If you’ve ever had young kids in the house, you’ll know the dreaded note from school: ‘There’s been a case of head lice in the class.’

With schools now back in full swing, there are bound to be more than a few outbreaks of nits in classrooms across the country.

But what’s the best way to deal with the pests, and how can parents make sure they’re gone for good?

Natasha Lucas from The Nit Cracker, who specialises in tackling head lice in children, said that children pick up nits more often than adults due to being in closer proximity with each other.

“Kids put their heads together more than adults would; but adults get them just the same,” she told The Anton Savage Show.

“Kids are playing, they’re putting their heads together and looking at iPads, books, whatever, where adults don’t, unless they’re hugging or standing quite close to somebody, pick them up as often.

“[Nits] can’t jump, they can’t fly, they just walk very fast – that's all myths.

“You do actually need hair contact, or if a child hung their coat up and one child had a lot of lice, they could walk from one coat up to another hanging up in schools.”

Child scratching her hair for head lice. Image: Mother checking childrens head for lice with a comb. Image: Johan Lenell. 12 February 2015.

Ms Lucas warned that watching out for head scratching isn’t a fool proof way of spotting a lice infection, as some people simply don’t notice the biting at first.

“The proper way of checking is not just opening the hair and having a quick look,” she said.

“You need to section the hair, put a bit of conditioning spray in and comb.

“Wipe the comb with a baby wipe and see if there’s anything on the actual comb.

“They disguise themselves very well – whatever colour hair they hatch out is what colour they remain, so they’re camouflaged.”

However, Ms Lucas said prevention methods like making sure long hair is tied up and certain brands of repellents do help.

How to get treat

Once an infection has taken root though, Ms Lucas said oily products will not kill headlice, but they will make it easier to comb them out of the hair.

“It kind of slows them down, as in the chemicals, the oil, they can’t move around as easily,” she said.

“Even when you start off doing one side of the hair, they’ll all move around to the other – they'll move away from where the movement is on the hair.

“You’ll always find them in places where the hair is least moved on your head, even back behind your ears, the back of your neck, where your hair has the least movement.”

According to Ms Lucas, if a child does pick up lice, their parents should comb their hair every day for at least a week to ensure any eggs are also removed.

Main image: Mother checking childrens head for lice with a comb. Image: Johan Lenell. 12 February 2015