How I wash my clothes after I have lice?

Many people think that washing their items in the washing machine is really important to killing lice, but most washing machine cycles will not kill lice. Lice are used to being washed and soaked in water (you wash your hair, don’t you?). Lice are designed with crab-like claws on the end of each leg that enables them to grip on tightly, even when pelted with water or soap.

Lice can’t drown either, even on an extra long wash cycle. A study showed that after 8 hours totally immersed in water, 100% of the lice were still alive (even though they “played dead” when submerged). It took 16 hours of lice being completely submerged in water for them to die. Whoa! Clearly, this is not an effective way to kill lice.

If you want to wash your items, then wash them on the highest temperature (on most washing machines, the hot cycle is 130° F and sanitize is 165° F). If you’re going to wash them, though, make sure to also put them in the dryer for 40 minutes on high heat