Head lice help

[headlicehelp]

Just had an email from DS nursery saying there is a confirmed case of headlice and a few suspected cases. We've to keep an eye on his hair (advice is not to do preventative treatments).
I have absolutely no idea what I'm looking for though!
I've never had headlice. Although I feel itchy after reading the email
Do I just brush through his hair looking at his scalp for anything unusual? He's got very short hair (I cut his hair recently) so they should be easily spotted, right?

Tea tree repellent spray is usually is pound shops or B&M style discount shops, DD has sensitive skin and never had a bad reaction to it.

With a DC at nursery you do need to build a weekly check in to your routine, once the nursery has nits, they just circulate round and round. There always seems to be one child who is never treated so everyone keeps getting them.

Once his hair is dry (and he's busy doing something), have a good look through his hair near the roots.
If he has any live nits, they will have laid eggs. These are firmly attached (in fact glued on by the female) - so much so that you will struggle to get them off between your fingernails.
The eggs that haven't hatched will be tiny and black. If they have hatched, they will be a bit bigger, and paler.
If you use a nit comb, make sure you keep it in contact with the scalp all of the way through. Those buggers can run like hell!
Good luck OP.

Oh and bribery works here, DD gets a chocolate and games or CBeebies on the kindle while I comb her hair.

Nitty gritty with conditioner or.... De tangle spray....

Easier I found to put on the hair.

Brush hair first.. Before running fine comb through it. By ⌚ nitty gritty gets to it, shouldn't hurt.

Have cup of boiling water to hand and tissues to wipe.

Separate hair, long stokes through... After each comb, plunge the comb into the cup. Then wipe on tissue.

I thought the electric louse comb was brilliant, especially with a wriggly toddler! You can use it on dry hair so there is no faffing with conditioner. This meant I could do my child in many short sessions rather than one mammoth session. (Obviously the lice can move about from one session to the next, and I couldn't consider the job to have been done thoroughly, but I just kept at it over and over and figured I would get them all eventually!) The noise changes whenever it zaps a louse, so you don't have to be good at inspecting and identifying them. Also very good to use on yourself if you have nobody who can check you.

Main disadvantage is that it doesn't detect and remove eggs, only lice. So you have to keep using it for a few weeks in order to kill the newly hatched ones before they have a chance to lay eggs. Also the high-pitched noise was slightly annoying and I imagine some people with sensory issues might find it unbearable.