There’s one note that can turn a normal school pickup into a small wave of panic among the parents at the gate: the nit note. Head lice, and the note home that announces them, can turn up any week of the term, not just at the start of the year.
I remember the afternoon clearly when, at school pickup, my sweet-faced kindergartner came skipping excitedly out of her classroom, pigtails swinging, waving a note and announcing (in her not-so-inside voice) ‘Mum! A nit note! A nit note! Someone has nits!’
The parents and carers all shot each other nervous looks, horrified at the thought of the creatures possibly invading our kid’s hair or, worse, the judgment that might come with being the ‘initiator’.
Incredibly, for six years, we’d managed to avoid the rampant little beasts but, having heard the horror stories, I was ready! Long before the first day of school, I’d been to the chemist and armed myself with an arsenal of products guaranteed to ‘kill them fast’ and with ‘one treatment only’. Oh, I was prepared and quietly confident that the stealthy little vermin were going to be no match for a mum on a mission to keep her household head lice-free.
We were barely through the front door when I started barking orders – ‘Sit!’, ‘stay still!’, ‘STOP SCRATCHING!’ I opened my ridiculously overpriced plastic nit comb and began the search, as determined as a kid searching the fridge for sweets. I was still breathing relief as I smugly replied on the school mums Messenger chat: ‘None here. Phew!’
Fast forward 12 months and I’m not so smug these days, having experienced the eradication process twice (and I consider that lucky given the number of nit notes we’ve had home!). The plastic combs have long been replaced with more expensive effective metal ones and my approach to nits is ‘proactive in prevention’ in the hopes that I won’t have to be ‘reactive in annihilation’ too often.
I also noticed, pleasantly, that rather than foster judgment, the topic of nits amongst the school parents created somewhat of a camaraderie and, as a result, I’ve picked up some great hints and tips to share with Newy with Kids readers – just in case you happen to notice your little darling scratching their head on their way out of class (hopefully not on their first day back!).
What Do Head Lice and Nits Actually Look Like?
Head lice are small, greyish-brown insects about the size of a sesame seed, while nits (the eggs) are tiny, oval and pale, and glued firmly to the hair shaft close to the scalp. Unlike dandruff, nits don’t brush or shake off easily.
They’re most often found behind the ears and at the nape of the neck, so that’s the first place to check if your child’s been scratching.
Do Head Lice Prefer Clean Hair?
This is one of the most persistent myths going around. Head lice don’t care whether hair is clean or dirty. They simply need a scalp to feed on and hair to cling to, and they spread through head-to-head contact, which is exactly why classrooms and playgrounds are such a common source.
How to Check for Head Lice
Wet the hair and comb it section by section with a fine-tooth metal comb over a white towel or tissue, wiping the comb after each stroke so anything caught is easy to spot.
Do this in good light, and check right at the scalp, especially behind the ears and at the nape of the neck, since that’s where both lice and nits are most often found.
Head Lice Prevention Tips
If your child has longer hair, tie it up. When a nit note comes home, I usually put my daughter’s hair in a bun with a hairnet for school for a week or two afterwards. A generous amount of hairspray helps too, since lice apparently aren’t fans.
A spray bottle mix of water, cheap conditioner and a few drops of tea-tree oil, combed through hair each morning before school, is a simple daily habit worth adopting during an outbreak at school. It’s worth combing it through your own hair too, just in case.
Coconut oil run through the hair is also said to help, since lice struggle to grip oiled hair, though be warned not sure how your child’s teacher will feel about having the smell of coconut in the classroom all day.
Check your child’s hair regularly, even without a nit note home. Catching a handful of lice early is a much smaller job than dealing with a full colony two weeks later.
A good quality metal head lice comb, like the Lice Breaker with its fine grooved teeth, is worth the investment. Pair it with the cheapest conditioner you can find for the wet-combing method below.
Head Lice Treatment: Wet Combing (What Actually Works)
The most reliably effective treatment, and the one every parent I’ve spoken to agrees on, is wet combing. Sit your child down, ideally with a screen to keep them still, and coat their hair in cheap conditioner. Comb it through piece by piece, wiping the comb on a paper towel after every stroke.
Repeat this every 2 to 3 days for around two weeks. It’s tedious, but it’s the method with the best track record for actually clearing an infestation rather than just knocking numbers down.
A hair straightener can help too. The heat won’t necessarily kill everything, but it can finish off anything that survived the comb.
Do You Need to Wash Bed Linen and Towels?
Opinions differ here. Head lice can’t survive long away from a human scalp, so strictly speaking, washing everything in the house isn’t essential. I still wash bed linen and towels during an outbreak, purely for peace of mind, but this one really comes down to personal choice. If washing helps you feel more in control, wash.
Where to Get Help in the Hunter
If the lice won’t budge, The Ark Hair & Beauty Salon in Cessnock offers professional head lice treatment along with their own specially formulated, non-toxic treatment and prevention products.
Frequently Asked Questions about Head Lice
Lice are small, greyish-brown insects roughly the size of a sesame seed. Nits are tiny, pale, oval eggs glued firmly to the hair shaft, usually close to the scalp behind the ears or at the nape of the neck.
Neither. Lice attach to any hair and spread through head-to-head contact, regardless of how clean the hair is.
Wet combing with conditioner and a fine metal comb, repeated every 2 to 3 days for about two weeks, is the method most parents and health guidance agree works best.
Not strictly. Lice don’t survive long off the scalp, so it’s more about personal peace of mind than medical necessity.
Comb wet hair section by section with a fine metal comb over a white towel, checking closely behind the ears and at the nape of the neck, where lice and nits are most commonly found.
Have any other tips that have worked for your family? Let us know so we can share them with other Newy with Kids readers.
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