Guide

What you are looking at, without the folklore.

Lice, nits, dandruff

The reliable home test is still a live louse on a tissue after wet combing. These plates are a prompt, not a diagnosis.

Adult louse
About the size of a sesame seed (2–3 mm)
Tan, grey or brown, six legs, no wings
Moves — that is the key difference from debris
Lives close to the scalp, especially behind ears and at the nape

Nit (egg)
Tiny oval, pinhead sized, white/tan/clear
Glued to the hair shaft — it will not flick off
Live eggs sit within about 6 mm of the scalp
Empty shells further down the hair may be old

Dandruff or debris
Irregular white or grey flakes
Brushes or flicks off easily
Not glued to one spot on the hair
Sand, hair product, and dry scalp look similar

Live eggs sit close to the scalp — roughly within 6 mm. Shells further down the hair may be old.

Life cycle

Day 0
Eggs laid
A female louse lays eggs (nits) and cements them to the hair, close to the scalp.
Days 7–10
Hatch
Nymphs emerge. This is why a second treatment or continued combing is essential — most products miss some eggs.
Days 9–12
Nymphs grow
Young lice stay on the head and feed. They cannot yet lay eggs.
Around day 12+
Adults
Adults live about a month on the head. Without treatment the cycle repeats every three weeks or so.

The quiet facts

Not about hygiene

Head lice live on people of every background. Clean hair is as welcoming as dirty hair. This is not a reflection on you, your home, or your child.

They do not spread disease

Lice feed on the scalp and itch. They do not carry other illnesses. They survive only a day or two off a head.

Spread is head-to-head

The usual route is close play, selfies, huddles. Hats and brushes are a much smaller risk. You do not need to fog the house.

Treat only live lice

Queensland Health advises treating when you find a live louse. Empty egg shells can linger after a cleared infestation.

Myths, retired

Only dirty hair gets lice.

Lice grip hair. Cleanliness is irrelevant. Shame helps nobody and delays treatment.

We need to wash the whole house.

Lice die within a day or two off the head. Wash pillowcases on a hot cycle or tumble dry. You do not need pest spray.

If I treat everyone “just in case”, we will stay clear.

Do not use chemical treatments as prevention — it drives resistance. Check close contacts; treat only live lice.

Nits mean we still have lice.

Empty shells can stick after the infestation is gone. A live louse is the treatment trigger.

My child cannot go to school until every nit is gone.

Policies vary by state. In Victoria, children can usually return the day after treatment starts, even if nits remain. In Queensland, check your school’s policy — many follow “treatment has started”. Nitflix will draft a calm note for the school.

Itching always means lice.

Itch can lag, and dry scalp itches too. Look for a live louse in good light, then confirm with wet combing.

A clip round the ear (or a phone to the skull) clears lice.

It does not. It never did, even when Nan had a Clydesdale and a butter churn. Corporal punishment is not a nit treatment. Wet-comb, then a pharmacist. Never hit a child with a phone.

Sources

Written for Australian families. Clinical framing from emergency nursing practice in Brisbane. Always prefer the product information and your pharmacist if the two disagree.

Treatment lanes →

The phone policy

We know the cartoon is not clear. That is the joke, and also why this exists in writing more than once.

Black-and-white gag: old-timey grandparents try to bop picnic nits with a smartphone that would not have existed. Not a method. Never hit a child with a phone. — Phone policy · we know it is not clear
We know this cartoon is not clear. That is why this is here, in writing: never hit a child with a phone. Never hit a nit with a phone either. The phone is for looking — a torch, a magnifier, a camera. It is not a paddle, a comb, a lotion, or Nan’s preferred method.
As tempting as this may be, and as effective as your grandparents may swear it was, corporal punishment is no longer an accepted form of nit treatment. Things have changed. Bonnets, butter churns and the Clydesdale are optional. Hitting children is not a protocol. Wet-comb. Ask a pharmacist. Keep the phone in your hand, not on anyone’s head.