How to Get Rid of Crabs at Home

To get rid of crabs at home, apply an over-the-counter 1% permethrin lotion or a pyrethrins-with-piperonyl-butoxide mousse to the pubic hair and other affected areas, leave it on as directed, then rinse. Repeat in 9–10 days if live lice remain. Hot-wash bedding and clothes, and treat all partners from the past month CDC.

What are pubic lice, and why the home approach works

Pubic lice are tiny blood-feeding insects called Pthirus pubis, and they live mainly in coarse pubic and perianal hair — sometimes the armpits, chest, beard, or eyelashes too CDC DPDx. They spread mostly through skin-to-skin sexual contact. Because they cling to hair shafts rather than burrowing into skin, a topical insecticide that you can buy without a prescription kills the adults effectively, which is why this is genuinely a treat-at-home condition for most people. If you're not certain what you're dealing with, review the typical crabs symptoms first — intense itching, visible nits glued near the skin, and tiny moving lice are the giveaways.

How crabs are treated at home

The standard first-line treatment is an over-the-counter product: either a 1% permethrin lotion or a pyrethrins-with-piperonyl-butoxide mousse CDC STI guidelines. You apply it to the pubic hair and all affected areas, leave it in place for the time the package directs, then wash it off. Follow the label exactly — these are insecticides, and more is not better.

1. Apply the lotion or mousse to dry pubic hair and any other infested coarse hair (perianal area, thighs, abdomen, chest, beard, armpits as needed).
2. Leave it on for the full time stated on the package, then rinse off completely.
3. Comb out dead lice and nits with a fine-toothed comb afterward if you like — it speeds clean-up but isn't a cure on its own.
4. Put on clean clothing after rinsing.
5. Repeat the whole treatment in 9–10 days if you still see live lice, because eggs that survive the first round hatch over the following days.

That repeat step is the part most people skip, and it's the most common reason crabs come back. The first application kills crawling lice but doesn't reliably kill every egg. Newly hatched lice appear over the next week-plus, so the day-9-to-10 recheck catches that second wave before it can breed again.

If lice are in the eyelashes

Eyelash infestations are treated differently — never put insecticide near your eyes. Instead, apply ophthalmic-grade petrolatum (the eye-safe kind, not regular Vaseline) to the lash margins as directed, which smothers the lice. For where else crabs turn up beyond the groin, see crabs in eyebrows, eyelashes & other body hair.

What treatment is actually like

Expect a tingling or mild stinging where you apply the product — that's normal and short-lived. The itching often takes a few days to settle even after the lice are dead, because the itch is your skin's reaction to bites, not proof of live lice. Resist the urge to re-treat early just because you're still itchy; over-applying insecticide irritates skin without helping. Finish the course as labeled, and only re-treat on the day-9-to-10 schedule if you actually see live lice.

This is a condition clinics handle every day, and a diagnosis says nothing about you as a person. It's common, treatable, and over within a couple of weeks when you follow the steps.

Decontaminating your stuff

Pubic lice don't survive long away from a human host, so you don't need to fumigate your home. Focus on items that touched your body in the last 2–3 days: hot-wash and high-heat dry bedding, towels, and clothing. Anything that can't be washed can be sealed in a plastic bag for two weeks, by which point any lice and eggs have died. Shaving isn't required and won't fix an infestation by itself.

Treating your partners

Treating yourself isn't enough if a partner still has lice — you'll just pass them back and forth. Tell every sex partner from the past month so they can treat at the same time, and avoid sexual contact until both of you have completed treatment and are clear. This is the single biggest reason home treatment fails: one person treats, the other doesn't, and the lice return.

Follow-up and when to retreat

There's no lab "test of cure" for crabs — you're looking for the absence of live, moving lice. Check yourself around day 9 to 10. If you see crawling lice, treat again. Finding only nits (egg casings) stuck to hairs without any live insects usually means the treatment worked; old empty casings can stay glued to hair until you comb or grow them out.

Because crabs are sexually transmitted, this is also a smart moment to check for other infections that often travel together and may have no symptoms. If you're unsure of timing, read about when to test after exposure, then get tested for the common STIs. A urine cup, a self-collected swab, or a quick exam is usually all it takes, with results back in a few days — often free or low-cost at health departments, Planned Parenthood, and Title X clinics. You can compare testing providers if you'd rather test from home.

What happens if you leave crabs untreated

Crabs won't clear on their own. Left alone, the population grows and the itching worsens, and constant scratching can break the skin and lead to a secondary bacterial skin infection. Some people develop bluish-gray spots at bite sites, or rust-colored flecks (digested blood) on underwear. Untreated crabs also keep spreading to partners and, occasionally, to other coarse body hair. None of this is dangerous in the way a deep tissue infection is, but it's miserable and entirely avoidable.

Preventing crabs going forward

Crabs spread by close body contact, so condoms help less here than they do for fluid-borne STIs — lice live on hair the condom doesn't cover. Still, condoms used every time lower your overall STI risk, and routine testing catches the infections that hide without symptoms. The practical prevention steps are direct:

• Avoid sexual or close body contact with anyone who has untreated crabs until they've finished treatment.
• Don't share bedding, towels, or clothing with someone who's infested.
• If a partner is diagnosed, treat at the same time so you don't re-infect each other.
• Stay current on routine STI screening, since crabs often come with exposure to other infections.

When to see a clinician instead

Home treatment handles most cases, but see a clinician if: you're pregnant or breastfeeding (some products aren't recommended), the infestation involves the eyelashes and you're unsure how to treat them safely, you've treated correctly twice and still have live lice, the skin is infected (spreading redness, warmth, pus), or you're treating a child. A clinician can confirm the diagnosis, prescribe an alternative if the OTC product isn't working, and screen for other STIs in the same visit CDC.