Unless you own a hairless dog or a car fit with leather seating, chances are you’ve had the same problem countless other pet owners have faced: how to remove that pesky fur from the seats and carpets of your vehicle. You’ve run the vacuum nozzle over the seats a hundred times but that hair seems permanently embedded in the fabric.
There are other approaches we’d like to suggest to help save your sanity. While some of them may be time-consuming, you may want to consider these techniques if you’re looking for a serious scrub to purge your vehicle’s interior.
You may also want to use these techniques if you’re allergic to pets and buying a used car from a pet owner.
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Methods of Removing Pet Hair That Never Fail
Industrial Vacuum: First of all, before you break your back removing a patch of fur that’s stuck to your back seat, try cleaning it using a heavy-duty wet/dry vacuum. If you use a strong enough one–such as one at a DIY car wash–you might be able to loosen most of it.
Rubber Kitchen Glove: If you don’t have one of these in your kitchen already, they’re fairly cheap to obtain and can be used repeatedly. After putting on the glove, dampen your fingers and rub the problem area in a single direction until clumps of hair begin to form. Vacuum those hairballs up and repeat until satisfied.
Sponge or Washcloth: Once made slightly damp, either of these tools can be used following the same process as the rubber glove.
Velcro Curlers: You’ve probably got a set of these lying around that are rarely used anymore. Just like your hair used to get stuck in these rolls, run the curlers across the upholstery to catch any stray hair nestled in the fabric. These are also useful for fitting into tight corners.
Static Electricity: This may sound a bit experimental, but bear with us. If you’ve ever inflated a balloon and ran it through someone’s hair, you know that there’s a natural attraction between the two. Simply apply the same principle to cleaning your car and collect the loose hair on the electrified balloon. Getting the hair removed from the balloon can be difficult; either deflate and clean it out or pop and toss it altogether.
Rubber Broom: This method also relies on static electricity to peel up the pesky fur residing in your upholstery.
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Packing Tape or Duct Tape: You may have used this technique before to remove pet hair from your dress clothes. Wrap a loop of it around your hand, adhesive side out, and lightly press against the furry areas. Repeated taps should yield a fistful of collected hair.
Lint Roller: Like the packing tape, this adhesive surface can also pick up what your dog or cat shed. Large versions of these are also made to collect pet hair in serious situations.
Fabric Softener Sheet: Surely you have a couple of these near your dryer which you can dampen and run along your fabric to collect hair in your car. You can even use water and fabric softener on areas to loosen hair as a preparation before any other methods mentioned here.
Pumice Stone: Clever car cleaners have discovered that gently rubbing a fine grain pumice stone along the carpets of the car is an effective way to wrestle hair from it. Just note that this method is not recommended for delicate seats or other upholstery.
If none of these options work for you, and the presence of pet hair will continue to bother you, you may want to consider either investing in a plastic pet carrier or not bringing your animal in the car altogether. It’s not a pleasant suggestion for proud pet owners, but after weighing all the pros and cons, it is an option. Hopefully your situation never comes to that!
The News Wheel is a digital auto magazine providing readers with a fresh perspective on the latest car news. We’re located in the heart of America (Dayton, Ohio) and our goal is to deliver an entertaining and informative perspective on what’s trending in the automotive world. See more articles from The News Wheel.