Lice infestations are very common in families that have young children attending daycare, preschool and grade school. After treatment of every family member and pet who may have contracted head lice, it is important to remove lice by thoroughly cleaning your home to prevent the possibility of reinfestation. Lice can live approximately three days away from the human body on clothing, furniture, toys and bedding.

Once you are sure that there are no more living lice in anyone’s hair, start to remove lice from the home by thoroughly vacuuming all rugs and furniture. Since they are small, lice can burrow into tiny fibers in your rugs and on upholstered furniture. To be safe, repeat the vacuuming for the next three days. It is a good precaution, when possible, to wash any throw rugs in hot water and to steam clean carpeting and furniture.

The next step to remove lice is to wash all clothes and towels that have been in recent contact with anyone who had a lice infestation. This includes clothing that has been in contact with the infected person's clothing, such as jackets that hang side by side in a closet. To effectively remove lice from the clothes, wash them in very hot water and dry them in a hot dryer. To remove lice from clothes that are too delicate for hot water treatment, place them in a tightly sealed plastic bag for a week or two and proceed to care for them as usual. It is not necessary to wash clothing that hasn’t been worn in a while, since lice cannot live that long without a human host.

To remove lice, it is important to treat bedding in the same way as furniture and clothing, but to do so daily for one week after the person’s treatment. Wash all sheets and pillowcases in hot water and dry them in a hot dryer every day. You should also vacuum the mattress and pillows daily to ensure you remove lice that may be hiding under the sheets and pillowcases. Toys, including stuffed animals and dolls, should also be cleaned thoroughly to remove lice. Anything that cannot be washed in hot water should be vacuumed and stored in tightly sealed plastic bags until all the lice have died from suffocation and starvation.

By taking these precautions to remove lice from your home, it is unnecessary to use pesticides. Pesticides used to remove lice from the home can be ineffective, as well as harmful to children and pets.