Body lice can easily grow on your clothes. So you should take proper care for your items. Luckily you can solve this problem by ironing. Apart from that, washing clothes with hot water and plastic bag method work great against the lice.
Does ironing clothes kill lice? Ironing can effectively kill lice from clothes. However, you need to use hot temperature which can be as high as 130 degree Fahrenheit or 54 degree Celsius. Remember, some garments can be faded or discolored at high temperatures. Therefore, it isn’t suitable for delicate, leather, and some synthetic fabrics.
How to kill lice by ironing
- First and foremost, gather all the lice infested garments. Lice can develop their numbers pretty fast. So, don’t exclude a single item. Even, you need to wash hats, caps, scarfs, and towels that you used when lice grew on your items.
- Toss the selected items into washer. Select cycles that use hot water as it is perfect against insects and germs. If you want to hand wash items instead of machine wash, do it. Just use hot water instead of cold or warm water.
- Now, it is time to iron items. Firstly, lay them on ironing board or on flat surface. However, I recommend you using an extra-wide ironing board as it ensures stability.
- Choose an ironing cloth to protect garments from high heat. Otherwise, high heat can fade or put scorch marks on them.
- Select the appropriate heat setting that utilizes at least 130 degrees Fahrenheit or 54 degrees Celsius of temperatures.
- Carefully iron the whole garment. Provide special care to sensitive spots like seams, hems, and collars.
For sure, ironing and hot water wash both are effective against lice. However, such extreme methods can be detrimental to garments like-
Therefore, you need to focus on other hacks that won’t hamper these smooth fabrics. To know about those procedures, read the whole article.
By the way, do you know what lice is? Let’s know them first and then learn how to control them.
What is Lice?
Lice are tiny parasite that lives on human blood. You may find three different types of lice. They are-
- Body lice
- Public lice
- Head lice
If you don’t clean your clothes regularly and maintain an unhygienic life, you may be affected by them.
Procedures to kill lice
Plastic bag method
Plastic bag method is suitable for all garments type. In this method,
- You need to put clothes in a plastic bag.
- Now, seal the bag properly.
- Leave this bag in closet, wardrobe or in any secured place for at least two weeks.
- After that, remove clothes from bag.
This method may not be as effective as hot wash and ironing method. But, this is one of the safest and most sustainable methods for delicate and non-washable fabrics.
Remember, while keeping clothes in plastic bag-
- Don’t put too many items in a single bag.
- Keep this bag in closets that ensures proper air circulation.
- Pour a few drops of essential oil to wool dryer ball and keep it in the bag. It’ll protect clothes from weird smell.
- You can keep baking soda or charcoal in closets.
Keep your house clean
Never forget to clean your house and clothes regularly. A dirty place can be heaven for lice. Therefore,
- Vacuum clean your floor, carpet, rug, and furniture regularly.
- Mop floors everyday using powerful disinfectant.
- Wash beddings, bed sheets, clothes, towels, and mattresses regularly. Use hot water, powerful detergent, and Lysol laundry sanitizer for optimal results.
- Clean combs and hair brushes with hot water having temperature at least 130 degrees Fahrenheit.
Use freezing method
Freezing method is effective against lice and other insects. To do this-
- First, keep lice infested clothes in a plastic bag.
- Now, keep it in freezer and leave for overnight.
- Next morning, wipe clean those items using lint roller.
Use clothes dryer
Like your powerful steam iron, dryer can kill lice too. Like before, you have to use at least 130 degrees Fahrenheit.
- First and foremost, toss clothes into dryer. Don’t toss too many items at once.
- Now, throw some ice cubes to protect your delicate items from high heat.
- Select a hot cycle with temperature around 135 degrees Fahrenheit.
- As the cycle finishes, remove clothes form dryer quickly.
Remember, dryer is the appliance that can cause the most damage to your clothes. Therefore,
- Never overfill the dryer.
- Before tossing clothes, sort them properly.
- Remove clothes from dryer as soon as the cycle finishes.
- Don’t remove clothes before the cycle ends.
- Keep vent and lint screen clean. Otherwise, you may observe too much lint in laundry room. Even, it can cause fire incidents and put your life in risk.
Use laundry additive
There are many detergents and additives in the market that works great against lice and be gentle on clothes. If you want my advice, use Kleen-free Naturally cleaner. You can enjoy many pros of this product. Take a look-
- A chemical free product.
- It can control the growth of insects like lice, fleas, and dust mites in just one week.
- It doesn’t harm your skin.
- You can spray literally any item like bed, wall, carpet, and sofa with it.
Most additives in the market are expensive and not that effective. So, don’t fall in trap with such fancy advertisements. Instead, use Kleen-free Naturally cleaner.
You can buy this product from many sources. However, if you choose better service, buy it from Amazon. To check its price at Amazon, click here.
Essential oil hack
Essential oil is another natural solution to control lice. So, if you’re affected by lice, use essential oil like–
- Eucalyptus
- Tea tree
- Rosemary
- Peppermint
- Lemon grass
You can-
- Use it on your hair.
- Spray it on your clothes.
- Place it in closet or wardrobe.
Dry clean clothes
If items can’t be washed or ironed, you can dry clean them to get rid of lice. The high heat of dry cleaning is enough to kill lice. However, dry cleaning isn’t suitable for delicate items.
To know whether your garment is dry cleanable or not, check garment care tag. Moreover, when seek a professional dry cleaning service, tell them about lice on your items. Most importantly, request them not to use harmful chemicals. Some users complain that they use harmful starch.
Clean your home and clothes
Every year, around 12 million American kids aged between three to eleven years get affected by lice. Therefore, you need to clean your clothes regularly. Otherwise, you kid may be a victim one day.
Luckily, you can easily control lice by just ironing at high temperatures. If you’ve too many delicate items, don’t iron them at such high heat settings. Instead, freeze them, spray with essential oil, keep in plastic bag, use laundry additive, or apply dryer with ice cubes.
That’s it for today.
