First, the myth: "lice only like certain hair"

Let's clear this one up. Anyone with hair can get head lice. Lice feed on blood from the scalp, not the hair itself — the hair is just their ladder. What varies by hair type is how easily they climb.

A louse's claws are built to grip hair shafts with a round cross-section, which is more typical of straight and wavy hair. Coily hair tends to have an oval or elliptical shaft, which is harder for those claws to hold onto. Add in the oils and creams common in textured hair care and protective styles that keep hair tucked away, and you get genuinely lower transmission — not zero. When lice do settle into coily hair, they're often caught later, precisely because everyone assumed it couldn't happen.

Straight and fine hair

The easiest hair for lice to grab, so infestations tend to spread fastest here. The good news: it's also the easiest hair to comb.

Work with damp hair and plenty of conditioner — it stuns the lice so they can't scurry away from the comb — and use a long-toothed metal nit comb, not the flimsy plastic one that comes free in most kits. Fine hair lets nits slide deceptively close to the scalp, so start each stroke right at the roots. Section, comb root to tip, wipe the comb on a paper towel, repeat.

Thick, wavy, and curly hair

The challenge here isn't the lice, it's the logistics. Professionals recommend dividing curly or thick hair into 10 to 12 small sections before you start — clips are your best friend. Combing through tangles hurts, and a squirmy kid makes everything take twice as long, so lead with a detangling spray or a generous coat of conditioner.

Comb each section from both the top and the underside — nits attach to one side of the hair shaft, and on curly hair it's easy to miss the ones hiding on the inside of a curl. Work in good light, take breaks, bribe generously. Screen time earned during a nit-combing session is medicinal.

Coily hair, braids, and locs

Nits are harder to spot on dark, coily strands, so check carefully behind the ears and along the nape — lice's favorite neighborhoods. A magnifying glass and bright light help a lot.

Protective styles complicate things: extensions, weaves, and braid-ins don't prevent lice, because the scalp is still exposed and nits get laid at the base of the natural hair underneath.

1. Box braids, twists, or sew-ins: unbraid first if at all possible, coat the roots with conditioner to trap anything that moves, then comb each loose section like you would any other hair.
2. Locs: combing isn't realistic, and that's okay. A non-pesticide treatment that physically coats and kills lice — applied in a series of treatments about 5 to 6 days apart — can clear an infestation without taking down the locs.
3. Either way: recheck the scalp weekly for a few weeks. Missed nits hatch in about 7 to 10 days.

The cheat sheet

The rules that never change

Whatever the hair type, the fundamentals are the same. Recheck and re-comb every 3 to 4 days for two to three weeks — one missed nit can restart the whole show. Wash pillowcases, brushes, and recently worn hats in hot water. Keep hair tied up, braided, or otherwise contained during an outbreak at school. And skip the panic-cleaning marathon: lice can't survive more than about a day or two off a human head, so the house is not the enemy. The scalp is the battlefield.