When the local shop sold the fine toothed debugging combs. Arranged in tidy rows on card held on by an elastic cord. In colours black or grey. Black being the preferred colour for you could pick out the wriggling creature. The added excitement of cracking the varmint between the thumbnail and the comb. The task of combing over the laid out old Argus newspaper often fell to the father. Probably having not had a lot out of life and the sound of the crack. When the crawling quarry was caught could be compared with that excitement of a day at the races. Or the local fox hunt.

Parents combed their children’s golden locks. To seek out and destroy any nits or crawling foreign crab like creatures.Comments were often you caught them from sitting next to some one in that school. Or stay away from so and so they got nits. And one would hear the saying if one had a nap hand oh! I caught it off a lavatory seat. All in all anything changes witches were burnt once.
Some one must be blamed. Poverty bad living conditions you take your choice.

Man does like hunting.

Go to visit the any zoo look at the way the chimp enjoys hunting on one another for nits. The nit nurse. When in her sudden appearance nurse paid a visit to the school? To seek out and render those children. With any signs of infestation of nits. Searching fingers through ones hair her hands clad in rubber gloves. The terrifying fears of a note to parents or segregation wait in the corner.

Made for a hasty retreat when given the all clear.

Pure relief.