To think fleas can't live in child's hair

[noisygit]

I was washing dd hair yesterday in the shower and spotted a flea on the nape of her neck, I tried to pick it up but it hopped in her hair and then hopped in the bath and was hopping around until I washed it away with the shower.
Surely they can't be living in her hair?
We've never had any pets and never seen a flea here before.

I've looked and looked through her hair and I can't see anymore.

More likely a head louse

I think it depends if they are human fleas or dog or cat fleas.

Head lice don't jump.

Well I wanted to make sure so I did some research and it said headlice don't jump and this was black and jumped.

I was any aware fleas could live in humans.

Wasn't aware

Cat fleas will bite humans and can linger on them, but they won't last long.

I don't think they set up home anywhere. Wherever there's warm blood to be had they'll seek it out.

I didn't think human flea existed in UK any more -

(Pulex irritans)
Human fleas are now less common in the UK, except for farming areas where they can survive on pigs, and then jump to humans. They will bite anywhere on the body and are associated with itchiness as fleas crawl over the skin.

https://www.rentokil.co.uk/fleas/species/#:~:text=Human%20fleas%20are%20now%20less,fleas%20crawl%20over%20the%20skin.

Are you near a pig farming area - site has pictures if that's any help.

Otherwise I'd assume she picked up a stray cat or dog flea from somewhere and hopefully with no pets it will just be one odd flea experience.

Fleas can exist in the environment waiting for a host to pass by. It's likely this has jumped on someone or something and been lurking in the carpet before finding your DD. If you can see it then it's not a human flea. Animal fleas won't be able to live on a human because we just aren't warm enough for them.

They can live on humans. I think they're host-specific for breeding, though, so human blood can feed them, but won't allow them to breed if it's a cat flea. That's no comfort if you've got itchy bites, though. And I could be wrong.

I remember getting home from school when I was about 8, having done gymnastics and I asked Mum, "am I meant to have insects in my hair?" That was a headlouse...

It had probably hitched a lift on daughter from the pets or carpets. It won't live permanently on humans, it would have felt the heat and wanted to check if it was an animal or not. Use Indorex to spray the house and make sure any pets you have are treated.

Could be just a stray one. How long have you lived in the house? They can last a long time if previous owners had pets. Or maybe she picked it up at a friend's house. They don't live any length of time on humans but can jump on and bite opportunistically

No we live in the centre of a large city and she is only 5 so wouldn't have stroked any animal without me seeing.

Dog and cat fleas can't breed on people because we don't have the fur they need I think I read.
For that reason they don't tend to set up home on us. They can hop on and have a snack but they'll be looking for a more suitable host.

Head lice do jump.

It's likely a stray cat/dog flea from a carpet or something (they can lie dormant in carpets for around 9 -12 months) she's come in contact with then.

@spicedlemonpie

Head lice do jump.

No, they don't.

Thank you I have bought some spray for the house called clear so hopefully that works while she's at school and washed her bedding extra hot.
We've never had pets in this house and moved here 11 years ago.
We last had guests more than a week ago and they don't have a pet.
Hoping it was just the one and nothing more. It doesn't appear to have bitten her which is good but strange.

Head lice walk from host to host; they do not jump

They really don't.......

Loads of fleas roam around outside, very common for them to jump onto clothing etc and be brought into the home so maybe it jumped on her during school run?

Had she been playing on grass? Sometimes dogs can catch them outside.

This happened to my dd once. I went a bit mad with flea traps and spray but never found another one. And yes I know what headlice look like! Had those recently