Filed under: Your Home, Cleaning
If you have pets, you most likely will run into a problem with pet hair. Especially in the first few weeks of fall, when all animals seem to shed their summer coat for their warmer autumnal models. Mine are already in the midst of this wardrobe transition, as one glance at my sofa can tell you. And do I need to tell you that they are terrified of all brushes?
So in an effort to get the hair issue under control, I tested a few common "homemade" methods for getting rid of pet hair. If I admit defeat, then I'll go out and get a pet hair-removal gadget.
Here's how I fared with these DIY removal methods:
- A balloon. An enchanting solution: Rub a balloon over the offending spot. The static electricity does grab fine hair, but left the more stubborn fur behind.
Bottom line: Not effective, unless your pet is made of cashmere.
- Tennis ball. The nubby felt texture has fine "teeth" that help grab fur. Just rub the ball against the hair and watch clumps of it come with it.
Bottom line: If you tend to have a tennis ball anyway, great. If not, you might as well buy a lint roller.
- Velcro curlers. This works on small areas, but why waste a good volumizer?
Bottom line: Only if desperate and in possession of an overstock of Velcro curlers.
- Fabric softener sheet. It pulled at the hair, leaving wads of it on the sofa. It also left an alarming sheen on my slipcover from the fabric softener residue.
Bottom line: Not effective.
- Packing tape. Thankfully, I had a few rolls left of this from a move. There are two schools of thinking on packing tape as pet hair remover: Loop it around your hand and run it over the fur-strewn area, or wad it up in a ball and roll. I tried both. Yeah, it works in a pinch. But you need to replace the tape after a few passes.
Bottom line: Effective, but not efficient. The ball method works better, since you have more surface area to pick up hair.
- Rubber gloves. Moisten a rubber glove with water, then run it over furniture. This method swiftly picked up fur and gave me a little more control. Just don't use too much water.
Bottom line: Effective.
- Vacuuming your pets. The thinking? If you get the fur now, then you won't find it on your furniture later. Perhaps one day the scratches will fade from my arms. A terrible ideas.
Bottom line: If animals could see therapists, mine would certainly need to now.
For me, the winner was the rubber glove method, because it was quick, efficient and of course, effective. Have any other tips for removing pet hair? Let us know in the comments!
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