Washing, soaking, or drying items at a temperature greater than 130°F can kill both head lice and nits. Dry cleaning also kills head lice and nits. Only items that have been in contact with the head of the infested person in the 48 hours before treatment should be considered for cleaning.
You might think "does bleach kill lice?" Thankfully, bleach is effective for disinfecting and killing lice.
The risk of getting infested by a louse that has fallen onto a carpet or furniture is very small. Head lice survive less than 1–2 days if they fall off a person and cannot feed; nits cannot hatch and usually die within a week if they are not kept at the same temperature as that found close to the scalp.
Nix out lice. From the #1 pediatrician-recommended lice removal brand*, Nix Lice & Bed Bug Killing Spray for Home will kill lice and bed bugs and is effective for up to 4 weeks. It's easy to use – simply spray on affected areas such as bedding and furniture.
Applying vinegar
Thoroughly douse your child's hair with vinegar and leave for 15 minutes to allow the vinegar to kill the lice. Apply the white conditioner treatment.
Heat Method:
There are recent studies that show that treatment of lice with heat can be quite effective in killing head lice. Products such as Lousebuster are very effective but even a home hairdryer can successfully treat lice.
Wash items on a hot water cycle and dry on high heat for at least twenty minutes. The heated wash and dry will remove and kill any lice left. Carpets, mattresses, and flooring can simply be vacuumed and cleaned with everyday cleaning products.
HAND SANITIZER "STUNS" LIVE LICE FOR A SHORT PERIOD OF TIME MAKING IT EASY TO BE REMOVED WITH NIT COMB. HAND SANITIZER WILL DISSOLVE THE "GLUE" THAT HOLDS NITS TO THE HAIR MAKING THEM EASY TO REMOVE WITH A NIT COMB.
Heat is the main weapon against lice. Machine wash the clothes, bedding, and towels that the affected person used within two days prior to the treatment. Use hot water that is at least 130 degrees Fahrenheit. Tumble dry using the highest heat setting on the dryer for at least 20 minutes.
Lice cannot live on couches, carpets, beds, or anywhere else other than on a human body. They are only spread by direct human to human contact or through shared items like combs and brushes. If they fall off a human head, they can only survive for twenty-four to forty-eight hours.
After each treatment, checking the hair and combing with a nit comb to remove nits and lice every 2–3 days may decrease the chance of self–reinfestation. Continue to check for 2–3 weeks to be sure all lice and nits are gone.
Hairspray makes it harder for the louse to grab hold. The smell of hairspray and the use of solvents (sad but true) in them can also deter creepy crawlies from finding their way in. Not to mention that if you're tying longer hair back, you've got a double whammy.
Tea tree oil appears to be able to kill some live lice (at least when used in conjunction with lavender oil), however we know that over-the-counter lice treatments are far more effective at killing live lice and getting rid of the eggs once an infestation has occurred.
While vinegar does not help in suffocating adult lice, it does prevent the nits (eggs) from latching on to the hair strands. Combined with careful combing, using the fine metal comb, it's an excellent and simple method for removing the nits.
Use heat. Wash any items used or worn by the person in hot water, and dry them on high heat. Lice and nits die when exposed to temperatures higher than 130 F for more than 5 minutes. Wash anything that touched the person's skin or scalp, including jackets, hats, scarves, pillowcases, sheets, and headbands.
Females will lay their first batch of eggs around 2 days after mating. Females can keep laying eggs for the next 16 days — up to 8 per day. After — at most — 35 days of life, the adult lice die.
Lice glue their eggs to the hair strands of their host. However, if a piece of hair with an egg falls out while the lice host is sleeping, an egg could end up on pillows or sheets. Since eggs do not need a host to survive, they will continue to live until a nymph hatches from it.
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.
There's no need to wash your child's bedding every day.
Wash the pillowcase, but the comforter/blanket, sheets, and stuffed animals and other lovies can simply go in the dryer on high for 20 minutes. As for the bottom sheet, you don't even need to remove it from the bed.
Step 1- Wash Bedding
Remove all bedding. This includes mattress covers, pillows, pillowcases and even stuffed animals that could have come into contact with head lice or nits, eggs. Large items can be taken to a laundry mat to be washed. Or, they can be stuffed into large garbage bags and left for 72 hours.
The study specifically compared DEET with several natural oils: tea tree oil, lavender oil, and peppermint oil. While tea tree oil was found to be the most effective in the study (another win for it as a natural treatment for lice), peppermint was also shown to be very effective at repelling lice.