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Back to school for a lot of kids means more than catching up with old friends – it means catching head lice. What is head lice and, more importantly, how do you get rid of it?

According to experts, head lice affects approximately one in every 10 children. Young girls get infested more, possibly because they are more likely to share brushes and hair accessories and the like, but boys are by no means immune. Neither, in fact, are you.

Head lice are extremely contagious. While they do need human blood to survive, they can manage for a day or two nestled into a hat or rug or pillowcase or couch. So just resting your head on the back of the sofa where an infested person sat might do the trick if a couple of the parasites happened to have fallen off.

If you notice your kid scratching a lot, do an inspection.

If she has them, you will either see tiny little ovals (the eggs, called nits) that do not shake off for anything stuck to the hair near the scalp, and / or the little buggers themselves, no larger than a sesame seed scurrying away from your prying hands. Pay close attention to the area behind the ears or the back of the neck, where head lice prefer.

To get rid of head lice you will need a lice remedy of some sort and whole lot of patience. Your local drug store will carry over the counter head lice treatments that use pesticides or chemicals to kill the pests. And while you are there, pick up a nit comb or a lice comb. use run this through your child’s beautiful hair every day until at the very minimum eight days after the last louse sighting. But to be sure you child is lice free, comb through the hair every day for two weeks.