Do these black specks in my son's hair look like lice?

[Fortheloveofpizza]

I have found these little black specs on my son’s hair . I thought they were lice eggs but according to google they are white. I’ve scraped them out and they look like debris but there are quite a lot and I’m concerned.

Do they look like lice? The larger brown mark is a freckle

If they were lice the barber would have noticed and pointed it out. Guess how I lnow this

The eggs would be glued to the hair and hard to remove. Unhatched eggs are brown and empty cases are white. If you haven't found live lice then I doubt it is head lice at all

Hope you get to the bottom of it tomorrow, OP. They don’t even look like unhatched eggs to me, they are usually small and oval shaped. The ones in your sons hair look like darker flicks of shaved hairs. When my daughter had nits, she itched like crazy, that’s what prompted me to check. Keep us updated, I’m very curious what this could be. Good luck.

Get into the routine of sitting behind him while he watches TV or is having a story. Put conditioner on his hair. Comb with a bit come and wipe the comb on tissue.

Do it as a habit every week to ten days. If you ever catch anything that moves do it daily for ten days.

It’s no big drama if it’s just routine. It’s a big BIG drama of you don’t do it and end up dealing with an infestation and unwilling/alarmed child!

Me too, just reading it 😂

They could be thunderflies. They are little harmless black flies that appear when there's a combination of hot weather and high humidity. I usually find them on my arms.

I also feel like they could just be specks of dirt? Do they go with shampoo?

Does he have a gaming headset at all - DH and I both use these and they are really annoying for having this soft thin black plasticky coating which as the headset ages, the coating breaks down and comes off in little flecks, I am forever finding them all over the place.

I don’t think they’re lice
the barber would have alerted you almost certainly

however whatever they are nit comb should help get them out

Have you a magnifying glass? Or, a macro setting on your camera? Have a look at them blown up if you can? Should be easier to see if critters or not.

The eggs are brown when lice are in them, white when empty cases.
Can't obviously see them in your photo but think the zoom has blurred it abit so hard to tell.

Actually looking again at the photo, I really do think it's just tiny bits of hair from the haircut.

With hair in the colour that he has, the actual colour is heavily dependent on the light shining through it, so because they are flat to his head they look brown whereas his hair which is standing out from his head looks light blonde.

If you take one hair between your fingers (pincher grip) and try to slide it down the hair - if it's lice they won't move as they will be stuck to the hair shaft

Headlice eggs are white after they have hatched these are quite dark so i would say about to hatch so get them out quick.

I think these are longer/narrower in shape, and lice eggs rounder, but treat them as unhatched eggs in case and comb every visible one out ASAP.

A nit comb is essential kit- chances are you’ll use it repeatedly for a few years and good to do once a week with conditioner to catch things early. Scrape the comb onto white tissue and you get a clear view of any unwanted visitors!

Mine gets sand in his hair that doesn't wash out easily. I keep panicking that he has lice, but they don't move

Did you get to the bottom of this @Fortheloveofpizza?

No. Live eggs are round and white. Lice look like small insects. You can see they have wings etc.

Head lice don't have wings.

Well mine did. Or something that looked like wings… carapace maybe

If they had wings they were not head lice. That's why they need close contact to spread - they crawl over. If they could fly we would all get them regularly!!

Head lice walk; they dont jump or fly and dont have wings

Absolutely this. Prevention is so better than cure. Treatment with chemicals gave my DD such a bad cough that I went the least toxic route.

A weekly wet comb with conditioner will keep on top of things. When we did get them I would then do the wet comb daily - by a bright window.

Another trick taught to me by a school nurse is to have a small white towel to dry hair after washing. You can check the towel for lice. A comb is better, but cover all bases.

Now I am itching.

Hi all. I’ve been going through with a lice comb but nothing live. The black is like gum that coats the hair shaft rather than stuck on. Got most out now. No idea what it was.
As a precaution we bought a treatment and all of us sat with it on.

Look like beard shavings? Did I read he had had a hair cut, if so not cleaned the clippers properly

I’ve looked and I was confusing the light sides and dark central line with wings. Forgive me I had them as a child so it’s been a while. But they certainly didn’t look like OPs photo. They were distinct insects.