If you’re a parent it can be a nightmare the day your child comes home from school complaining of an itchy scalp. It can only mean one thing, head lice. Then you ask, what do head lice look like? This blog post is going to tell you exactly what to look for while you’re examining your child’s scalp for head louse/lice and nits.

First signs of head lice

Your child will probably first complain of an itchy scalp, and also say that they can feel something moving around on their head. When the lice are making a home on your child’s head they can tickle, hurt or just irritate. This is caused by the biting and the faeces they leave behind. All creatures poop including head lice.

Head lice like the warm

Head lice like the warmest parts of your child’s head which is usually around the nape of their neck or just behind their ears. These are the first places you should look for any infestations.

Adult head lice

Adult head lice are tan in color, and they’re about the size of a sesame seed. They move very quickly through your child’s hair so you will won’t have very long to identify them. The female is slightly larger than the male if you’re able to tell the difference, and she will lay between 50 and 100 eggs during her 30 day life span.

Nymphs

Nymphs are the younger head lice that look just like their parents only slightly smaller. These are harder to spot as the color of their body changes to match the color of your child’s hair.

Nits or lice eggs

Lice eggs, also know as nits are white, brown or clear, and they cling to the hair shaft very well which makes them difficult to remove. They are stuck to the shaft with a glue that the mother produces when she lays the egg. This glue is very tough and will wrap around the shaft completely. This means that the nit needs to be slid completely along the strand of hair to be removed. The white eggs are the dead ones, and the brown and clear are the live ones.

Other signs to look out for

As well as the creepy crawlies you will also notice small red bumps where the head lice have been feeding on your child’s scalp. Scratching can lead to infection of these bites, and the chemical head lice cures that you purchase can get into the bloodstream through these tiny sores.

How to cure your child’s head lice

After you have successfully identified head lice as the reason for your child’s scalp problems you can go about treating them. Joy Fisher has created a home remedy for head lice that is natural and kind to your child’s scalp. You can read more about Joy’s head lice cure here -Joy Fisher’s Head Lice Be Gone.