Last Updated on August 8th, 2018
Sometimes I think there is bound to be a day I will find my two dogs, Ben and Jerry, totally hairless. They just shed that much. There is pet hair everywhere in my house if I don’t constantly battle against it accumulating.
Pet hair pile up in corners, cover your furniture and stick to your clothes. It can bring an unwanted odor in your house, and it just makes your home look untidy and gross.
I used to be so ashamed when my friends would sit on my couch, and I would see them starting to pluck out the pet hair from their clothes. And I hated it when I got out of my car to go to work, and my suit was covered in dog hair. It made me look unprofessional and messy.
I decided to find the best ways to fight the pet hair. I figured out, that if pet hair were always bothering me, it would be worth a small investment to get the best tools for removing pet hair and to find peace of mind.
I have tried it all. Grooming mitts, deshedding brushes, special shampoos, lint removers, vacuums… I even tried inflated balloons. Yes. Balloons. Someone posted this tip on a pet forum, and I was desperate to try anything. I guess I don’t have to tell you the balloons don’t make the top 3 of the most effective ways of removing pet hair. Not even the top 20.
I quickly realized the research that went into finding the best products took me ages. I started to write things down so that I could share my findings with my pet lover friends to help them with their pet hair problem.
And then it struck me. I should have a website where I could write down all of this. I figured out other pet owners had the same problems as I did, and if I shared my knowledge it would save time for all those pet owners trying to find the best solutions for wiping out pet hair.
So here I am with PetHairPatrol sharing what I’ve learned so that we all can have a little less stress in our lives and a clean home.
What are the top 3 ways of removing pet hair then? The most effortless, economical and effective? Here goes:
1. Vacuums, vacuums, vacuums!
Vacuum cleaners are the number one top most important tool when it comes to battling that pet hair. Without an excellent pet hair vacuum, you are going to lose the battle.
You can do all the brushing and deshedding possible, but you’re still not going to catch all the falling pet hair. Your pets will shed anyway, and the only efficient way to keep your home clean is to take out the vacuum and catch those fur balls.
But as you probably already know, a good pet hair vacuum is not that easy to find. When I was looking for my first vacuum aimed at pet hair, I just went and bought one. The shop assistant insisted one of their bestselling vacuum cleaners would be worth my money and clean up my house in no time.
Well, it didn’t. I had to make many passes for the vacuum to pick up anything at all. It would pick up some of the lighter debris on hard floors, but on carpets and with larger debris is was useless. The dirt container was small, and the filter would get clogged by pet hair in a few minutes. If the vacuum ever got that far. The battery was lousy and needed charging after a few minutes of ineffective vacuuming.
Eventually, I did find the perfect pet hair vacuum for my home. (It's a Dyson stick vacuum for those of you who are interested.) But the lesson is: not just any vacuum will be up to the job. You need something that has what it takes.
An efficient pet hair vacuum should have three things: strong suction, adaptable attachments, and versatility.
Without a strong suction, your vacuum won’t be able to pick up all the dirt you need it to. Pet hair is light, but you also want your vacuum to pick up dirt, dust, pebbles, food pellets and cat litter. When you invest in a pet hair vacuum, it really should be able to take care of other pet-related messes too.
And though pet hair itself is lightweight, we all know how persistent it can be when it clings to carpets or upholstery. Without a strong suction, you won’t be able to suck up those stubborn hairs.
To really get to that pet hair lurking in all corners and crevices, you need some excellent attachments. Dusting brushes and crevice tools are great for catching pet hair in tight spots, corners, and surfaces like shelves or windowsills.
But what pet owners often find to be the most useful attachment, is a brush roll for upholstery and carpets. For picking up pet hair from those surfaces, you need something that will grab the hair and pull it up for the suction to pick up and suck in. Brush rolls with their stiff bristles do precisely this.
For carpets and rugs you can find wider cleaning heads with brush rolls, and for upholstery, you should look for a smaller motorized brush roll tool that is designed for removing pet hair and dander from upholstered furniture, car seats, and bedding.
Still, strong suction and useful attachments are not enough if your vacuum is not versatile and easy to use. If your vacuum can handle only carpets but not floors, it’s of no use in homes with hard floors. If it can handle carpets and hard floors, but there are no tools or features for vacuuming furniture and crevices, again you will find yourself with a home half covered in pet hair.
A good pet hair vacuum not only adapts to many different surfaces, but it is also easy to use. If you have a heavy and bulky machine that you need to lug around, vacuuming will become too big of a chore, and you are more likely to skip it. Keeping the pet hair at bay requires regular vacuuming, and with a versatile, lightweight and convenient vacuum, you are likely to grab that vacuum more often to keep the accumulating pet hair under control.
What I’m saying is that if you want to get rid of that pet hair taking over your home, you need a top-notch pet hair vacuum. You can find good pet hair vacuums cleaners in all vacuum categories and for all needs and budgets.
I have done some extensive research to pick the best vacuums for best hair in each category. If you’re looking for one, check out my reviews to find the one that fits your needs the best.
2. Grooming your pet
Ok, so you have a vacuum to take care of the pet hair that already is out there. But if you want to step it up a notch, you need to get to the source. You need to minimize the amount of hair that ends up in front of that vacuum.
To have so many options for doing this; you might feel overwhelmed. There are mitts, brushes, combs, sprays, wipes, clippers, etc. A whole world of tools designed for grooming. Some of these products are specially designed to help you with shedding and will be of assistance in your war against pet hair.
You should be looking for products, which loosen the hair and help you collect it before it gets the chance to run wild in your home. Different pets and different breeds do of course have particular needs for grooming. Here I will go through the most useful types of tools out there, and you can decide if they work with your pet.
You have all sorts of brushes and combs for pets on the market. Different shapes and different materials. In some cases, rubber can be a suitable material for a pet brush, because it attracts hair. Some pet owners like to use a dense slicker brush with small metal pins and many use de-shedding tools.
Which is the best brush for you depends on the type of coat your dog has. Breeds with a double coat or single coat need very different kind of grooming, and so do pet with short and long hair.
The advantage of brushing your pets regularly is that you can catch quite a lot of the falling hair before it needs to be vacuumed up from the floor. If you have the right kind of brush and you sit down every day for just a few minutes to brush your pets, you can significantly reduce the amount of pet hair around your home.
The bestseller product in this category for many years has been the FURminator de-shedding tool. I have one, and it’s fantastic! They have product for all kinds of pets from cats and dogs to rabbits, short-haired to long-haired, curly, straight, wiry - you name it. By regularly grooming your dog with the FURminator, you can reduce the hair they shed by 90%. That’s a lot less left for vacuuming!
If your pet doesn’t like being groomed, you could try a deshedding glove. It is a gentle way of removing pet hair, and it can be a good solution for younger and more sensitive pets that don’t like to be brushed.
A grooming mitt or glove is usually made with small rubber pins that attract and catch hair when you stroke your pet. Using a rubber glove to gently stroke and massage your pet can be a nice way of doing daily grooming your pets will enjoy. And at the same time, you catch the fur before it goes flying and ends up in piles.
I used to wash my dogs with some gentle baby wash because I thought there was no point in paying extra for special dog shampoos. I don’t take my dogs to shows, so I thought there was no point in special shampoos and conditioners.
When I started to research the best ways to remove pet hair, I ran into products like deshedding shampoos, which promised to reduce shedding. I didn’t want to leave any stones unturned, so I decided to give them a go in the name of research.
I was positively surprised with how these products worked. In regular use, they seemed to help control the shedding. Of course, they won’t stop your dog shedding, but when I used the FURminator de-shedding shampoo and conditioner together with my grooming tools, I saw a difference. It helps loosen the fur before treatment with the Furminator, so you get better results with every treatment.
3. Lint removers
No matter what you do, you will probably still find pet hair on your clothes. Vacuuming and grooming are effective ways of dealing with pet hair, but some of that pet hair will always escape you efforts and cling to your clothes. A lint remover or roller is an excellent way to clean up your clothes with pet hair and dander quickly.
As a owner of two dogs, I keep lint removers at hand at all times. I like to keep myself looking tidy, and you never know when someone might come over or you need a quick cleanup on the go. I have one in my hallway, bedroom, car, and desk at work. Sometimes I even carry a small travel sized lint remover in my pocket.
I’ve read about many quick fixes like rolling some tape around your hand or using moist hands to wipe down your clothes. People even use balloons to attract pet hair from their clothes. These tips are great if you don’t have a lint remover at hand – but for some reason, you do have balloons or tape!
Buying a few good lint removers is a far better solution for the problem. I have listed some of the top rated lint removers to help you pick out ones that are effective on pet hair and leave your clothes clean with one swipe. Have a look at my list if you’re in need of one – or several.
As you have found out, there are three critical steps in the battle against pet hair.
First, you can reduce the shedding by grooming, and this can be a very important step if your pets shed a lot.
Secondly, you need a pet hair vacuum with excellent performance and easy-to-use design to take care of all the pet hair that will be found all around your house no matter how much of grooming you do.
With these two methods, you will be able almost entirely to abolish pet hair, but as a third effective tool and something you should always have as a back-up, you need lint removers for some final touch-ups.
Follow these three steps to get rid of that annoying pet hair!
