School is back in session and already parents are taking precautions against head lice. Every parent has had the back-to-school discussion with their kids about the importance of not sharing a comb or a hat with one of their friends. But now parents might have to warn their kids that one of their favorite pastimes could also be a cause of the transfer of head lice: taking selfies.

One pediatrician from Wisconsin has noticed an increase in teens getting head lice, and she says it's because of teens taking selfies. Physician Sharon Rink calls the critters 'social-media lice' and says that teens normally don't share combs and hats, but they quite often put their heads together for selfies. She says,

Lice can’t jump, so the only way they can transmit lice is touching their heads together, and that’s happening with all these photos.

Rink says that teens are taking selfies with friends numerous times every day, so there is more contact with other heads.

This sounds like a believable theory, but according to Katie Shepherd, founder and CEO of the Shepherd Institute for Lice Solutions, taking selfies is probably not the real reason why more teens are being infected with head lice. Shepherd believes that the real reason is that more schools are just slacking when it comes to lice-prevention and that the products that are on the market, don't always work.

Shepherd says that lice are transmitted by head to head contact, but only move about nine inches in a one minute time frame. She says selfies are usually done quickly, so there is not enough time for the lice to travel from head to head.

Whether you believe that teens can transfer head lice from taking selfies or not, Shepherd does say that having your teen spritz their hair with a mint-based product is about 90 percent effective in repelling lice. That might be the best option, because the chances that your teen will stop taking selfies is probably zero percent!

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