Is it lice?

[lyssie29]

I was combing my daughters hair this morning and there was a black bug I assumed it was lice and I'm going to do the whole thing tonight but thinking about it it was quite big and actually went onto my hand. Would a head lice do that? My cat has had fleas do you think it might have been a random flea? I just didn't think head lice came off so easy.

A flea would very unlikely to walk onto your hand, they jump,.. and they’re small.
Lice? What colour is your daughters hair? Apparently they take on the hair colour so I’ve read. I found one on my dd many years ago ... it was huge! So yes they can be big. The only way I found effective on getting rid of lice and their eggs is painstakingly getting them out with a nit comb or fingers (if you have good nails). Even after putting on a chemical treatment, the only way to remove eggs is with a comb. Not all treatments kill eggs.

I’d check your dd thoroughly and decide from there.

Was it totally black or just black in the very centre of its body?

Crawlies are actually rather big, their eggs are small

Did they look like this?

We had a huge infestation in dds class couple of years ago. One brazenly walked out across one of their fringes as I was doing their hair in the morning. It was bloody huge. I didn't send her into school, if they're at the stage they're walking around you've got a big infestation.

@ems137 it looked totally black.

@Liverprobs she has blonde hair so I spotted it straight away because it was black and it was crawling around just near the top of her neck. I will check her hair thoroughly tonight and her sisters. I searched a little after but found none but I didn't have time to do a thorough search.

Lice aren't black, and I don't think fleas get very big (I don't think so).
Sounds like it was a different type of bug that crawled or flew onto her.

When they have bit and are full of blood they can appear dark.

I would still treat hair like they are lice just in case

We have just come through an infestation of head lice in all 3 of my children who all have blonde hair. Even my boy who has short hair has it. The lice were dark and were walking about 🙈.

Their eggs were also dark in their hair. I treated them all with the treatment but also did daily conditioner combing with a nitty gritty comb. I did this daily for first week then moved to every 2-3 days and then once per week. They are now totally clear and I will be using the conditioner and comb method to check once a month from now on!!

Does your child attend forest school? Is it a tick?

DD1 had a friend with lice so big you could see them from 3 rows back in class. When Dd got one I was stunned at the size of it.

Thanks everyone. I've treated all our hair anyway and will be using the comb every day to double check.