If a hairbrush was used by someone with head lice, you usually do not need to throw it away. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends soaking combs and brushes used by an infested person in hot water at at least 130°F (about 54°C) for 5 to 10 minutes. That is the key decontamination step for a washable brush.
The method is simple, but there are two important limits: the brush must be able to tolerate hot-water immersion, and cleaning the brush does not replace treating the person who has head lice. This practical reference explains both.
| Situation | Recommended approach | What matters most |
|---|---|---|
| Washable plastic or metal brush | Remove trapped hair, then soak in water at least 130°F for 5–10 minutes | Meet both the temperature and time recommended by the CDC |
| Nit comb or regular comb | Use the same hot-water soak | Clean away visible hair and debris before or after soaking |
| Brush that should not be submerged | Follow its care instructions; if hot-water soaking is not safe, consider isolating it for two weeks or replacing it | Do not damage an electric, glued, padded, wooden, or otherwise heat-sensitive item just to force the standard soak |
| Unused brush belonging to someone else | No special treatment is generally needed if it was not shared with the infested person | Focus on brushes and combs actually used by the person with lice |
The CDC's current public head-lice treatment guidance, updated November 12, 2024, specifically says to soak combs and brushes in hot water at least 130°F for 5–10 minutes.
Pull out as much hair as you can from the bristles, pins, and base of the brush. A clean comb, brush-cleaning tool, or tweezers can help. Removing the hair is mainly a practical cleaning step: it lets the hot water reach the brush surfaces more evenly and makes it easier to inspect the brush afterward.
If you use another comb or tool to remove the trapped hair, clean that tool too. Avoid shaking loose hair around the room; place removed hair directly into the trash.
Place the brush in a heat-safe container with enough hot water to contact the bristles and the parts that touched hair. The CDC specifies at least 130°F (about 54°C) for 5 to 10 minutes. A kitchen thermometer can help you verify the temperature instead of guessing.
Do not put your hands into very hot water. Use a heat-safe container and handle the brush with tongs or by the dry end of the handle when practical. The 130°F recommendation applies to the brush or comb; it is not a recommendation to use water that hot on a person's scalp.
After the timed soak, rinse the washable brush under clean running water if its care instructions allow it. This helps remove loosened hair product, skin oils, and debris. Ordinary soap may be useful for routine cleaning on compatible brushes, but soap, vinegar, or another household cleaner should not be treated as a substitute for the CDC's hot-water time-and-temperature step.
Inspect the bristle base and edges. If hair remains wrapped around the pins, remove it and clean any tool you use to do so.
Shake off excess water and place the brush on a clean towel in a well-ventilated area until it is completely dry. Keep it separate from other people's brushes while the household is managing the infestation, and do not share brushes, combs, towels, hats, or similar personal items.
Once dry, a brush that has been cleaned appropriately can go back into normal use. There is no CDC recommendation that every washable brush exposed to head lice must be discarded.
Some brushes have care restrictions that make full immersion or high heat a bad idea. Examples can include powered styling brushes and some brushes with wood, padding, glued components, or delicate finishes. Check the manufacturer's cleaning instructions first rather than assuming every brush can be placed in 130°F water.
The CDC says items that cannot be washed or dry-cleaned can be sealed in a plastic bag for two weeks. That recommendation is written broadly for nonwashable items used around the time of treatment. For a non-soakable brush, isolating it for two weeks is a conservative option if you want to keep it and its manufacturer does not provide another lice-compatible cleaning method. Replacing an inexpensive brush is also reasonable if its construction makes reliable cleaning difficult.
Do not improvise by putting an electric brush in water, placing a plastic brush in an oven, microwaving it, or exposing it to temperatures its manufacturer does not permit.
No additional chemical is required by the CDC for routine decontamination of combs and brushes. The agency's published instruction is the hot-water soak. It also advises against fumigant sprays and fogs for head lice because they are unnecessary and can be toxic if inhaled or absorbed through the skin.
That means there is usually no reason to saturate a brush with household insecticide, mix disinfectants, or use harsh chemicals simply because lice were present. If a specific brush manufacturer recommends a normal cleaning product for residue removal, you can follow that care guidance, but do not confuse cosmetic cleaning with the lice-control step.
They can end up on a brush, and the CDC notes that sharing infested combs or brushes is a possible route of spread. However, head-to-head hair contact is the main way head lice spread. Adult lice that fall off a person generally die within two days because they cannot feed, and nits usually do not remain viable away from scalp-like temperatures.
This is why environmental cleaning should be targeted rather than extreme. Clean the brushes and combs the infested person used, manage recently used bedding and clothing as recommended, and avoid sharing personal hair items. You do not need to disinfect every object in the home.
See the CDC's overview of head lice, spread, and prevention for its explanation of how lice survive away from a host and why extensive housecleaning is usually unnecessary.
You do not need to repeatedly soak a brush all day. The more important household task is to treat the active infestation correctly and prevent sharing or head-to-head transfer.
No. A cleaned brush reduces a potential route of reinfestation, but it does not kill lice or nits that remain on the scalp. The CDC recommends treating people who have an active infestation with an appropriate over-the-counter or prescription product and following that product's directions carefully. Depending on the medication, retreatment may be needed because some products kill live lice but not unhatched eggs.
If treatment does not appear to work, do not keep applying extra doses or combine lice medicines on your own. The CDC's clinical-care guidance warns against misuse and overuse of lice medications. For young children, uncertain diagnosis, treatment failure, pregnancy, or questions about a prescription product, ask a healthcare professional or pharmacist.
This article was checked against official U.S. guidance available on September 13, 2026. The main environmental-cleaning recommendation comes from the CDC's Treatment of Head Lice page (dated November 12, 2024). The CDC's About Head Lice page (dated June 4, 2024) provides supporting information on spread, survival away from the scalp, and prevention.
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