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It's a Wash: The do's and don't's of doing laundry when you're trying to rid your household of head lice

By Ann Douglas

You've just finished treating your child's head for head lice. Now you want to prevent head lice from spreading to other family members while avoiding future re-infestations altogether. In addition to vacuuming the floor and furniture in those areas of your home where your child usually sits or plays, you'll want to wash your child's personal items thoroughly. Here's a step-by-step guide to laundering items to kill lice and nits.

1. COLLECT. Gather up all of the items your child used or wore during the two day period leading up to her initial head lice treatment. Be sure to include such items as:

• indoor and outdoor clothing;
• pillows, pillowcases, sheets, blankets, and towels;
• fabric hair accessories, headbands, and hats;
• tote bags and knapsacks
• stuffed animals and other plush or faux fur items.

2. SORT. Sort the items according to the product care instructions. You should end up with three piles: items that can be washed in hot water, items that can be dry cleaned, items that can't be washed in hot water or dry cleaned and that will need to be packed away temporarily.

3. WASH AND DRY. Use the hottest setting on your washing machine for the items that can go through the laundry. The water temperature needs to reach 60°C in order to kill lice and nits. Then pop the clean load of laundry into your dryer for at least 20 minutes on the hottest setting. That should do the trick.

Note: If certain items can't be washed in hot water and dried in a hot dryer, see if they can be dry cleaned. (Note: Check product tags carefully. Not all materials are suitable for dry cleaning.) Anything that can't be dry cleaned will have to be packed away temporarily.

4. DRY CLEAN. Toss any items that are destined for the dry cleaners into in a large plastic bag. That way, you won't have to worry about any stray lice or nits escaping while you're in transit.

5. QUARANTINE. If you come across items that are too bulky or delicate to be washed or dry cleaned (for example, a giant, well-worn stuffed animal) or made from materials that aren't suitable for dry cleaning, place these items in a plastic bag and seal up the bag for a two week period. Nits can only survive for ten days and adult lice for considerably less time than that—one to two days—so a two-week lock-up period will ensure that these items are once again lice and nit-free.


For more words of parenting wisdom visit Ann Douglas: The Mother of All Blogs.

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