How to Check Yourself for Head Lice
Checking someone else’s head for lice is one thing. Checking your own head is another.
You can’t easily see behind your ears. You can’t properly inspect the back of your neck. And trying to hold two mirrors while separating your hair and deciding whether a tiny speck is something worth paying attention to isn't exactly simple. It’s one of those everyday problems that made us ask: Why are we still doing this entirely by eye?
Your phone can help you check
Comb & Calm was created to make checking for head lice more accessible from home. Instead of trying to inspect every part of your own scalp in a mirror, the app guides you through taking six specific images around the head. You don't have to decide where to photograph. Comb & Calm guides you through the process. Once your images are captured, our AI-assisted technology analyzes them for visual characteristics consistent with head lice.
Why checking yourself can be so difficult
Head lice are small. Nits are even smaller. Add hair, shadows, movement and areas of your own head that are difficult to see, and a traditional self-check becomes challenging very quickly. Even when you find something, another problem begins: What am I actually looking at?
Dandruff, lint, hair products and other debris can sometimes create uncertainty during a visual check. Comb & Calm was designed for that moment.
A different way to check for head lice
For decades, checking for lice has largely meant having someone manually search through the hair. Your smartphone gives us another tool.
Comb & Calm combines guided image capture with AI-assisted visual analysis to provide another way to check, privately, from home, using the phone already in your hand. No balancing mirrors. No trying to see the back of your own head. No wondering whether you photographed the right place. The app guides you through it.
What happens after your images are reviewed?
Comb & Calm analyzes the submitted images and provides a result based on what is visible in them. If no visual characteristics consistent with head lice are identified, you'll receive a Clear result. If something in the images warrants a closer look, you'll receive Requires Review, along with guidance on what to do next. The goal is simple: Help you know when to look closer.
