Getting rid of linen (bed) lice at home

Linen or body lice, as is known, settle in clothes, and appear on a person’s skin only for a while, in order to feast on his blood. If you have established for sure that the cause of your concern is linen lice, it’s time to find out how to get rid of them at home using all available methods and means. After all, the more information you have, the easier it will be to fight parasites. Linen lice practically do not react to temperature changes; they are not afraid of fresh air and water, but are attracted even by clean linen. But still, lice do not like hot steam and drafts. Let's consider methods of control and means for removing them.

How to get rid of linen lice - we treat the body

Although body lice spend most of their time in human belongings, parasite eggs and adult insects can be found on the body. In order for the fight against linen lice to be highly effective, an integrated approach is required - treating both the human body and his clothing. Moreover, in fact, how to get rid of linen lice on the body and how to do the same with clothes and with an apartment are not such different technologies. The good old insecticides always come into play, only with varying degrees of toxicity. Of course, it doesn’t end there, but you should remember that you shouldn’t cherish the hope that you can get rid of large numbers of linen lice only by resorting to steam or a vacuum cleaner, or by simply cleaning up and washing your clothes. In 90% of cases, chemical disinfestation is required, and as thorough as possible.

• The first thing to do is take a shower. The water should be as hot as possible. For treating leather, ordinary household, tar or dust soap is suitable (it contains alkali, which effectively fights body lice). The products are suitable for small children and pregnant women, as they are not very aggressive for the skin.
• You can bathe in a decoction of wormwood, parsley juice, mint herb or boiled beets.
• A guarantee of complete destruction of parasites on the body is the use of special shampoos that can be purchased at the pharmacy (Veda-2, Nok, Medifox and others).

Characteristics of the parasite

Linen, clothes and bed louse are the names of the same insect. What do body lice look like? Adults are similar to their relatives living on the head. The length of the insect is 4 mm, the color is gray-yellow. What do bed lice look like in the larval stage? The larvae are similar to adults, but differ in size and lack of sexual characteristics. The sizes of the larvae may vary from 0.5 to 1.5 mm.

What does a linen louse look like?

Parasites do not have wings; they have an oral sucking apparatus on their head, which is noticeable when hunting for food. Females are more impressive in size than males. The life cycle of insects is 33-35 days. The nits of linen lice are similar to the nits of their head lice, but they can be found in a completely different place. The size of the nit is no more than 0.5 mm; the female lays future offspring in places not visible to inspection, attaching it with a special enzyme. The photo below shows what linen lice look like at all stages of development. Throughout the entire life cycle, the female is capable of laying up to 400 eggs. The body louse lives on the inside of clothes in hard-to-reach places (folds, seams, hems), going out to hunt in search of food, the body louse moves to people's skin.

Food and habitats

The only source that parasites can feed on is blood. The body louse requires frequent daily feeding from 3 to 7 times, for this it needs to appear frequently on the human body. The body louse cannot jump or fly.

Can lice live in pillows? No, they can’t, meeting a parasite on a pillow or in bed is a pure coincidence. When insect infestation is high, then you can find parasites in bedding. Bed linen is not enough for body lice to reproduce and live. The fact is that an insect is awake all day, and a person sleeps only at night. A long break in feeding is not comfortable for parasites.

What do linen lice look like after a meal?

A hungry laundry parasite is almost transparent; a well-fed louse takes on a reddish-brown color. Do lice live on the head? No, linen lice do not live in the hair, unlike the pubic lice and head parasites.

How to get rid of linen lice by treating your clothes

If you find at least one linen louse, disinfection and treatment should be started as quickly as possible, because insects are capable of reproducing at record speed. How and with what can you treat items of clothing and linen?

Recommendations on how to get rid of linen lice

1. If there are minor concerns or if there is a suspicion of a lice infestation, the clothes can simply be washed and left to dry in the sun, then not worn for at least seven days, and then washed again.
2. A common method for processing clothing is using kerosene. Linen should be soaked in a 20% solution of laundry soap and kerosene for thirty minutes; 0.15% karbofos emulsion is also suitable. In order not to confuse anything with the dosage, take 5g of 30% karbofos concentrate or 3g of 50% per liter of water. After that, the laundry should be washed in hot water, dried (preferably in the sun or in a strong wind) and ironed thoroughly.
3. If items cannot be treated with steam or washed in boiling water, you can put them in a bag and place them in the freezer for three days or outside during the cold season.
4. If any objects are infected with lice, which is rare, but still happens, if possible, they should be boiled and left in the sun for a couple of days.

Useful video

What nits and lice look like in the video below:

Use a fine-tooth comb to locate lice.

Lice move quickly and avoid light, and also hide closer to the scalp, so it can be difficult to see them through hair. A fine-tooth comb will help you to thoroughly examine your hair, as lice will get stuck in it and you will be able to see them.

• You can check for lice on both dry and wet hair. If you're testing wet hair, wash it first with shampoo and conditioner and then comb through it.
• First, comb your hair with a regular brush, then take a fine-toothed comb and start combing your hair closer to your forehead.
• Comb your hair from roots to ends, and inspect it after each movement of the comb. Continue until you have checked all the hair.
• People with thicker hair may find it more convenient to check themselves for lice after washing their hair. In this case, use conditioner or one tablespoon of olive oil, this will make it easier for you to comb your hair with a fine-tooth comb.

Look for nits (head lice eggs) at the roots of your hair.

Nits do not move, so they will be easier to spot than adult insects. Pay special attention to the area behind the ears and where the back of the head meets the neck.

• Nits look like small white specks attached to the hair shaft.

• Use a magnifying glass to make lice easier to identify.

  Sometimes dandruff or dirt can be mistaken for lice. An adult louse is about the size of a sesame seed, so it can be seen with the naked eye. Look for small, wingless insects that are gray or brown in color.

• If you find lice or nits, you need to get rid of them.

  First, try a head lice lotion or shampoo, which is available over the counter at any pharmacy. The active ingredient is usually permethrin (at a concentration of 1%). Use the lotion or shampoo as directed, wait 8 to 12 hours, and then check your head again for active lice.

• Treatment may need to be repeated after 7 days.

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How to get rid of linen lice: specific remedies and specific methods

Since it can be very difficult to remove the smell of kerosene from clothes, an alternative and modern method would be to treat clothes with anti-pediculosis drugs, which are used before washing.

• Boil linen and other things for 20 minutes before adding a chemical insecticide based on permethrin - “NOK”, “Medifox”, “Pedilin” - to the water.
• Treat clothes and bedding with pyrethrum powder or DDT dust, then leave them in the bag for two hours. This method will get rid of adult linen lice, and the nits will die after ironing with an iron with a steam function. To prevent lice from bothering you in the future, soak clean laundry in 1% DDT emulsion and then dry.
• Any pests on clothes will be destroyed by treatment in steam-formalin chambers, but it is easier for an ordinary person to turn to dry cleaning services.

What are lice

Lice are parasites that feed on the blood of their host. They are distinguished by their extremely small sizes, amounting to a few millimeters. Lice migrate from person to person by jumping through the air. Therefore, close contact is important for their spread.

There is a chemical product for treating bed linen and clothing - "Medifox" There is a chemical product for treating bed linen and clothing - "Medifox2"

There are three types of lice:

• head,
• clothes,
• pubic.

Cephalitids live on the scalp. This is the most common type of lice.

Clothes live on clothes, pubic ones affect the skin and hair of the pubic area. Pubic lice or lice can live on eyebrows and eyelashes.

Things must be washed in a solution of soda ash - the solution is made at the rate of 1 tbsp. for 1 liter of water . This allows you to get rid of lice and their eggs.

You can learn how to get rid of pubic lice quickly and effectively.

Parasites multiply very quickly. Every three weeks an insect hatches from the eggs. It lives on a person for 1-2 months. But outside the human body, lice can live much shorter - 3-7 days. Accordingly, lice do not live so long on clothes and things. If you process them , they will die even faster.

If lice are found on one of the family members, this does not mean that you should limit yourself to treating only his hair and clothes

How to get rid of linen lice using folk remedies

If you ask the older generation (grandmothers and great-grandmothers) how to remove linen lice, they will definitely share about the properties of some herbs and substances that are harmful to insects. The editors of the site are also ready to share with you these “ancient” natural secrets:

• Turpentine - it is most often added to water to treat floors.
• Vinegar removes lice, but does not destroy their eggs.
• Cranberry juice is effective in the fight against nits due to the acid it contains.
• Tansy – as a decoction, it is suitable for rinsing clothes in it.
• Euphorbia - after rinsing in its decoction, stains may remain on clothes, so it is better to place bags of herbs in a closet.
• Fern. Pots with plants in the apartment will make life difficult for lice.
• Tea tree oil is a preventive remedy.
• Lavender oil is another means of prevention that can be applied to the body.

How to get rid of linen lice: cleaning an apartment

In advanced cases, when the number of linen lice is high, their complete destruction will require treatment of the entire apartment and disinfection of the home. For this, a two percent DDT emulsion is suitable; you need to treat the entire apartment, and after two hours, wash the surfaces with a soap solution. Less dangerous, but also not very effective, are strong decoctions of herbs, tansy or milkweed, which are added to water. Then the bunches of herbs need to be placed in cabinets.

The most effective way is steam treatment using a household steam generator. Moreover, in fact, steam alone is a rather meager tool in the matter of how to get rid of linen lice. Carry out the procedure on all surfaces - upholstered furniture, cabinet furniture, walls and floors, without missing a centimeter. And give large items - carpets, blankets, rugs - to the dry cleaner. At the same time, it still does not hurt to carry out parallel treatment with any low-toxic insecticidal preparation.

The easiest way is not to think about how to get rid of linen lice, but to prevent their appearance.

Prevention measures

• Avoid contact with antisocial individuals and premises with unsanitary conditions.
• When purchasing clothing secondhand, wash it at a high temperature before wearing it.
• After traveling by train or staying in a hotel, you need to wash thoroughly, and wash and iron your clothes thoroughly.
• On trains, if you are offered damp underwear, ask to be replaced with dry ones.
• A thorough inspection of clothing if suspected and its isolation for a period of 14 days will protect your home from the invasion of linen lice.

Take our tips for killing linen lice at home. One of these methods will definitely help you get rid of linen lice, and good luck to you in this difficult task.

Vadim Verevkin

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