Helping get rid of children’s head lice

Head lice are tiny blood sucking insects that live in human hair – clean or dirty, they aren’t fussy! Lice can’t fly, hop or swim instead they spread by head-to-head contact.

Persistent head scratching could indicate your child has lice. Hair can be easily checked with a head-lice combe with 0.3mm tooth spacing. While combing look for white empty egg sacs (nits) glued to the hair shaft and brown-red, sesame-seed-sized adults lice. If live adults are found, you will need to apply a head-lice treatment to prevent an infestation.

This works on dry hair but live lice are easier to spot on wet hair that has been washed but with conditioner left in.

Detangle hair with a wide-toothed comb

Starting at the neck, temples and behind the ears, divide hair into sections. Using the lice comb, comb each section from the scalp to the end three times.

Between each use of the comb check the teeth for lice or eggs