Are grooming the hair when an insect appears (6)
I believe the answer is:
earwig
'an insect appears' is the definition.
I can't tell whether this definition defines the answer.
'are grooming the hair' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite see how this works, but
an anagram of 'are' is 'ear' which is located in the answer.
'hair' could be 'wig' (wig is a kind of hair) and 'wig' is present in the answer.
No letters remain.
This explanation may well be incorrect...
'when' acts as a link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for earwig that I've seen before include "Creepy type" , "Tap" , "Aural kind of insect" , "listen in?" , "Fork-tailed insect" .)