Sometimes the source is another adult in close contact with the children. Head lice crawl quickly from one person's head to another and multiply rapidly. What To Look For These tiny, flat insects have no wings and cannot jump or fly. Head lice live and breed on the hair of the head. Adult female lice produce a great many nits.
Nits are very tiny eggs, half the size of a pinhead, and oval in shape.
They may look like dandruff but they're firmly glued to the hair and can't be flicked off. New eggs, which are laid right next to the scalp, are tan to brown in colour and difficult to see. White nits more than 1 cm from the scalp have likely hatched or died. Head lice do not live long and their nits do not hatch away from the warmth and humidity of the scalp. Itching and scratching are common signs of head lice.