Best Ways to Clean Up Pet Hair in your Home

There’s no doubt that most pets are cute, lovely, and adorable. But the shedding hair from pets is unhealthy and annoying – especially if you have a family member with asthma or allergy which makes your life more difficult. Every pet owner knows the struggle of cleaning pet hair from every surface and corner of the house.

If you are having a hard time removing pet hair from your house and are looking for proper ways to do so, then you have come to the right place. Over the next few minutes, you’ll learn how to eliminate pet hair effectively.

Hardwood, Laminated, & Tile Floors

Below are approaches to clean and remove pet hair from your hardwood, laminate, & tile floors:

1. Vacuum Cleaner: The most convenient approach is to use a vacuum cleaner for long hair. If you deal with shorter hair then maybe the following options would suffice.
2. Rubber Broom: Rather than using a straw broom or vacuum, use a rubber broom as it works the best for cleaning pet hair off hardwood floors. A rubber broom contains electrostatic properties which act as a magnet. The broom bristles attract pet hair easily from the hard floors – even if the hair is in the cracks of the floor
3. Damp Mop: If you live in a moist climate then it is better to use a damp mop since static electricity from rubber brooms doesn’t work so strongly. A damp mop works well to collect pet fur as well as clean filth from the floor. Use detergents with active ingredients to leave a dust-repelling finish and reduce hair collecting on the floor again. To get the best results, we suggest doing some pre-cleaning with a vacuum or broom to remove the bigger particles. Then wait at least 30 minutes to let the hair and remaining specks of dust settle on the floor before mopping.
4. Electrostatic or Microfiber Dust Mop: To collect all the hairs that hide in the gaps of the hardwood floor use an electrostatic or microfiber dust mop. These mops have hooks that collect and pick up all the tiniest particles. Attach some microfiber cloths to the broom for a deep clean.
5. Dryer Sheets: Dryer sheets are best when it comes to cleaning the baseboards. It also makes the baseboards anti-static by recharging them which makes it harder for the dust and hairs to collect on the board again quickly. This way the baseboard remains cleaner for a longer period.

Carpet & Area Rugs

Cleaning hair from the carpet and rugs may seem a little trickier as the pet furs tend to get stuck right inside the rug and carpet fibers. Though cleaning the top layer is manageable, the small hairs in the bottom layers are often not visible. To clean your carpets and rugs properly use:  

1. Rubber Broom: before vacuuming, use a rubber broom to sweep the pet hairs from your carpets. Rubber brooms help to move the hairs out of the carpet easily as well as remove large clumps of pet hair that may get stuck in your vacuum. 
2. Window Squeegee: For the low pile synthetic carpets in your house, use a window squeegee. It has a little silicone tip that squeezes out pet fur easily from synthetic carpets. You can also use it to clean the fur from car seats if you need to.

Upholstered, Wooden, & Glass Furniture

Many expect and think that fur only covers the places where they lie. But that is not the case. You will find fur everywhere if you look carefully, including your furniture. To remove fur from your furniture, use the following tips.

1. Damp Sponge or Rubber Gloves: To remove pet hair from upholstered furniture, use damp sponges or dry rubber gloves. These will collect most of the pet hairs. Pay more attention while cleaning the heavily soiled areas where your pets sit more often. To eliminate all the fur carefully, you can use the prickly side of Velcro.
2. Anti-Static Dusting Spray and Furniture Polish: Anti-static dusting spray and furniture polish create a dust-repellent finish on the wood that prevents fur, hairs, or dust from resting on the furniture. Although it won’t keep your furniture forever dust-free or fur-free, it will keep furniture clean for quite some time. You can also use soft fabric, anti-static spray, or furniture polish to clean pet hairs from wooden furniture.
3. Nail Files: Use nail files to remove pet fur from underneath your furniture legs. Emery board nail files are very useful to scratch off pet hair from the small anti-scratch dots on the bottom of chairs. Sanding paper also works fine to scrape the hairs off.

Clothes & Fabrics

Fabrics attract hairs very easily. Below are some remedies to deal with pet hair attached to clothes easily and effectively:

1. Lint Rollers: Lint rollers are a good choice to remove fur quickly from clothes. If you can, use a double-sided lint roller that has a fabric head. Although it costs a little bit extra, it will surely save you a lot of hassle.
2. Towel Hairspray: You can also use a towel and hairspray to get rid of hair from your clothes. Take a towel and spray some hairspray on it. The little sticky layer created by the hairspray will capture the hair from your clothes. Only use this method carefully when necessary and do not use it on silk fabrics.
3. Dryer Sheets: While cleaning clothes, add some dryer sheets with it. The static nature of dryer sheets works very nicely to remove a large amount of pet hair from clothes as well as make the fabrics fresh and nice.

Beds, Pillows, & Curtains

A good way of reducing fur from beds and pillows is to restrict the pets from roaming in the bedroom. Although it will decrease the number of pet hair massively, you will still find some of them on your bed, pillows, or curtains. No matter how careful we are, our furry friends (or at least their shredded fur) still get everywhere, whether it’s our drawing room, kitchen, or furthest corner of the house.

Here are some ways to deal with fur on your curtains, beds, and pillows.

1. Brush and lint rollers: Double-sided brushes and lint rollers work fine to remove fur from beds, pillows, or any fabric surface in the home. Also, use them for the couch, window curtains, throw pillows, or even tablecloths. If you want to save some bucks, you can also use a Chom Chom roller as a cost-friendly alternative.
2. Duct Tape: to remove the furs from a blanket or pillow, the sticky side of the duct tape does wonders. Wrap some tape around your palm, while keeping the sticky facing outwards, then move your palm on the blanket or pillow and you will see all the furs from the blanket, even the tiny ones, attached to the tape.
3. Dry Sponge: The pet furs that cling on the curtain can be easily detached and removed by rubbing a dry sponge on it. Take a sponge, make sure it is dry, and rub it on the whole curtain. Then shake the curtains a few times and the hair will loosen up and fall off.
4. Humidifier and Dehumidifier: Using a humidifier lessens the static cling between the surface and pet hair. Although it does not remove the hair, it makes the cleaning less annoying. Use a humidifier that has an ionizer because it makes floating pet hair fall on the ground. And, using a dehumidifier while cleaning with a rubber broom is another clever trick as it increases the static cling
5. Vacuum Attachments: there are many attachments given with a vacuum. Read the manual to know exactly what each attachment does and then use them properly to get the most out of your vacuum cleaner. Some attachments are smaller and very useful to clean hairs and dust from the hard-to-reach parts of the home, like underneath the bed or the bottom of the cupboard.

Reducing the Shedding of Pet Hairs

The best way to reduce pet fur covering the home is prevention. Take good care of your pet and keep it healthy with a proper diet. It’s a fact that a well-groomed and healthy pet sheds less fur. Omega-3 fatty acid supplements and a nutrient-rich diet produce healthy pet fur and play an important part to control how much shedding occurs.

Brush your pets on a regular basis to eliminate loose hairs ending up in unfavorable places around the home. It also helps to reduce the hairballs your cat produces. A bi-weekly brushing routine works fine for most pets. In the fall and mid-spring, pets generally shed more hair. In these seasons brush them more frequently – even daily if you have the time. It’s better to have your brushes covered in hair than spread evenly across your house.

Give your pet haircuts to lose the extra hairs and large clumps of fur before they drop off. There are many shampoos available in the market to reduce shedding which you can also use.

It is nearly impossible to eliminate all pet hair from the home as long as you have pets in the house no matter how hard you try. But with these tips and proper methods, you can reduce the furs massively from your home.

About The Author: Zara Baker: Zara is a flagbearer of organic eating. She’s a fitness freak and highly passionate about beauty, design, and most importantly interior decorations. Her obsession with all things related to home décor pushes her to be a successful interior decorator one day.

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