How to Clean Brushes with Lice? In Easy Steps.

Lice are the most common problem, especially in girl children. Lice get transferred from one person to another by various means. Sharing hair brushes is one of the most common reasons.

Are you wondering How to clean brushes with lice? Whether cleaning brushes will help you to eliminate lice infestation?
Let us discuss practical solutions to clean hair brushes for lice.

You can easily clean your hairbrushes with lice using hot water, homemade cleaning solution, or rubbing alcohol. You can also use a dishwasher to disinfect hairbrushes.

Can Head lice live in hair brushes?

The answer is yes. You must be surprised that head lice feed on your blood it sucks from your scalp.

It is a parasitic insect and how it can live on hairbrushes?

But, you, believe it or not, it is a truth. Once lice have their meal, they can sustain in an adverse environment for some time, even away from their host.

This is why, whenever you clean your hair or even your house for lice, it reappears again.

How long live in hair brushes?

You may bolt from the blue after hearing the fact. In a typical environment, lice can live in your hair brushes for 2 days. It is normal for lice to be alive for 48 hours without food.

How can you prevent head lice from spreading?

It is a good strategy to prevent the spread of head lice is to keep the hairbrush and combs used by the infested person separate.

Also, if you have more than one set of hairbrushes, use them in the rotation method. Head lice do not live more than 48 hours if lice are away from the human body.

Therefore, you can use these two tricks to minimize lice infestation.

How to dispose of dirt and hairs from hairbrushes with lice?

Whenever you are having hairbrushes with lice, clean them properly.

Take out all the hairs. Use a spare toothbrush to clean dirt, lice, and nits at a possible level from the brush before below mentioned cleaning methods.

Collect these hairs and dirt and zip lock them into your garbage bin in a manner that, it would not spread lice infestation again.

Another way to get rid of it, you can flush off these hairs and dirt through your toilet.

Related Reading : How to Clean a Wave Brush? 

 Methods to clean brushes with lice

Here are 5 methods to get rid of lice from your hair brushes.

Method 1: Use hot water to clean hairbrushes with lice

• Lice cannot sustain heat. If you boil water, you know that it will reach to 100-degree centigrade.
• Put your hairbrushes into the hot water for 5-10 minutes, you will get rid of lice and nits nested in your hairbrushes.
• Before putting up hairbrushes in hot water, remove all debris and remaining hairs from the brushes. Dispose of them properly.
• Step 1: After keeping your hairbrushes in hot water for some time, take them out.
• Take a spare toothbrush and remove dead lice and nits from the hairbrush.
• If the hairbrushes you are cleaning are made up of plastic, please take care that you are not using too much hot water. Plastic cannot withstand high temperatures and will melt due to excess heat.

Method 2: Use a cleaning solution to clean hairbrushes with lice

• To clean your hairbrushes deeply, you can make a cleaning solution.
• Take a borax powder. It is also known as Sodium borate. It is salt made up of boric acid.
• The second ingredient is your regular dish soap. Take one spoonful of each and mix it with hot water in a container. Make the solution homogeneous by mixing it well.
• Now, put your hairbrushes in the solution and soak them for a while.
• After 10-15 minutes, take a spare toothbrush and clean hairbrushes for lice and nits.
• After collecting all dirt and lice and nits, dispose of them appropriately.

Method 3: Freeze up to clean hairbrushes

• Don’t you find this idea astonishing? You can use your deep freezer to clean lice and nits from your hairbrushes.
• If you are having a freezer that is being used to freeze meat, it is best for the task. Most of the freezers are having lowest temperatures up to -10° F to -20° F.
• Here we need to go below 0° F only. As lice are warm-blooded creatures and cannot sustain at freezing point temperature.
• Take all your hairbrushes with lice and nits in a zip-lock plastic bag or similar container.
• Keep plastic bag containing hairbrushes in deep freezer for at least 12 hours. Keeping the plastic in the deep freezer overnight is a good idea.
• Take it out in the morning or after 12 hours and clean the same using a spare toothbrush.
• Removed dirt and lice along with nits should be disposed of off correctly.

Method 4: Use Alcohol to clean hairbrushes with lice.

• You can clean hairbrushes for lice and nits using rubbing alcohol. This method also takes less time compared to other methods.
• Take a container that can accommodate hairbrushes comfortably.
• Now remove hairs and dirt from hairbrushes. Put the hairbrushes in a container and pour rubbing alcohol into the container.
• Note that, hairbrushes should be submerged in the alcohol completely.
• If you do not have that much alcohol quantity with you or the container is small, change the position of the hairbrushes by flipping them. In this way, you can cover all the areas of hairbrushes.
• You have to keep hairbrushes with lice in alcohol at least for 10 minutes in submerged condition.
• After 10 minutes, take hairbrushes out and clean them using a spare toothbrush. After removing dirt along with dead lice and nits, dispose of them off.

Method 5: Use of dishwasher to clean hairbrushes with lice.

• You can sanitize hairbrushes with lice and nits using a dishwasher easily. You have to use the sanitization mode of your dishwasher. There is also another mode called heated dry mode.
• These modes are having temperatures in the range of 155° F to 180° F. However lice cannot live at temperatures more than 130° F.
• You have to remove hairs and dirt from the hairbrushes. Keep them on the rack of a dishwasher.
• Close the door of the dishwasher and put sanitization mode on for 5 minutes.
• After 5 minutes, all lice and nits will die eventually.

Conclusion: How to Clean Brushes with Lice?

Getting rid of lice and nits from your hairbrushes is the initial step to minimizing lice infestation. After going thru this guide you must have found the method and answer to your query – How to clean brushes with lice?
You can easily clean your hairbrushes with lice using above mentioned home remedies. Surprisingly, all these methods do not advise you to use any lice-cleaning medicine. All lice medicines are pesticides in nature. And here you are going to follow very safe methods to clean hairbrushes with lice.