How to Wash Laundry Infested With Lice (2024)

How to Wash Laundry Infested With Lice

1. Gather Affected Items

   You need to wash all items that were worn or came into contact with a person who has lice during the two days before the first treatment begins. Don't forget to wash coats, towels, fabric hair accessories, pillowcases, and fabric bags.

   

2. Sort the Items

   Sort the items like you would when doing laundry normally. Make sure to put delicate clothing in a separate pile.

   

3. Load the Washing Machine

   Put a single load of clothing—but not the delicates—in the washing machine. Add standard liquid laundry detergent and set the machine to use hot water. Start the washing machine.

   

4. Soak the Delicates

   Delicate items shouldn't be exposed to hot water or high heat to kill the lice; doing so would risk damaging the garment. Soak these items in warm water with plenty of laundry detergent for several hours to kill the lice, and then wash them on the delicate cycle in the machine.

   

5. Dry the Clothing and Linens

   Move the load of regular laundry to the dryer. Set it on a high-heat drying cycle, start the machine, and let it run for a minimum of 40 minutes to ensure the lice do not survive the dryer heat. Let the delicates air-dry.

   

6. Repeat With Remaining Laundry

   Wash and dry each load of laundry on the same hot-water and high-heat cycles.

   

What Are Head Lice?

Head lice (Pediculus humanus capitis) are tiny wingless insects that feed on blood and spend their entire lifecycle—egg (nit) to immature nymph to adult louse—living, feeding, and reproducing only on the human scalp. Only humans play host to P. human capitis, and it is a different subspecies from the body louse (Pediculus humanus humanus) and an entirely different species from the pubic louse (Pthirus pubis).

The head louse is largely harmless, unlike the body lice, which have been known to spread diseases such as typhus and trench fever. About 1/10 inch in length, the head louse is, however, a serious pest, as its bites create long-lasting itchiness that can turn into open wounds if they are scratched. Further, a head lice infestation is hard to eradicate and is very easily transmitted, especially among children.

When an adult louse lives on a human host, it can live for up to 30 days. During this time, each adult female can lay up to six eggs a day, causing the lice to multiply. After incubating for seven to 10 days, the nits hatch, and, after another 10 days, they mature into adult head lice, and the cycle begins again. When an adult louse doesn't have a human host, it doesn't have a food source (blood from the scalp) and can live between two to four days at 74 degrees Fahrenheit or one to two days at 86 degrees.

Nits have a hard time living without a human host, because they'll have lost the warmth and nourishment of the hair and scalp. If removed from the hair shaft, they could remain alive for up to 10 days. But, the good news is that they won't hatch at or below an average room temperature of 68 degrees.

Treating Stains on Lice-Infested Laundry

The lice themselves do not stain bedding and other laundry items, but its unfortunate victims who scratch the bites might draw a small amount of blood that can stain pillowcases, sheets, and other items. These tiny blood stains are usually fairly easy to remove from bedding, using hydrogen peroxide, white vinegar, or a commercial stain remover.

Storing Laundry Infested With 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. Once you return to the items, the lice will have died. Take the bag outside, and shake out the enclosed item. Then, vacuum the area, if possible, to remove any dead lice.

Even with washed items, you may want to store them for a couple of weeks before using them again. This makes you 100 percent certain that the items cannot still harbor lice.

How Often to Wash Laundry Infested With Lice

Be patient, as you will likely have to rewash the same clothes and bedding more than once. In particular, you should change and wash the bedding every single day until your house is free from lice. If even just a few nits remain alive, a re-infestation can occur.

Head lice can be stubborn. Even though they don't fly, it's easy for them to transfer from one person to another. So you might need to take precautions for several weeks to be sure that you've gotten rid of every single one.

Tips for Washing Laundry Infested With Lice

• Take dry-clean-only items to a professional, but mention that the item has been exposed to lice.
• If you have a newer energy-efficient dryer, turn off all energy-saving or eco-sensor settings, or else the dryer will turn off prematurely before the lice are dead.
• Another way to kill lice is to bag an item and put it in a zero degree freezer for at least four hours. If the item is dense, it'll take longer for the internal temperature to reach zero degrees. When you take it out of the freezer, vacuum the item to remove the dead lice, and then dispose of the vacuum bag immediately.
• Remember to wash or treat throw pillows that may have been exposed to lice.
• Human head lice can't spread to pets and pets don't spread lice, so you don't need to worry about washing and fumigating pet bedding.