How to Get Lice Out of Your House

Few things in the life of a parent are as stressful as a lice infestation. Exhausted parents often clean their house from top to bottom and wonder why they can’t seem to rid their child of lice, and why the infestation seems to continue. Spending lots of time or money on deep housecleaning in order to avoid re-infestation is generally unnecessary because the secret to effective lice removal lies in the head, not the house.

Life Span of Lice on Bedding, Couches, and Pillows

According to The Centers for Disease Control, although it is technically possible to contract lice from bedding, couches, or pillows, it is highly unlikely. The person infested with lice would have to have been recently been in contact with those surfaces. Lice depend on blood and warmth from a human host to survive. Once they fall off of a child or household member, lice are unable to feed and live for only 1-2 days. Without the source of blood and warmth from a human scalp, survival is cut short as nits cannot hatch and usually die within a week.

Focus Your Efforts on the Affected Family Member

This means that once a louse leaves your child’s head, it’s timeline for survival decreases exponentially. So, while washing every single pillowcase and sheet in the house will certainly make you feel better, it’s important to narrow your cleaning efforts to the items that actually had contact with your child or other household members. The greater focus should be on treating your child’s scalp, as seeking treatment for lice removal means that all bugs and eggs (nits) are eliminated from the hair—eliminating the chances of re-infestation.

Beware Only Partially Treating the Problem

In order to effectively treat your child or household member, it’s also important to choose a treatment that will be effective. Some lice treatment medications may not have an ovicidal effect—meaning they might not kill the lice eggs. If you’re using medicines that are only slightly- or non-ovicidal, that means you’ll end up retreating. To be most effective, the CDC recommends that all lice and eggs are killed or removed.

Trust the Fresh Heads Team for Treatment of Head Lice and Lice Eggs

At Fresh Heads, we are committed to safely removing head lice and lice eggs so your child can return to normal life as quickly as possible. We are an exclusive provider of the innovative AirAlle Head Lice Machine, an FDA-cleared medical device that dehydrates and kills both eggs and lice in one treatment. If you are looking for a safe, chemical-free way to treat head lice, contact us today.