Guys... I think I might have fleas! I spend a lot of time hanging out with animals and I know they have fleas, so is it possible I caught them? Can fleas even live on humans? Could I just be being paranoid and really I just have itchy dandruff (I know I have that too..) Has anybody got any flea/nit success stories? A friend of mine got nits, then we just washed her hair with vinegar and lots of lice shampoo which seemed to work. Or I could maybe wear a flea collar, I guess... My dreads are only 6 months old and about 40cm long - I REALLY don't want to get rid of them, but my head is always so itchy! I've never actually pulled a bug out of my hair, but its dark so they're hard to spot. Anyway, any help would be greatly appreciated.
It is definitely possible that it may just be bad scalp, dandruff etc - but then I think it may also be equally possible that you've caught lice or whatever. I think probably the best thing to do would be to use one of the deep cleaning/scalp helping methods that are posted on this forum and see if it goes away after that which it may do if it's just dandruff, if not then I think I've seen a few posts on this forum relating to lice removal should that actually be the problem.. By the way, what shampoo are you using? I've noticed that some shampoos (especially the dreaded dreadheadhq crap I used to have) cause itchy scalpness.
Thanks for your help! I don't really wash my hair regularly. The last time I did I used my sister's fancy "Head and Shoulders" dandruff shampoo (I left out conditioning because I thought it might ruin my dreads) in an an attempt to stop the itchy, but all it really did was make my hair fluffy anyway.
ok, for anyone else that might come in: fleas are not lice (yeah, we have had that question), so the question really seems to be: 1) can humans support fleas. In me experience they don't hang out on humans of reasonable health. Many tales in death camps, prison camps, etc where inmates were starved have human flea infestation stories. there are plenty of lice threads on here, so search those for your answers. dandruff/ commercial products: this is my standing advice for ALL hair: SLS is not good on a daily/weekly regimen. It is the main in ingredient in countless shampoos. true soap, or at least a milder detergent is far better. I absolutely love shampoo bars (see my personal forum, Flowing Tresses for discussions and links) and I think an acidic rinse will help those itchies. I use a strong-ish one, with 3-4 oz vinegar to 13-12 oz water Basically 1/3 liter vinegar and 2/3 water. I add essential oils and/or lime zest. use as a last rinse, or you can rinse it out. the vinegar smell leaves upon drying, so YMMV.
I think we had a thread on this about a month ago and came to the conclusion that you cannot get fleas other than acutely.
Fleas dont get into hair.. my room is full of them, because we got 2 cats and the frontline and anti flea spray dont work,, they stick in clothes not in hair
