Ticks can survive a trip through the washing machine, especially on cold or medium settings. Water alone, even with detergent, is not a reliable way to kill them. Some tick species can survive fully submerged in water for weeks or even months, so a 30- to 60-minute wash cycle barely registers as a threat. The dryer is the real tick killer: six minutes on high heat will do what an entire wash cycle often cannot.
Why Ticks Survive the Wash
Ticks are remarkably tough when it comes to water exposure. In lab studies, lone star ticks survived up to 70 days fully submerged in freshwater. Even in saltwater, they lasted 46 days. Blacklegged ticks (the species that carries Lyme disease) and several European species have also been documented surviving days to weeks underwater across various life stages.
A standard washing machine cycle lasts roughly 30 to 60 minutes. That’s nowhere near long enough to drown a tick, regardless of detergent. Cold and medium-temperature water will not kill ticks. The CDC states this plainly in its prevention guidance. If you need to wash clothing first because it’s dirty, the water temperature must reach at least 54°C (130°F), which typically means a hot wash setting, to be lethal.
The Dryer Is What Actually Kills Them
Dry heat is far more effective than water. In a study on blacklegged ticks, all adults and nymphs died after just 4 minutes in a residential dryer on high heat. Researchers set the confidence threshold at 6 minutes to account for variability, meaning that a 6-minute cycle on high heat provides a reliable kill rate.
The key detail: this works best when clothing goes into the dryer dry. When researchers washed clothing first and then dried it on high heat (54 to 85°C, or 129 to 185°F), it took a full 50 minutes of drying to kill all ticks. Wet fabric takes much longer to reach lethal temperatures because the dryer has to evaporate the moisture first. That’s a significant difference, from 6 minutes to nearly an hour, depending on whether the clothes are dry or damp going in.
What Temperature Kills Ticks
Ticks begin dying at surprisingly moderate temperatures when the exposure lasts long enough. Lab research on tick larvae across multiple species found that the upper lethal temperature (where none survived a two-hour exposure) ranged from 41 to 47°C (106 to 117°F), depending on the species. Blacklegged ticks had the lowest threshold at 41°C, while brown dog ticks were the most heat-resistant at around 47°C. At 50°C, tick activity drops dramatically, and at 60°C (140°F), no respiration is detectable at all.
A residential dryer on high heat reaches 54 to 85°C, well above these lethal thresholds. A washing machine on a hot setting can hit 54°C or higher, but cold and warm cycles typically stay below the danger zone for ticks. That’s why water temperature matters so much if you choose to wash before drying.
The Best Laundry Routine After Tick Exposure
If your clothes aren’t visibly dirty, skip the wash entirely. Toss them straight into the dryer on high heat for at least 10 minutes (the CDC’s recommended margin of safety, slightly above the 6-minute lab threshold). This is the fastest and most reliable method.
If you need to wash the clothes first, use hot water, not warm or cold. Then dry on high heat for the full cycle. Keep in mind that damp clothes coming out of the washer will need significantly longer drying time to reach tick-killing temperatures, so don’t pull them out early. A standard full dryer cycle is your safest bet.
A few other practical points worth noting:
- Don’t rely on detergent. There’s no evidence that laundry soap, fabric softener, or bleach at normal concentrations reliably kills ticks during a wash cycle.
- Check yourself first. Ticks on your skin won’t end up in the laundry. Do a full body check before changing clothes, especially in the hairline, behind the ears, underarms, and behind the knees.
- Don’t leave clothes sitting in a hamper. Ticks can crawl off fabric and onto other surfaces. If you can’t dry your clothes immediately, seal them in a plastic bag until you can.
Why This Matters for Disease Prevention
Blacklegged ticks transmit Lyme disease, anaplasmosis, and babesiosis. Lone star ticks can cause ehrlichiosis and alpha-gal syndrome. These diseases are transmitted through bites, not through contact with clothing, but a tick riding home on your pants can later crawl onto your skin and attach. Killing ticks on clothing is a simple way to cut off that pathway, and the dryer on high heat is the most effective tool you already own.