readers. Well, this article examines how to tell if you have bed bugs in your hair.
Anyway, for those who prefer precise answers, the answer to the first question is Yes you can find bed bugs eggs in your hair. How do they get there? Read below!
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How Do Bed Bugs Start in the Home?
Bed bugs can start in your home through the use or purchase of used furniture or hitching your luggage after visiting infested places or areas.
They are good at hitching a ride in backpacks, purses, luggage, or other items put on upholstered or soft surfaces.
These are mobile insects which can travel between rooms across the buildings including hotels, complexes, and apartment.
Contrary to the general misconception that living in a low-income or a dirt home may attract the breeding of these pests, the bugs infest both the homes of the rich or the poor, clean or dirty.
They also do not start in your home because God is punishing you for your evil deeds.
Some of the major and common causes of the start of bed bugs in your home include:
- Living in pest-ridden areas could be a reason for their presence in your home.
- You can also get them from a bug-infested holiday inn, motel, or hotel.
- If your neighbor’s house is infested with these insects, yours is most likely to have them as well.
- Be wary of your company because some of their homes could be harboring these bugs.
- Picking free, unclaimed, or unprotected old items on the roadside or elsewhere could be another factor of their start in your residence.
- Non-fabric items like books you buy from a street-side vendor could contribute to the start of bed bugs in your home.
- Unwashed used clothes can cause an infestation of these insects.
Do Bed Bugs Lay Eggs in Your Hair?
The question I get most is can bed bugs lay their eggs in human hair?
Well, not really, bed bugs don’t lay eggs in people’s hair. Instead, they can lay them in crevices and cracks. They only come out of their hiding to feed on human blood at night.
Usually, when they are traveling, they can hide in your hair. However, unlike hair mites and lice, bugs lack essential body parts needed for them to comfortably attach themselves to your scalp.
If can avoid such encounters by washing your clothes and bedding followed by time in the dryer.
Pictures of Bed Bugs in Hair
There are so many horrific pictures depicting the appearance of bed bugs in the hair on the web. However, coming across one depicting bed bug eggs in hair is not easy.
I guess I would have to ask one of our readers to volunteer one for use here.
Do Bed Bugs Bite your Scalp?
If you are there wondering whether these tiny pests can bite your scalp, I am here for the bad news, Yes they can!
Although bed bugs, unlike lice don’t have necessary body structures to enable them to live in your hair, they can still bite your scalp, neck, cheeks, or forehead if they come into contact.
The only good news for you is that they cannot crawl through your hair because of their body design.
And more, they fancy cooler environments and not that made by your body heat. Thus, even if these pests happen to feed on your neck or head skin, the prospect of them sticking around afterward is very low.
Reports from people facing bug infestations indicate that they cannot live in your hair. But, they do hide in hair and when that happens, it’s somehow hard to eliminate or get rid of them.
Symptoms of Bed Bugs in Hair – How do you know?
The critical question is how do you know you have bed bugs?
Well, if indeed there are bed bugs in hair, the symptoms of their presence might include: extremely itchy, red swellings across your neck, cheeks, or forehead or along your hairline; and small blood dots on your cushion.
Bed bugs are known to hitchhike your clothes or other items in your luggage when you travel or stay in a bus or hotel room that is pest-ridden. You will seldom find them hiding in the clothes you are wearing or in your hair.
If you are a traveler, you could be aware that other than the bed itself, these pests hide and live in many places.
Their infestation can as well spread to upholstered chairs and couches, not to mention buses and trains among other possible hideouts.
They also sneak into corners and cracks of furniture drawers, hide behind headboards or picture frames, besides crawling up walls.
You can use the same technique of bug inspection you apply when traveling to determine if your home is infested with these insects.
But, it could be somehow costly and difficult to get rid of the pests from your living space compared to just ridding them in a bag from the place you spent a night after a trip.
Other than the bed bug symptoms mentioned above, other signs you are likely to find on furniture, on walls, and in your bed include:
- Yellow or pale whitish nymphs or baby bed bugs;
- Blood spots on mattresses and sheets and mattresses;
- Bits of their blood-filled, dark excrement; and
- Exoskeletons or dead bugs.
Therefore, you can tell if your hair is under attack by these insects if you use a flashlight to inspect your room, clothes, and any other related items after leaving bug-ridden places.
How to Get Rid of Bed Bug Eggs in Hair
Professionals admit that getting rid of bed bug eggs in hair is a bit challenging they are very tiny and sometimes stick on it. But, that does not mean that it is impossible to remove them.
There are several methods you can employ to do that. You could use olive oil or mineral oil for your hair. Using a shower cap, cover the hair overnight to stop them from piercing your scalp.
This therapy helps to suffocate their larvae and also eliminate or kill their eggs. Wash your hair first thing early next morning with medicated shampoos or anti-lice solution etc.
There are other natural methods of ensuring the eggs of these insects are not in your hair. They include:
1. Remove them manually
These eggs in the hair are most likely to be found in people wearing infested hairpieces or wigs or infested hairpieces.
If the situation is extreme, you should remove such infested items to get rid of the eggs from your hair.
2. Comb your Hair & Beard thoroughly
If you are a bearded person, you should thoroughly comb your beard to eliminate these eggs, nymphs, and nits from there.
Also, you could consider completely shaving or trimming it to rid of the eggs of these pests for good.
It can sometimes be an exhausting experience having these insects in hair and scalp due to the fact that you will have to regularly comb your hair to remove the eggs using such bed bug combs.
You may be required to wash your hair daily to eliminate them.
3. Use Regular Shampoos
There reports of success stories of people who used regular shampoos with 91% rubbing alcohol to eradicate the eggs of these pests in hair.
However, this notwithstanding, there could be a possibility of leaving behind some bed bug eggs in the scalp and hair. Therefore, the treatment should be repeated if necessary.
4. Use Cedar Oil
Hair products made from Cedar oil have demonstrated to be very effective in eliminating bed bugs in hair and on the body.
Thus, to get rid of their eggs in hair, you may have to add this oil into your bath gel and/or shampoo.
That will help kill the eggs and any larvae that could be hiding in the hair or scalp. But, you should be aware that you may feel your scalp irritated when using this approach.
Therefore, don’t avoid this method for such reasons because the side effect can be countered using anti-itch scalp medication.
5. Embrace Saunas
Sauna treatment such as spending long periods of time in a steamed room with high temperatures is another effective therapy.
That is because the eggs can be completely destroyed at such high temperatures.
Of course, talking to a professional is best to know if this treatment is correct for you to apply especially if you are suffering from certain diseases such as blood pressure and heart trouble among others.
READ MORE: How to identify bed bug bites pictures on hands.
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