Few things are worse than stepping onto a hair-filled carpet, sinking your toes into the soft fibres, only for a strand of hair to wrap itself snuggly around your big toe!
Yucky! And the worst part is, you don’t always know whose hair it is! Is it yours? Does it belong to one of the kids? What about the dog?
It’s far from ideal.
So, stop tangles and tresses from plaguing the hell out of your carpet right now by removing them.
You can then get back to the all-important task of snuggling your toes into a clean, lock-free carpet.
Tip: Test out any cleaning solutions before you use them properly! Find a discreet patch of carpet and dab a little solution onto it. Then wait and see what happens. If there’s some sort of reaction, stop using the product immediately and rinse the surface clean with a damp cloth.
Method 1: Hoover
One of the easiest ways to remove hair from a carpet is to hoover it.
When hoovering, move the vacuum cleaner back and forth over the carpet slowly and in multiple directions to dislodge the hair from the carpet’s fibres.
It’s also worth utilising all the tools that come in the box with your vac. Some tools are better at removing hair from carpeted surfaces than others!
The crevice tool is handy when you need to clean hair out of edges (like the ones where the carpet meets the wall) and corners.
You should also make a habit of emptying and cleaning the dust canister/sack on your vacuum cleaner when hoovering carpets that are subjected to lots of hair.
All hair, but pet hair in particular, starts to smell quite bad when it’s locked up in a container/sack for too long.
Plus, a full canister/sack will also make the hoover less effective. In short, the hoover won’t pick up as much hair as it should, and you won’t end up with a clean carpet.
If you have pets that shed, consider getting a pet-friendly vacuum cleaner. This type of machine will deal with pet hair better than a regular hoover.
In addition, try to get a hoover with a HEPA filter, so it can collect the pet dander and dust particles that float into the air.
Method 2: Lint Brush
If you’ve got an extra hairy patch of carpet, grab a lint roller and use it to remove the hair! (Yep, it’s the same gadget that you use to remove hair from clothes).
All you need to do is peel the label back on the lint roller to reveal the sticky side and roll the roller over the hairy zone multiple times.
When the roller is full of hair, remove the hair-filled sticky strip and start the whole process again.
This method may not be suitable if you need to clean an entire carpet. But it is handy if you need to de-hair a small section of carpet, rugs, sofas, and cushions.
Note: Make sure the sticky roller doesn’t leave a residue behind.
Method 3: Squeegee
Have you got a squeegee at home? You probably use it to wipe your windows or glass shower door after they’ve come into contact with water! But did you know you can also use your squeegee to remove the hair from your carpet?
Don’t believe me? Give it a go!
All you need to do is make sure your squeegee is dry and clean, then kneel on the floor and scrape the squeegee along a section of carpet.
As you scrape, the rubber blade at the end will draw the hair out of the carpet, leaving you with clumps of hair on the carpet’s surface.
All you need to do is grab the hair with your hand and bin it. Then you can continue squeegee-ing the strands of hair out of your carpet.
This method may take some elbow grease and patience, but it yields great results. Plus, getting hold of a squeegee is super easy, and they don’t cost a fortune to buy either. It’s a cost-effective method!
Have a look in the following shops for a rubber squeegee:
- Wilko
- Tesco
- Asda
- B&M
- B&Q
- The Range
- Dunelm
Method 4: Sellotape
A very old way of getting hair off clothes is to cut a strip of Sellotape off a roll, press the strip firmly onto a hairy patch of material, and then rip the sticky strip off the fabric really quickly. In the process, the hair gets torn off the item of clothing!
What’s more, you can use this method to take the hair off your carpet!
Obviously, this method isn’t the fastest one, but it does work very well. And it’s particularly useful if you have to treat a small patch of carpet or a little mat in a pinch of time. It’s also a very easy hair removal treatment and cheap to try out!
Method 5: Fabric Softener
If you’ve got some tough hair to tackle, squirt it with some fabric softener, then remove it!
Mix one part fabric softener in a spray bottle with three parts water. Give the bottle a shake, then spray a fine mist of the solution over your carpet.
Wait approximately half an hour for the fabric softener to get to work. Once the time has elapsed, clean the hair off the carpet using the tools mentioned in this list, like a squeegee, rubber brush, or carpet rake!
As a bonus, the fabric softener will leave a pleasant odour on your carpet!
Method 6: Pet Brush
If you’ve got a dog at home, there is a good chance that you have some grooming tools like a brush at home. So, why not use the dog’s brush to brush the hair out of the carpet?
As you carefully brush the carpet in short strokes, you’ll see clumps of hair forming into tiny mounds on the surface. Just grab these clumps and toss them in the bin.
Method 7: Pet Grooming Glove
If you don’t have a pet grooming brush, perhaps you have a dog grooming glove. As the name suggests, this is a glove that you pop on your hand and use to brush your dog.
The glove is actually covered in tiny rubber spikes that help to remove the hair from your pooch.
As this glove is so effective at removing hair from your dog, you can don it once more and use it to clean the hair off your carpet.
Just put the glove on (as normal) and run your hand over the carpet in short strokes to gather up the hair.
The glove may fill up with hair, and hairy mounds will form on the carpet’s surface. Just put the hair in the rubbish bin and continue cleaning!
Method 8: Damp Washing-Up Gloves
Got a pair of rubber washing-up gloves sitting around? Pop them on and start removing the hair from your carpet!
Just wet the gloves (when wearing them), shake your hands to remove excess water (the gloves shouldn’t be soaking wet), and start brushing your hands along the hairy carpet to remove the tresses from it.
Remove the hair from the gloves as and when you need to, and continue cleaning.
When you’re done with the gloves, you can pop them in the bin! I doubt you’ll want to use them to clean your dishes afterward… Yucky!
Method 9: Rubber-Soled Shoes
Rubber is great at dragging up hair from carpets. So, if you’ve got a pair of rubber-soled shoes at home, grab them and use them to clean the locks off the carpet.
Just scrape the rubber sole along the floor to gather up the hair, and when it forms into a tiny mound, pick it up with your hand and bin it. Then carry on cleaning the rest of the carpet.
Note: Make sure the shoes are clean before you try this out. You don’t want to rub dirt into the surface and stain it in the process!
Method 10: Rubber Brush
A more conventional option is to use a rubber brush to sweep the hair off the carpet!
Start at one end of the room and brush the carpet in small to medium-length strokes, and when you see a pile of hair forming on the carpet, pick it up and bin it. You can then continue cleaning the rest of the hair off the carpet!
You can pick rubber-headed brushes up from the following shops:
- Wilko
- Tesco
- Asda
- B&M
- B&Q
- The Range
- Dunelm
Method 11: Carpet Rake
If you’ve got a thicker, long-pile carpet, it would be better to use a carpet rake to brush the hair out of the carpet instead of a regular brush.
A rake has longer ‘teeth’ and will be able to penetrate the carpet’s fibres a lot better as you brush it. In turn, the rake will dislodge more hair and dirt from the surface!
A carpet rake sort of looks like a mini garden rake, except it’s a lot smaller! But it essentially works in pretty much the same way!
Method 12: Dryer Sheets
For small hair-filled areas, you can wipe them with a dryer sheet. Although, be aware that some dryer sheets leave a residue on fabric surfaces. So, try this at your own risk!
This method isn’t suitable for large-scale carpet cleaning jobs, but it’s worth trying if you have a hairy mat or rug!
Method 13: Carpet Sweeper
If you don’t have a hoover at home, a good backup to have is a carpet sweeper. It sort of looks like a flat box on the end of a long handle. And it kind of works like a vacuum cleaner, but it doesn’t come with all the fancy attachments and suction power.
Unlike a traditional hoover, a carpet sweeper relies on human power to work. Essentially, you push the machine around the floor, and as you move, the brush bar turns and gathers dirt and hair from carpeted surfaces!
All the grime gets stored in a ‘dustpan’, and you must empty the debris out of it.
You could say that a carpet sweeper is almost like a cross between a hoover and a dustpan and brush set!
It is, however, extremely simple to use. All you need to do is push the machine back and forth over the carpet to clean the hair off it!
Tips for Keeping Your Carpet Hair-Free
Below you’ll find a handful of tips on how to keep your carpet as hair-free as possible:
- Clean your cleaning tools regularly to stop dirt and hair from building up on them. If too much grime and hair gets tangled up in or on your tools, they won’t work effectively. Detangle the brush bar on your vacuum cleaner, clean your gloves and remove tangles from any brushes you use to clean the floor.
- Clean your carpet regularly to stop a build-up of hair from forming on it. If you leave hair on a carpet for too long, it will start to sink deeper and deeper into the carpet’s fibres. In turn, the hair will be a nightmare to remove. And it’ll also make your carpet look funky.
- Brush pets to remove loose hair from them. Maintain your pets’ coats so they don’t shed as much hair. Consequently, your carpet won’t end up covered in lots of hair!
- Buy suitable cleaning tools to clean your carpets. If you have pets, buy a pet-friendly vacuum cleaner for your house. By purchasing the correct type of cleaning equipment, you’ll be able to clean your home more effectively. Pet-friendly vacuum cleaners can come with better suction power, advanced brush bars that are designed to deal with hair and tangles, and more suitable attachments, for example.
- Practice all of the above, but accept that no carpet will ever be completely hair-free!
Bethan has a passion for exploring, reading, cooking and gardening! When she’s not creating culinary delights for her family, she’s concocting potions to keep her house clean!
