A lice infestation is one of the last things any parent wants to be faced with inside their home. Once lice find their way onto someone’s scalp, they’ll begin to lay eggs, which then leads to an infestation.
If not treated quickly, the new lice that hatch will grow into adult lice and lay their own eggs. The process will continue and ridding someone’s hair of lice is no easy task. The best way to avoid this situation altogether is to know how to prevent lice in the first place with a regular pest control plan.
If you can keep lice out of the home, to begin with, then you won’t have to worry about the difficult process of removing them from your home. Below are several tips on how to prevent a lice infestation from occurring in your home!
1. Wash Bedding Regularly
Running a household is a lot of work, especially when you have children. If there’s one thing that you never forget to do, let that be washing all bedding regularly. Try to have a schedule set in place so you don’t forget to do so.
For example, rule every Saturday as a bed washing day. Take all bedding in your house off of the beds and wash them on the hottest setting. You’ll then want to place them in the dryer on the hottest setting as well.
If possible, consider washing all pillows and stuffed animals as well. If you can’t wash these objects, then consider throwing them in the dryer on high heat for a cycle. If lice came home on someone, they can travel to bedding, pillows, and stuffed animals.
Washing these items weekly will prevent an infestation and spread of lice.
2. Keep Hair Pulled Back
Lice won’t appear in the home by coming through plumbing or cracks. Lice make their way into the home by attaching themselves to you or someone else. Lice are contagious and will stick themselves onto your hair.
The best way to prevent lice from entering the home is to keep hair pulled back when out in public. It’s more common for children to get lice than adults, but adults can get it as well. If you or your children are going to be around other people, then it’s best to have all loose hair kept back.
When the hair is pulled back, lice don’t have as much of an opportunity to attach to the follicle.
Lice are also attracted to clean hair. Keeping gel, hairspray, oil, and other hair products in the hair will also prevent lice from sticking to the hair follicle.
3. Purchase Treatment Products
Lice can be hard to detect at times. Lice do make you itchy but in some cases, they won’t. To ensure all hidden cases of lice are taken care of, you can always purchase lice-treatment products.
There are products made to specifically treat lice. There are hair products, products to spray your furniture with, products to wash items with, and more. If needed, you can use these products to clean your home occasionally.
It’s also a good idea to check everyone’s hair in the family regularly for lice or lice eggs (nits). If you have young children, then this is especially important. You might be able to spot the nits and remove them completely before any are able to hatch and cause an infestation.
The sooner you catch the problem, the better chance you have at eliminating the problem before it can get out of hand.
4. Vacuum and Bag Items
It’s also important to vacuum on a regular basis. Be sure to vacuum the entire house including all rooms and rugs. You can also vacuum furniture as well.
You should also bag items if you believe there might be a possible lice case inside your home.
Be sure to bag hairbrushes, combs, hair ties, and other accessories used for the hair. Keep them in the airtight bag for 24 hours. You can also consider placing the bag in the freezer as well.
Another tip is to boil a pot of water. Once boiling, you can place certain items inside the water to remove lice, just be sure the items are safe to go inside hot water.
5. Contact the Professionals
Following these tips is a great way to prevent lice from entering the home, but there are times when they still seem to find their way in. If you find lice inside your home, then it’s best to complete all of these practices listed above and then call in the professionals.
Professional pest services will know how to handle the situation quickly and without error. This is one of the best ways to ensure all of the lice and lice eggs are removed from the home.
There are even professional lice removal services that will come to you and remove lice and lice eggs from the hair. Most of these services also offer guarantees and will come back if not all of the lice were removed.
Use These Tips to Learn How to Prevent Lice!
Learning how to prevent lice in the home is essential for families with young children. It only takes one child with lice to infest the entire home. Use these tips listed above to ensure you prevent all lice from entering your home in the first place!
Are you still having issues with pests in the home? Don’t let pests run you out of your home!
Contact us today to see how Elevate Pest Control can help you and your family today!
