By definition, bed bugs are tiny (apple-seed-sized), flat-bodied, brownish insects that’ll feed on both human and animal blood. The bugs will suck blood, well, and become reddish colored.
You’ll mainly find bed bugs around the house on the ceilings, bedding, floors, old furniture, and walls – but they don’t fly. Bed bugs fully develop in one month to lay dirty white eggs.
On the question, can bed bugs get in your hair? Well, NO but yes – you can rarely find bed bugs on human hair and skin. Bed bugs don’t have claws that may enable them to cling for long on the human hair – this is unlike lice.
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Details: Can Bed Bugs Get in Your Hair?
It is very unlikely that you’ll find bed bugs in human hair. Bed bugs lack claws – unlike ticks and claws that have claws to help them navigate via your hair.
The front row of bed bugs must be set in a specific way before the start feeding, which is relatively difficult even with no hair obstructing. Therefore, even feeding is better on bare human skin.
NB:
- If you notice the bugs moving on your hair or skin, just some hot shower with generous amounts of shampoos and soaps.
- You’ll need to wash your towels, linens, and clothes in hot water plus put them in the dry at the highest heat settings.
- Finally, consult the dermatologist or general doctor to get yourself the right skin treatments. The specialist could prescribe using some special lotion or shampoo.
Any infestation by bed bugs may likely have been acquired during your traveling. You may have picked the bugs from an infested airplane, motel, train, or bus – know how to control bed bugs.
You’ll mainly find bed bugs living in bedding but tend to lay their eggs in cracks or crevices – but will come out to feed on human blood during the night.
One of the bed bugs, tell-tale signs include seeing some blood spots on your bedsheets. But as the bed bug moves around the house, it may find its way in your hair.
Signs of bedbugs hiding in your Hair
Bed bugs will feed on human blood by first piercing your skin using their tiny beak. The bite won’t look serious but it will be skin-irritating.
The beak will inject some anesthetic liquid that’ll leave your skin in a numb condition – this allows easy and non-irritating sucking of blood from the human body.
The bed bugs will suck blood from your body for roughly 2 to 5 minutes before crawling back to their hiding places. The bites will become itchy welts or small bumps on the scalp.
Equally notable is that some bloodstain may be left on the sheets or your pillow. For massive infestations, you may notice some offensive or musty odor.
On orientation, the bites from these bed bugs will be found on some straight rows. Your scalp will become raw and sore – but this won’t make the hair fall off.
So, Can you Find Bed bugs in your Hair?
Do you experience some objects crawling on the hair or scalp? Well, be sure to check the guide on flea eggs vs dandruff. Yes, you may find some bed bugs on hair but they won’t live long on skin or hair.
But you can still get some bed bugs on the cheeks, neck, scalp, or forehead. But their bodies aren’t suitable for traveling or crawling through your human hair as they lack claw-like limbs.
Notably, ticks and lice have unique claws and hence will easily attach and live on your weave or hair – but bed bugs will prefer cool environments around the house.
How to Get Rid of the Bed bugs?
Despite that bed bugs won’t live on your hair, we don’t love having the bugs in our spaces or houses. So, first, check for the signs around the house.
But you may require to comb the hair plus use regular shampooing combined with rubbing alcohol to ease the itching that’ll arise from the bites.
1. Manual Bed Bug Removal
For persons with beards, you may require to comb, trim, or shave with the goal of removing the nits, nymphs, and eggs. See also: How big are bed bugs?
If you’re wearing infested hairpieces or wigs, you’ll need to manually remove the bed bugs as these hairpieces may provide an easy home. To remove the bed bugs and their eggs, can do this manually.
2. Wash the Hair
Next, get some hot water and keenly wash and comb the hair – this will also remove the bed bug nymphs, nits, and eggs. Squashing the bed bugs, it’ll leave some bloodstains and a horrifying odor.
Note that you must start with hair-washing prior to washing the body. The heat from the hot water will assist in killing the bed bugs – as you immerse yourself in a warm-water bath tab.
3. Alcohol Washing
Use the alcohol used in cleaning wounds to wash the hair – just mix some water with the alcohol and coak the hair in the solution for roughly five minutes.
Further, you must massage and smear the alcohol solution around the hair roots. But repeat the alcohol washing process for one week to clear all the bed bugs.
4. Treat Hair with Almond Oil
Using Almond oil on your hair will repel the bed bugs – but you must effectively smear the oil on your scalp moving towards the hair tips.
Do the almond oil-treatment about 2-3 times a week until all the bed bugs are cleared. I also recommend using apple cedar but add some shampoo while cleaning the hair.
See Also: Vacuum for Bed Bugs
Conclusion
Bed bugs may hide on a human body while they’re moving especially from some public area. So, if you witness some insects on your skin or hair – these could be lice, ticks, or fleas.