[Vicki-R]

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, 

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