Checking Your Child's Hair For Head Lice: 3 Tips To Ensure You Won't Miss A Thing
Is your child constantly scratching their head? Does someone at their school have head lice? There's a chance that they might have head lice too. In fact, head lice is quite common and infests approximately 6 to 12 million American children between the ages of 3 to 11 each year. If you suspect that your child has head lice, you should sit them down and thoroughly inspect their scalp. The eggs look like little beads stuck onto a single strand of hair, whereas the adults look more like sesame seeds. The following 3 tips will help ensure that you won't miss them if they're around.
Choose a Well-Lit Room or Environment During the Inspection
Head lice are often the same color as your child's hair. This makes it increasingly difficult to spot them, as they can easily hide themselves. Don't let head lice have any opportunities to hide by performing the inspection in a well-lit room. Ideally, you should look for head lice by the window where there's natural sunlight; however, if the sky looks rather dreary or if you're performing the inspection at night, choose a room that is preferably lit with white light. It'll illuminate all possible hiding spots.
Use the Right Tools to Dig Deep
To get deep into the scalp, it's vital that you have the right tools. First of all, put on a pair of gloves, so that you won't be scared of diving deep into the scalp. Next, use a fine-toothed comb to isolate the nits. If your child's hair is quite tangled, use a wide-toothed comb first to get rid of the knots. Last but not least, use tweezers to grab the lice if you're having difficulties. Disinfect all of the tools that you need and set them in front of you in an easy-to-reach area.
Look Over the Same Section Several Times
It's not unusual to overlook lice and their eggs, as they are so incredibly small. To avoid missing something, you want to look over the same section several times at different angles. Work through each section carefully and section of small parts of hair, so that you don't feel overwhelmed. This will help you determine whether your child is really lice free.
Conclusion
There are plenty of reasons why your child might have lice. They could be in close contact with other children that are infested or more. Thankfully, lice is not a permanent nor severe problem. There are plenty of products on the market that will help you get rid of them easily.