The Best Lice Combs

Nit Free Terminator Lice Comb

Painless precision

The micro-grooves on this steel comb capture lice and nits without scratching the scalp.

Best Overall

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As if having blood-sucking insects on your head wasn’t bad enough, the adult lice are just one half of the problem. When a louse lays an egg — called a nit — it takes about eight days to hatch. When it does, it leaves behind a little white empty egg case. Unfortunately, both live and empty nits are pretty stuck on the scalp, which means they can last on your head for weeks if you let them. A good comb should kill and remove both, and the Terminator Lice Comb lives up to its name. Not only are the metal teeth strong enough to trap the tricky nits on the scalp itself, but the spiral micro-grooved teeth have enough texture to brush the lice and nits out of the hair strands in just one or two passes. And because the tooth ends are rounded, you won’t scratch or pull your child’s hair in the process.

Pros:

• Corrosion-resistant stainless steel construction
• Anti-slip bands on the handle give you a more comfortable grip
• Easy to sterilize with boiling water after use

Cons:

• Works better on fine hair

Nix Electronic Lice Comb

Chemical-free zapping

Kill lice on contact with this electric comb that also has lights for easy spotting and detection.

Best Electric

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While many parents use insecticide shampoos to first tackle their lice infestation, some children’s scalps are too sensitive for chemical exposure. Before, this just meant a longer treatment with more brushing and combing until all the lice are manually removed. These days, though, you can speed up the process and still keep your kids chemical-free. The Nix Electronic Lice Comb uses a small electric charge to kill the lice as it removes them. With an LED indicator light to let you know every time you’ve stunned or killed a bug, you can be sure your hard work is making a difference. But because there’s current involved, make sure your child’s hair is dry when you use it.

Pros:

• Safe to use on children 2+ years
• Comes with 1 AA battery
• Has a spotlight for easy detection

Cons:

• Teeth are too far apart to catch nits
• Sometimes only stuns the adult lice

Trendy Buy Lice Combs

More combs, less cost

This super-saver pack of lice combs has both metal and plastic options to remove lice efficiently.

Best Value

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When it comes to ridding our household of a lice infestation, money is no issue. But paying more for the same treatment we could get for cheaper also doesn’t make sense. Get three combs for less than half the price of other brands with this set by Trendy Buy, which comes with both metal and plastic options. While metal combs are excellent at removing nits with their finer-tuned, sturdier teeth, they aren’t that useful for quick and early detection because the hair needs to be wet and detangled in most cases. On the other hand, plastic combs are easy for quick runs through your children’s hair to see who’s been exposed and who hasn’t. The different colors of the plastic combs are useful in this latter regard, too, as we want our combs to remove the lice rather than transfer them from child to child.

Pros:

• More teeth on the metal comb to capture nits
• Double-sided plastic combs
• Easy to clean material

Cons:

• Metal edges may slightly scratch the scalp

Speedipou Lice Comb

No helping hands required

The clever shape and size of this plastic lice comb make it easy to use on your own head.

Easiest To Use

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There are countless reasons why lice infestations are the worst. From the actual itching and discomfort to the constant disinfecting, it seems the work never ends until all the nits are gone. And, obviously, as the parent, all that work falls on us. Who knew how tiring a simple nightly hair-combing could be? Thankfully, the folks at Speedipou know the struggle and created this cleverly-designed comb that’s easy to use on your own head. Whether you’ve got some of the bugs now, too, or you have older children who can handle their own combing, this comb is shaped and sized to capture more in one go — no anti-lice product needed. And because the space between the teeth is four times smaller than a nit, you can be sure you and your kids won’t be leaving any of the flaky white bits behind.

Pros:

• Super-strong teeth won’t lose function over time
• Over 200 teeth to cover more surface area
• Comes with a plastic carrying bag

Cons:

• You’ll pay a bit more for solo convenience
• Instructions are in French

Mars Wellness Premium 5 Piece Lice Kit

Anti-nit kit

This comprehensive lice removal kit comes with a magnifier, two types of metal combs, a plastic grooming comb, and a cleaning brush.

Best Kit

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Kits are great because they offer you an all-in-one solution, saving you both time and money. And when you’ve got an outbreak of blood-sucking bugs on your children’s head, we can’t emphasize just how important time is. This premium kit by Mars Wellness has everything you need to start removing the nasty critters fast, including two metal combs, a plastic grooming comb, a 5x magnifier, and a cleaning brush. Use the longer-tooth metal comb for removing nits throughout the hair and the shorter one with rounded tips for getting them near the scalp.

Pros:

• Contains two stainless steel combs and one plastic grooming comb
• Includes a debris-cleaning brush
• Great cost value

Cons:

• Plastic comb can break easily

Frequently Asked Questions

Do I need to use insecticide shampoo if I’ve got a comb?

Absolutely not. While adding another form of treatment to the comb method will speed things up, you can actually achieve the same effect just by using conditioner and combing through wet hair. The water and soap stun the lice briefly, giving you more time to find them and brush them out. The conditioner also helps make the process more painless for your young one.

When is the best time to comb?

Depending on how bad the infestation is, you may have to comb your child’s hair every day. But generally, if you’re using the wet combing technique, it’s recommended that you go through the hair on days 1, 3, 5, 9, and 13 to catch any newly hatched bugs. Once you’ve removed most of the adults, you’ll need to watch out for hatching nymphs and eggs, but those will decrease as time passes, which is why you need to comb through less regularly after the first few days.