Tips to Keep Your Home Animal-Hair Free
Pets are some of the greatest companions in our lives. And for the most part people love to keep them in their homes—on the carpet, couch, and even their bed. However, the amount of hair they shed along the way can be a little frustrating. We all know the challenges of cleaning up dog, cat and rabbit hair.
We have several tips you can follow to ensure that you have a home that is free from pet hair. When you get rid of the hair, you improve the environment of your house, which results in cleaner indoor air.
Lint Roller Your Pet
If you are a pet owner, you likely already own one for your clothing and you give yourself a roll before heading out the door. Lint rollers can also make removing pet hair directly from your pet and upholstery a lot easier—providing that your furry friend doesn’t mind the feel of them! Regardless of the length of hair you’re dealing with, a lint roller will also remove it from your furniture. This results in an instantly neater and tidier looking home.
Dampened Rubber Gloves
This is a lesser-known trick! Use a pair of dampened rubber gloves to remove pet hair from your house. The science behind this is interesting—when you wear gloves and rub your hands all over your belongings, friction between the fabric and glove creates static energy.
The static energy forces debris such as pet hair to stick to your gloves. You can run your hands over all of the fabric surfaces in your home to attract pet hair. Cover large areas like your sofa, bed covers and big pillows, and remove hair from the surfaces. This method is also more environmentally friendly than the lint roller brush approach, just because you aren’t disposing of all those roller sheets.
Vacuum Clean Effectively
Having the right vacuum cleaner in your home is one of the easiest and quickest ways to clean up pet hair. As it sucks all the hair from surfaces, it also captures dust and pet dander (tiny flecks of skin from your pets). Vacuuming where possible is almost always a better option than dusting as less of the tiny particles get spread into the air with vacuuming. Don’t be in too much of a rush when you are running it over furniture, bed or carpets. Give it enough time so that it can suck up all the hair effectively.
When it comes to removing pet hair, some vacuum cleaners are more effective than the others. Suction power is an important aspect, but you should also consider other important features like the types of attachments available, how easy it is to use, the endurance of the belt and agitator brush effectiveness. Before you buy, read the reviews thoroughly. Additionally, some manufacturers provide specially designed brushes to clean up pet hair.
Squeegee the Hair
If your vacuum cleaner is not proving you the results you want on your carpet—or you simply want to remove more pet hair before vacuuming—there is an effective way to adjust your approach. You can use a window squeegee to deal with the hair on your floors. Take a long-handled squeegee and move it back and forth across your carpet.
Again, the squeegee can do the job for you because the rubber attached to it will loosen the stubborn layer of hair from the surface. Pick up the clumps of hair that you have accumulated from squeegeeing. Continue until all the pet hair is removed entirely. You can either do another pass with your vacuum or you may have removed the hair sufficiently at this point!
Anti-Static Spray Repels
Wooden furniture may require a different approach. We suggest starting with a soft piece of cloth and an anti-static cleaning spray. This will keep the hair on the cloth rather than allowing it to reattach to your furniture. You can also use the same spray on your carpet to pull pet hair to the surface. Then you can run the vacuum cleaner over it. Anti-static spray will work on many surfaces that attract pet hair, including baseboards and most upholstery.
Use Your Washing Machine
Remove pet hair, household germs, and dust mites by washing pet blankets and rugs in your washing machine with hot water. Adding a liquid water softener or about half a cup of white vinegar to your wash cycle will further loosen hair in the machine.
Additional Tips
- Regularly brush your pet(s) to gather their hair that’s just about to shed.
- Try microfibre dust slippers or dust mops on hard floors, just don’t wash them with any fabric softeners.
- If your pet has a favourite spot on your furniture, use a pet blanket or rug to cover that area—and wash the blanket regularly.
- A humidifier can help keep your pet’s skin hydrated, and also prevents loose fur from going deep into surfaces.
- If pet hair is a really hairy battle for you, consider incorporating more surfaces that repel pet hair in your home. It’s a long-term commitment but your life may become easier if you consider replacing carpets with hard floors, velvet furniture with leather or cotton upholstery, and opting for washable rugs.
In Summary
Removing pet hair from your home can feel like a never-ending and difficult task. But there are tricks and long-term solutions to overcome this chore. These smart strategies should prove effective, giving you back some time in a tidier home. If you’re looking for help with your weekly or bi-weekly cleanups of pet hair and other home cleaning services, Windsor Home Cleaning can help you keep your home a more hygienic place with fewer pieces of floating pet hair!
