No one wants to bring home bed bugs after traveling, so you'll want to take precautions to avoid this possibility if you are a frequent traveller. Although hotels often practice procedures to avoid bed bug infestations, a hair dryer can be a great, undervalued weapon you can keep in your arsenal. Here's how to kill bed bugs with hotel hair dryer and make sure you enjoy a bed bug free stay.
Why Bed Bugs Are a Concern
Bed bugs are small insects who feed on blood. Apart from being repulsive, they are notorious for hitchhiking home with travellers and for themselves becoming souvenirs by infesting your accommodation, be it luxurious or budget, home or hotel, adding a few more pounds to your suitcase as you head home. To keep such a souvenir, clearly, is a no. Prevention, therefore, is the best treatment.
The Role of Heat in Bed Bug Prevention
Bed bugs' #1 nemesis is temperature; extreme heat will kill bed bugs and their eggs. A sustained temperature of 113°F (45°C) for 90 minutes or 122°F (50°C) for 20 minutes will annihilate your pesky bed bugs. So, consider the hotel hair dryer as your first line of defence.
How to Use a Hotel Hair Dryer to Prevent Bed Bugs
Step 1: Inspect Your Luggage
Check your luggage closely (preferably before unloading it and taking your clothes inside the apartment/hotel) for bed bugs: live bugs, eggs, or dark spots (faecal droppings). Pay attention to seams, zippers, and tough-to-clean areas.
Step 2: Remove and Isolate Your Belongings
If you find it necessary, remove the items from the suitcase and put them directly on a tiled bench, sink or similarly clean, hard surface. You need to isolate the contents so they don't grow into a bed-bug infestation.
Step 3: Set the Hair Dryer to High Heat
You should enter the shower with most hotel hair dryers set to the hottest possible setting. Heat is electric energy, and electricity is your friend.
Step 4: Apply Heat to Your Belongings
Keep the hair dryer 6 to 12 inches from your items and slowly move it across all surfaces - from seams to hem to folds to pockets. Make sure every inch of your stuff is hit with hot air for a good few minutes.
Tips for Effective Heat Application
Hit the places where bed bugs are commonly found in bags: folds of fabric and seams of clothes, pockets Hint: 1. Hit the places where bed bugs are commonly found in bags: folds of fabric and seams of clothes, pockets.
Take Care Not to Overheat: Heat works, but too much can damage items. Watch the temperature; don't hold the dryer too close.
Step 5: Monitor and Repeat if Necessary
After your heating treatment, check all your items again to ensure they are no longer infested with bed bugs. If any spots were missed, repeat. For the best bed bug prevention, follow these steps diligently.
Additional Bed Bug Prevention Tips
A hair dryer is a good technique but if we use it additionally to another preventative approach we will have more benefits.
Use Bed Bug-Proof Luggage Liners
If flying into Chicago, buy bed bug-proof luggage liners to keep your belongings separate from bed bugs.
Keep Luggage Elevated
When possible, keep your luggage up high on luggage racks or other hard surfaces - not on the bed or floor - to cut down on your risk of bringing bed bugs home with you.
Inspect Hotel Beds and Furniture
Look for signs of bed bugs - black spots on the pillow, or on the mattress or box spring, eggs on or near the bed, and live bugs on the bed frame, the mattress or headboard. If you see any sign of bed bugs, ask for a room change.
Conclusion
Here's a simple thing that is well worth knowing so that you can avoid bringing these guys home: a hotel hair dryer may well be the single best thing to use against bed bugs. Heat is the arch-enemy of bed bugs. Just heat your clothes and other belongings. It really does work. And, for good measure, there's no need to stress out about the risks of travelling. Fortunately, a few simple rules and procedures - methods that apply to many of us most of the time - will help avoid bringing bed bugs into hotels or our homes.
If you found these tips useful, please share it with fellow travellers. Check out these related articles for more travel advice and safety tips, so you can travel safely and avoid bedbugs:
What measures do you take to avoid bed bugs on the road? Feel free to leave a comment below sharing your advice or experiences. Your feedback could help prevent travel nightmares for others.
