Nit Pickin'

Head lice or nits tend to be most common in young children from the ages of 4 to 11, and while it’s essentially harmless, it can be very annoying for your children as they can cause a very itchy scalp. If not treated, they can live in the hair for a long time and easily pass onto friends and family.

Lice or nits can be white, dark grey or brown, sesame seed sized insects and are usually spotted in the hair at the back of the neck or behind the ears. Lice eggs, called nits, can be missed as they are glued onto hairs near the scalp. If you suspect your child might have nits, the best way to know for sure is to find a live one with a detection comb. If you don’t have one handy, you can pick up from your local Pharmacy.

1. Wash your child’s hair with their usual shampoo and apply conditioner. The conditioner can help stop the lice moving too much.
2. Comb through with an ordinary comb to straighten and untangle hair.
3. Switch to the detection comb, starting at the root of the hair with the edge of the teeth touching the scalp.
4. Draw the comb all the way through to the ends of the hair.
5. Continue on every patch of hair, checking the comb each time for lice.
6. Remove any lice or eggs found between strokes by wiping the comb on a tissue.

If several rounds of detection combing doesn’t do the trick, talk to your Pharmacist about the range of lice treatment lotions and sprays available from Unichem or Life Pharmacy.

TIP:  Make sure you treat everyone in your child’s circle of family and friends that has nits on the same day.