Fighting lice: How to effectively remove them from your home

Is it necessary to fight lice in the apartment as well?

If you recognize head lice in your child , then the shock is often great. And it’s also very uncomfortable for your child. Its head is itchy and it has to undergo lengthy checks and anti- lice treatments to get rid of the little beasts. Once that’s done, you naturally want to prevent it from re-infecting itself anytime soon. Thorough cleaning of the entire household therefore initially seems a logical step to banish stray lice from the house. But is that really necessary?

No panic

If you have consistently rid your child’s head of lice, you have actually already done everything necessary. There is no need to frantically clean the whole house because lice will soon no longer pose a threat once they are no longer on the human head. Without a regular blood meal every two to four hours, lice can survive for a maximum of 55 hours before they dry up. This is also the reason why lice usually do not leave their host’s head voluntarily. So visions of cuddly toys crawling with lice are not realistic. Of course it can happen that lice get caught in a hairbrush or a hat, for example. But even then they can only survive if they get back on a human head within a very short time.

The temperature also plays a major role in the survival of the lice. The ideal temperature for head lice is around 30°C. This is roughly the temperature of the scalp. Below 22°C the louse slows down significantly and below 12°C it can no longer lay eggs to reproduce. Eggs that have already been laid cannot develop further at a temperature below 24°C.

Fighting lice: Cleaning the environment is secondary

Since the louse dies very soon when it can no longer inhabit human scalp hair, special hygienic measures such as special detergents, cleaners or environmental sprays are actually not necessary. However, if you feel safer cleaning around your child, here are a few simple precautionary measures you can take.

• Hairbrushes, combs, hair clips and hair bands can be washed in hot soapy water. The water should have a temperature of 60°C so that any trapped lice can be killed. For better cleaning, you can use a nail brush, for example.
• Textiles that have come into contact with the hair on your head, such as towels, bed linen, pajamas and underwear, should be washed at 60°C.
• Items that cannot be washed at 60°C, such as cuddly toys, can be stowed in a tightly sealed plastic bag. They should remain in there for either three days at room temperature or two days at a temperature below -10°C, preferably in the freezer. At low temperatures and without oxygen, any stray lice die reliably within this time.

Important: If you take the measures described, you should make sure that you carry them out at the same time as treating the child’s head in order to avoid unwanted new infections.

Combat lice: avoid unnecessary measures

They may be stubborn on children’s heads, but on everyday objects and without a supply of human blood, lice are quickly harmless. You should therefore absolutely avoid drastic measures such as the use of insecticides in the children’s room or the entire apartment. If your child comes into contact with such an agent, it can be much more harmful than the head lice themselves.

By the way: Pets do not pose any danger when it comes to lice. Head lice cannot digest animal blood and therefore only live on humans.