10 Simple Steps for Detecting Lice on Your Child

As a parent, you know that a sick child often means a cranky child. From the common cold to allergies, it can be hard to pinpoint exactly what is wrong when children have trouble articulating their symptoms. You can use the following steps to determine if the problem may be lice:

1. Your child complains of a tickling or itching sensation on their scalp. This sensation is caused by lice moving throughout the scalp and biting the skin in order to feed on blood.
2. Your child may be irritable from lack of sleep due to the fact that lice are more active at night.
3. You notice red bumps (irritation from lice bites) on your child’s scalp and/or neck area.
4. Your child’s scalp appears red and irritated from excessive scratching.
5. Look out for open sores on your child’s head from prolonged and intense scratching. These can become infected so it is especially important to utilize these steps if these sores are noticed so treatment can begin immediately.
6. Your child may exhibit swollen or tender lymph nodes in the neck due to an allergic reaction to the lice saliva.
7. There is what appears to be black dandruff in your child’s hair. This is actually lice droppings and not dandruff at all.
8. Look and feel for lice eggs in your child’s hair. They will be present on the part of the hair that is closest to the scalp (about a ¼ inch down at most).  The eggs will feel similar to grains of sand.
9. Use a detection comb, such as Nix^® Premium Comb, to comb through hair and trap potential lice.
10. If you are worried that you may be mistaking pieces of actual dandruff or pieces of hair products for lice, equip yourself with a magnifying glass in order to get a more detailed look of what you are trapping with the detection comb.