Lice get a bad rap as something you get if you have poor hygiene. The reality is that lice don’t care about that and will take up anyplace they can find. If one of your children is exposed, they might bring them into your home.
While there are tried and true ways to get lice out of human hair, the question of what to do if they infest your furniture is a little less straightforward. Hair grows back, but a stain from using a pesticide might be permanent.
We took a look at different things you can do to kill lice when they make a home of your furniture. Some involve products you buy, some involve things you might already have lying around the house. We hope you find this article helpful.
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Six Things you can spray on furniture to kill lice
If someone brings lice into your house and they wind up on the furniture, don’t panic. There are ways to deal with these little pests. You might need to make a small purchase. You also might have the stuff lying around the house.
The first thing you’ll want to do for any lice infestation is vacuum the furniture in question. Lice secrete a glue to bind their eggs to hair follicles, so it isn’t a solution but it’s always a good first step to reducing the problem.
One thing you probably have on hand that will kill lice is bleach. A basic recipe is two tablespoons of bleach for two cups of water. It’s a higher concentration of bleach-to-water than you’ll use for most things, so be careful.
You’ll want to make sure that the furniture you plan to spray it on is bleach-safe, of course. Even if it is rated as bleach safe, we’d suggest that you spray a little bit on an out-of-the-way corner to make sure that it won’t fade the color.
Spray the areas you suspect of harboring lice, allow them to dry, and give a second vacuum to clean up the bodies and any eggs.
When it comes to lice, the real trick to ending an infestation is removing the eggs and larvae. The adults are large enough that you can get them out with a comb and a vacuum. But the eggs cling to fibers thanks to a kind of glue the adults secrete.
The acidic nature of apple cider vinegar is strong enough to dissolve that glue and even the shells of louse eggs.
Don’t dilute the vinegar. Spray it on directly and allow it to dry. Give it a second vacuum. While there might be some lingering vinegar odor, that will dissipate on its own.
You’ll likely have both of those in your home. It’s less likely that you’ll have a steam cleaner, but if you do that’s a good, safe way to get rid of lice.
Make sure your furniture can handle hot water. You don’t want to damage your furniture while getting rid of a pest.
Vacuum first, use the steam cleaner at its highest temperature and treat the entire piece of furniture. It should kill the adults and also destroy any eggs. You can also use the suction feature on your cleaner for a second vacuuming.
Certain essential oils like lavender and tea tree oil are effective at killing lice. You don’t need anything greater than a 1 percent concentration of tea tree oil to kill lice.
Spray it on your furniture, allow it to dry, and then vacuum up the dead lice and eggs. Tea tree oil has a distinctive smell to it. You’ll either want to use additional oils to mask its scent or wait a little time for the smell to go away on its own.
If all else fails, there are commercial lice shampoos that you can use on your furniture. Make sure that you get one that isn’t going to damage your upholstery if you want to buy one of these. While they are a bit harsh, they are also the most effective way to kill lice.
One final thing you can do is to remove as much of your upholstery as possible and give it a good, thorough washing machine cleaning. The water and detergent will kill the lice and eggs and dissolve the glue holding the eggs in place.
Does Lysol spray kill lice on furniture?
If you find lice in your home, your first instinct might be to pull out the disinfectant you use to clean your hard spaces. A popular one of these is Lysol.
It can kill bacteria and viruses, so you might wonder how effective it is against lice.
The answer is that it isn’t. Lysol isn’t effective at killing lice or their eggs. It also won’t dissolve the glue holding the eggs to the fibers of your furniture upholstery.
How do you spray for lice on furniture?
Spraying furniture for lice isn’t complicated. Most of the work involves preparing to spray furniture for lice.
The first thing you’ll want to do is figure out just which parts of your furniture are infested. These are likely to be parts that have come in close contact with whoever brought the lice into your house, especially parts that came in close contact with where that person’s lice are.
Vacuum the suspected area of infestation going a little more broadly just in case the problem is worse than you think. Vacuuming is a good way to get rid of adult bugs.
After you’ve vacuumed the infested area, you can use your spray. Make sure to get a good thorough wetting involving whatever spray you use. If you have thick, long fibers make sure you get all of the fibers and not just what’s on the surface. Lice lay eggs in those fibers.
Once you’ve soaked it and allowed it to dry, give it another vacuuming to pick up dead lice and eggs and follow that up by rolling the area with a lint brush.
Conclusion
Lice are a common pest that lots of children pass around every year. While they are easy to treat when they are in human hair, what to do about an infestation that affects your furniture is a little trickier.
Depending on what your furniture is made from, there might be an easy way to deal with them with products just lying around the house. Of course, if your furniture requires special care, the solution might be a bit less straightforward.
We hope you found value in this article exploring how to get rid of lice from your furniture. If you did, or have your own tip, feel free to leave it below. You can also share on your social media networks. You never know who might also be dealing with this issue.