So, you have come to this site to research the lice life cycle. We will try to help you understand exactly that! First, have a look at the chart below which lays out the life cycle of headlice. Below the chart, I will explain each of the steps so it is easily understandable.

So, here is how the lice life cycle breaks down:

1. Starting at 0 days on the chart, the lice egg is laid on the hair shaft by an adult female louse.

2. Six to seven days in, this lice egg will hatch and a young (and perhaps not so cute) louse will “come into the world”.

3. Within two days of hatching (now 8 or 9 days in), the Louse will have its first moult. This is the cycle of shedding skin. Newly hatched nymphs (these are baby lice) will moult three times before they reach their sexually-maturity.

4. 11-12 days into the cycle (five days after hatching), the louse will have its second moult.

5. The third and final moult occurs 10 days after hatching (16-17 days into the lice life cycle).

6. On days 17-19, it is now consiedered an adult and the larger female and the male will begin to reproduce.

7. It doesn’t take very long. Only two days after mating, female lice lay their first eggs (between 19 and 32 days into the cycle). The female will lay between 4 and 8 eggs each day for just over two weeks and then she will die leaving her eggs to hatch and the baby nits to run around in yours or your family member’s hair.

And that, quite simply is the full life cycle of lice or “head louse/lice”. Lice (pediculus humanus capitis) live about 4 weeks on average after being hatched which makes the full cycle roughly thirty-three to thirty-five days.