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Lice (singular: louse) are wingless insects that live and lay their eggs (nits) in human hair. They can easily transfer from one person to another making them very contagious. Lice feed on human blood by sucking it from your scalp which makes your head feel itchy. They cling to hair strands and crawl down to the scalp whenever they need to feed.
A person can easily contract lice if they’re in close contact with someone who has lice in their hair, or by using their belongings such as hairbrush, towels, pillows or sheets. Although lice cannot survive without a human host for more than 24 hours, it doesn’t mean that it makes your belongings any safer.
If you’ve managed to get rid of lice in your hair, for instance, you need to make sure that your belongings – pillows, sheets, mattress etc where you lay your head down – are also lice-free.
Here are a few tips that can help you treat your affected pillows, sheets and mattress for a lice infestation:
Washing
Many people are under the false impression that merely washing your pillowcases or sheets will easily kill lice. It clearly isn’t true as you can thoroughly wash your hair many times but still don’t get rid of them unless you use an anti-lice shampoo. These tiny insects have six, strong claws which hold onto fabric or a strand of hair so tightly that simply washing is useless, even if it’s been through an extra-long cycle in the washing machine.
Lice can survive even if they’ve been immersed in the water for 8 hours. So it’s clearly established that lice aren’t killed simply by washing. Treating pillows and sheets for lice is quite tricky but luckily there’s a solution i.e. if your washing machine has a sanitise cycle. Lice can’t survive in temperatures above 55ºC/130°F for more than 5 minutes and the ‘boil wash’ cycle has a temperature of about 75ºC/165°F which will definitely kill lice and your belongings will be lice-free.
Tumble-dryer
We understand that not every washing machine has a sanitise cycle but you can instead use a tumble-dryer. You can always kill lice by putting your pillowcases and sheets in the dryer. The average temperature in the dryer is 60ºC/135°F and as mentioned above, lice can’t survive in temperature above 55ºC/130°F.
So, after you’ve washed your bedding, put them in the tumble-dryer for a complete cycle, switching off the eco sensor mode. Your items will emerge dry and lice-free.
Vacuum cleaner
You can readily use a tumble-dryer or sanitise wash cycle as an anti-lice technique for pillowcases and sheets but it can’t be used for mattresses. It’s impossible to wash a mattress and then put it in a dryer. Many people might suggest anti-lice spray but remember that it’s highly toxic which means if you spray it on your mattress, you’ll be breathing in those chemicals for days.
Disinfect your mattress with the help of a vacuum cleaner. It sucks dirt and tiny particles from the most difficult of places and can draw out lice stuck to the fabric of your mattress.
Anti-lice laundry detergent
Another way to disinfect your bed linen is by using anti-lice laundry detergents. You simply can’t rely on a regular detergent to kill the lice but you can always use ones with special fragrances that lice hate. By using such scents, lice will be reluctant to reside in your bedding.
One such product is Launder Lice™. It contains tea tree and anise which lice don’t like. Bear in mind, this detergent won’t kill the lice, but it will definitely deter them from your bedding. You can spray it with natural essential oils such as eucalyptus and lavender to discourage lice.
Bag them up
There are some, often expensive, bedding materials that you can’t simply throw into the dryer or hot wash as they’ll be ruined. If any such items become infested with lice, there’s an alternative solution.
As mentioned at the beginning of this post, lice can’t survive for more than 24 hours without feeding. Just bag up affected sheets and pillowcases very tightly for two days in a hot environment. Make sure to pack them tightly in plastic bags, so that the lice can’t escape to infect something else. Furthermore, the high temperature will contribute to getting rid of the pests.
Eliminating lice from personal belongings such as bedding isn’t an easy job but we’ve given you a few initial tips. Use these to disinfect any affected bedding and keep them lice free.
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