Cleaning Lice On Carpeting And Clothes

Instead of wasting precious resources on unnecessary cleaning go to the article ultimate lice cleaning checklist that explains what to clean and how to clean it.

Cleaning lice on carpeting and clothes.

Either remove rugs and put in the dryer for 40 minutes on high heat or vacuum them or place them in a garbage bag for 48 hours. A common misconception about treating people and homes that have had contact with lice is that the only way to get them out of the house is to put everything in the home that is made of any type of fabric in plastic bags for two weeks and have the furniture and carpets cleaned. Many people spend hours and hundreds of dollars on cleaning their home and carpets. Once you return to the items the lice will have died.

To learn how to use dry cleaning to get lice off clothes read more from our nurse co author. Take dry clean only items to a professional but mention that the item has been exposed to lice. As above keep this garbage bag somewhere it won t accidentally be opened. Only launder dirty clothing.

The risk of getting infested by a louse that has fallen onto a carpet or furniture is very small. If you have anything that can t be washed such as silk or wool items you can place them in a sealed plastic bag for 2 weeks to kill the lice. The most important thing about getting rid of lice isn t cleaning inanimate objects it s making sure you ve gotten rid of lice. Take the bag outside and shake out the enclosed item then vacuum well to remove any dead lice.

If a fabric item cannot be washed or taken to a dry cleaner seal it in a plastic bag and store it for two weeks. Head lice are spread most commonly by direct head to head hair to hair contact. However much less frequently they are spread by sharing clothing or belongings onto which lice have crawled or nits attached to shed hairs may have fallen.