I am African American and my niece once developed lice. It was not a pretty site.
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Name : AB23997, Gender : F, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : Black/African American, Religion : Baptist, City : Flint, State : MI Country : United States, Education level : Over 4 Years of College, Social class : Upper middle class, I think that the reason black people don't get is because of our hair-care maintenance routines. Because oils are sometimes added to our hair, it creates unfavorable conditions for lice to live in.
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Name : Danielle-B, City : Columbia, State : SC Country : United States, Yes it is true, but with a caveat- any person can contract head lice, but the odds for Black people are extremely low. I think that the last statistic I saw was that the incidence of head lice among Black children was less than 1/2 of 1%, where as it's about 15-20% among White/non-Black children. The reason is two-fold: 1. Our hair texture - Black hair is very kinky and porous, meaning that if you looked at a strand of our hair under a microscope, it's kind of branched instead of smooth (like a branch that has stickers or thorns). As a result, it's harder for a nit to attach itself to a strand of our hair. 2. Our hair care - because our hair is very kinky/coarse and porous, we treat our hair in ways that are the exact opposite of our white counterparts. We use chemicals(very strong) or hot combs (temps of 200F) to straighten and relax our hair and actually add oils to our hair because these processes leave our hair very dry and brittle. So imagine, if you will, a small bug trying to live in a stickerbush whose branches get sprayed with caustic, lye-based chemicals or slathered with oil on a regular basis- not a very friendly environment, wouldn't you agree??!!??
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Name : Vicki-R, Gender : F, Race : Black/African American, Religion : Baptist, Age : 37, City : Hanover Park, State : IL Country : United States, Education level : 4 Years of College, Social class : Middle class, I got head lice when I was in the second grade. At the time, I was uncomfortable with having a lot of hair oil in my hair, so my mom stopped using so much. That was then I got it. After my mom kept oiling my hair as usual for a few days,and washing it, I literally watched my mom wash the lice bug out of my hair and down the drain, and that was the end of that. Many African americans use oil in thier hair. They straighten it, braid it, wear it naturally and pick it, or cut it very short. Most styles with braids are pulled very tightly to the scalp,leaving no room for insects; and most women with straight or relaxed hair use oils and hot hair appliances daily. All of the short cuts, oil, chemical relaxers, hot appliances, and constant changing of styles keeps insects from latching on and making a home.
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Name : RJBuie, Gender : F, Race : Black/African American, Age : 22, City : Abilene, State : TX Country : United States, Education level : 2 Years of College, Social class : Middle class, Yea, fortunatly blacks don't get lice. it's because of our hair texture. White hair is flowy and they (lice)can easily live. But not in Black hair.
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Name : Echoe Simms, Gender : F, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : Black/African American, Religion : Muslim, Age : 18, City : Heidelberg, State : NA Country : Germany, Occupation : Student, Education level : High School Diploma, Social class : Middle class, Well I'm black and got lice in school as a child. So did most of the kids in my class and we were all black.
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Name : Tanya27411, City : London, State : NA Country : United Kingdom, The head louse is communicated person to person or through contact w/ utensils (hairbrushes, ponytail holders) that have lice eggs. The lice attach to the hair shafts. African-Americans that have typical extremely curly/kinky hair are LESS likely to get head lice due primarily to the differences in the hair shaft. Turns out that head lice evolved with humans, and they are adapted to thinner, straighter hair shafts.
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Name : Lyonside, Gender : F, Race : biracial: African-American, European-American, Religion : Catholic, Age : 27, City : Philadelphia, State : PA Country : United States, Occupation : Environmental Scientist, Education level : 4 Years of College, Social class : Middle class, True! I guess it has something to do with hair texture and oil content. I was grown when I found out that many white people had head lice. I never knew what lice were!
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Name : Smitty, City : Chattanooga, State : TN Country : United States, I have no proof, but I find that hard to believe.
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Name : Vail24475, Gender : M, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : mutt, Religion : Atheist, Age : 40, City : Philly, State : PA Country : United States, Education level : 2 Years of College, Social class : Lower middle class, It is not that black people don't get lice, they do, but in general, the hair products that black people tend to use are repellent to lice. One fact that I also learned is that lice prefer clean hair. So, if you do get head lice it is a sign that you have clean hair.
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Name : Matthew-Keiner, Gender : M, Age : 26, City : Oreland, State : PA Country : United States, Education level : Over 4 Years of College, Social class : Upper middle class, Everyone can get lice if you're dirty you're dirty. Black people don't typically get lice because of the hair products they typically use (hair grease etc.)lice I suppose don't do well in an enviroment like that.
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Name : Yuro, City : Willingboro, State : NJ Country : United States, i've heard this before, too. but i also remember a kid in my 1st or 2nd grade class being kept home from school because of head lice. and - unfortunately - my own daughter caught them in kindergarten. so.......
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Name : t. e. roach-raschke, Gender : F, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : Black/African American, Religion : Baptist, Age : 46, City : dusseldorf, State : NA Country : Germany, Occupation : hr development, Education level : 4 Years of College, Social class : Middle class, I really can not give you a definitive answer, but I was told the same thing growing up. In fact I have been in different classrooms where students of other races had lice, but I never got it. It is supposedly the type of hair care products that African Americans use or their hair texture.
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Name : Joyce, City : Houston, State : TX Country : United States, I think blacks do get lice, however, not nearly as frequently as whites or hispanics. Something about the texture of our hair is unfavorable as far as lice living conditions are concerned. I have never known a black person who has had head lice ever, including me.
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Name : Monika20329, Gender : F, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : Black/African American, Religion : Christian, Age : 27, City : Dallas, State : TX Country : United States, Occupation : Programmer, Education level : 4 Years of College, Social class : Middle class, I don't know the answer, and this might be totally bogus, but I heard in a biology class that it has something to do with the shape of whatever the lice use to hold on to the hair shaft. Also, it isn't that they don't get on black people, but that the population of lice that attach to white folks' hair cannot hang on easily to black hair because the hair shaft has a very different shape (blacks' hair shaft being flatter, and whites' being more round). If it were a population of lice that was evolved among black people, then it would be vice versa. The other story I heard was that it was because of the products we black people put in our hair. Who knows? I can only say that I've never had lice...
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Name : Angela24960, Gender : F, Race : Black/African American, Religion : Agnostic, Age : 40, City : Baltimore, State : MD Country : United States, Education level : Over 4 Years of College, Social class : Middle class, 
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