If you find head lice, then you need to clean everything that has come into contact with the hair to ensure that if anything has crawled off it cannot crawl back on. Read on to find out how to clean hairbrushes and what else you need to clean to do to ensure you don’t reinfest your child again or anyone else in the family.
How to clean hairbrushes
The easiest and quickest way to clean everyone’s hairbrushes is to hoover them first to ensure you get all the hairs out of them. A lice egg, a nit, attaches itself to hair, so if there are hairs in the brush with eggs attached to them those eggs can still potentially hatch. Also, if there are any lice in the hairbrush you don’t want to risk them being put back into the hair when someone brushes their hair.
Once hoovered you can put the brushes into the dishwasher where they will get a superb clean. If you don’t have a dishwasher, then fill the sink with warm water and washing up liquid and soak the brushes, giving them a good scrub as well to ensure all the dust from the scalp is removed. Each time you do a clear, clean the hairbrushes in this way to ensure cross contamination cannot occur.
How to clean hairbands and scrunchies
Many people’s instant reaction is to throw all the hairbands away. You don’t need to do this. Just remove all the hairs attached to them and then give them a good wash in warm water and lay them out on kitchen towel to dry.
Head lice cannot live on objects for long, so alternatively put them in a plastic bag for 48 hours and if there is anything on them, they will die in that time.
How to clean Alice bands
Hoover them thoroughly and check for any lice. If they are washable, then wash them.
How to clean hats and hoods
The quickest and easiest way to clean hats and hoods is to hoover them thoroughly. Hoovering is a great help – fast, efficient, and effective.
If you still feel nervous about it, then bag the items up in a plastic bag for 48 hours, after that time anything on there you might have missed will have dehydrated and died without access to human blood. Don’t forget bicycle hats and riding hats – these need to be hoovered and wiped down.
How to clean everything else!
When you are clearing an infestation make sure that whoever you are working on has fresh bedlinen the evening of your clearing.
Fresh towel, fresh whatever they wear in bed, and hoover the sofa or chair they like to sit in to read, watch TV, or play games. If they have a lot of toys on their bed, then these need to be quarantined for 48 hours. Likewise, if they have a special toy they sleep with it needs to be either washed or hoovered.
For help and treatments find your nearest Hairforce clinic, the UK’s nit and head lice clearing service, or call us on 020 7485 7351.