(STORY IMAGE:KHQ.COM)
SPOKANE, Wash. -You may be taking your child Halloween costume shopping, but before your child tries on wigs or hats, you might want to be careful.
There could be lice. A lice expert says most outbreaks happen because the person doesn’t know they have an infestation.
Joan Berkowitz, owner of A Lice Thing to Do, has seen some pretty bad infestations before.
“I would vigorously shake that costume to try to get any hair lice off it,” she says.
But there is a chance that wouldn’t get rid of all of them. Lice are pretty resilient. So after you try something on, Berkowitz says it’s important to check for lice for a minimum of a week to 10 days.
How do you check?
She says pull all of the hair up and check by moving the hair down a small section at a time, especially in the areas of the nape of the neck, around the ears, and the top of the forehead.
Berkowitz says eggs look like dandruff, but they stick to the hair shaft. It’ll be white to brown in color. If you find anything, you can remove the eggs with a special comb.
“The sooner you notice that the sooner you will get it eradicated,” she says, so you don't have a real creepy crawly nightmare on your hands.
For more information: https://srhd.org/health-topics/diseases-conditions/head-lice