It took me a while to figure it out. It’s amazing the amount of types of debris that can be found on a human head. We’ve killed thousands of nits and still get surprised sometimes (glitter, fingernail clippings, cookie pieces, etc). But it can be done. You can learn to tell the difference from lice egg and a potato chip crumb too.
Nits can be very tricky to spot when the insect is new to the head and there isn’t much to see yet. So if at first you don’t succeed, try again tomorrow instead of saying “Well, I checked. That’s it.” They have an incubation phase of about 7 to 10 days. The female lays around 3 to 5 eggs at a pop. Remember that you have a couple of days before they hatch and are populating your head with real crawling bloodsucking head lice. Better to be absolutely sure that they aren’t there and get them and their mother beast before they cause an infestation.
Like so many things in life, lice eggs are not all the same. They tend to blend up against the follicle and that hair follicle can vary in color, as do the eggs. So don’t count on them looking exactly like the pictures that you have googled (although you can admire the moxy of the photographer willing to get that close to a louse ridden head). Diversity is the spice of lice.
Sorry about that. I digress….
Look for bumps on the hair shaft anywhere from next to the scalp to about an inch from the root of the hair follicle, then run your fingers over it. To me, it feels like the hair has a tiny, oval wart that it is part of the shaft, like a bump on a twig. I always try to show my clients how they feel to the touch. You can’t always count on good light but if you are unsure of the validity of your lice egg assumption, nothing on a hair follicle that I have found yet that feels the same.
The nit is attached on one side of the strand with its own special egg glue. It can’t be moved without effort, usually pinching it with your fingernails and pulling it off. There is a good chance that the nit that is discovered past the 1/2 inch area is either old and dead or doomed as a useful cog in the lousy life cycle. Generally, it has to be close enough to the head for the newly hatched nymph to get to an immediate food source (I know. Ew.). But we have seen way too many anomalies along this line to deem this as a certainty. Hedge your bets. Treat is as if the nits are alive. Caution goes a long way in lice hunting.
Here’s what they don’t look like. Dandruff. Sand. Cradle Cap. Sebaceous oil deposits. Paper. Mulch.
Dandruff moves when coerced. Sometimes if you scratch the area on a dry scalp where there is a considerable amount of white debris, you can produce a little more. The hardest cases are the ones when you have an abundance of debris from dandruff because it becomes a needle in the haystack scenario. This is when the whole touch thing really helps. Go slowly, look at each area closely and grab onto the suspicious characters. Don’t be afraid to yank it out for closer examination.
To me, sand resembles nits the most. If the person has been at the beach or a playground with a sandbox, approach with caution. Sweaty heads can make the little so-and-so’s stick but if you pull at it, it should slide off easily. Also, you will probably find more farther down the hair shaft where it just doesn’t make sense for a louse to lay multiple eggs. Still unsure? Try giving the head a good scrub with a liberal amount of shampoo and look again on a clean dry head. Nits don’t wash out easily, if at all.
Mulch is black and sharp. An obvious no upon examination. Paper flakes have sharper edges and are usually lighter. Also an easy no. Cradle cap is in patches against the head. Nits don’t roll that way.
So that leaves sebaceous oil deposits (for lack of better word…..I know that there must be an “official” one out there but so far I’m stumped). We especially find these on adolescents, even more so if they have been sweating. I’ve had to plead with clients to please please believe me that this is not an egg. It can hang onto the strand stubbornly like it is an egg. It can be close to the right color when are smaller. Sounds confusing? Yup.
Think of them as tiny balls of oil that have rolled up and solidified. A lice egg grows in conjunction with their brother and sister eggs from the same batch. The odds of eggs near each other being from the same source are very good, all about the same size and color. The sebaceous deposits are generally a light white which is (usually) the wrong color for a nit. They may vary in sizes and, most importantly, do not normally attach to just one side of the hair shaft. And they don’t have that whole wart feel thing going on. They slide down the shaft easily. Think fatty. Again, ew.
One of the worst parts of having head lice in your home is the amount of uncertainty that is attached to it. If you still aren’t sure, get yourself a good lice comb, pretend what you think you may be seeing is really nits and start combing out whatever else may be on the head (see our instructional www.liceaunties.com/resources-instructions-for-removing-head-lice-and-nits.php). Can’t hurt. Could help.
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The Lice Aunties 
Thank you so much for this information and your expertise! When I found a few little white bumps on our daughter’s hair, I freaked out. I searched her super thick hair millimeter by millimeter for 2 1/2 hours until I was convinced there was no nymph! Only AFTER I did that AND washed or dryed 30+ pillows and 20+ blankets did I find your website. Thank you for the peace of mind!
Thank you so much, Kelly! Hope everything is going well! It is so nerve racking because you are dealing with such a tiny “enemy” and double guessing just how well you got it can really get to you. If it helps, we do this all of the time and they are not impervious, just small.