5 Steps for Removing Pet Hair from Your Clothes
It’s spring in the San Antonio area, and the tree pollen is flying around! What else is flying around? Pet hair. As cats and dogs shed their winter coats, pet hair seems to be everywhere: on the floor, on the couch, and on your clothes.
While it’s easy to vacuum pet hair off the floor or furniture, it’s not as easy to get it off of clothing. Once Fluffy rubs against your pants leg or Fido jumps in your lap, you’re covered in fine hair that clings—and clings—and clings—as if your clothes were a magnet.
That’s because your clothes are magnets.
According to Animal Hair HQ, cat and dog fur take on tiny positive electrical charges because they contain proteins and keratin. Your clothes, on the other hand, are negatively charged. Just like with magnets, opposites attract. So when positively-charged pet hair contacts your negatively-charged clothing, the static electricity produced brings the two together. And simply tossing clothes in the washer won’t split them up.
In fact, it’s hard to break them apart without a lot of work.
Space Makers Junk Removal wants to make that work easier on you—and on your washing machine—by recommending these 5 steps to removing pet hair from your clothing.
TOOLS
In addition to your washer and dryer, you need:
- A lint roller or packing tape
- Rubber dishwashing gloves
- Dryer sheets or dryer ball
- Fabric softener or distilled white vinegar
- A rag or cloth
STEP 1: REDUCE LOOSE PET HAIR
Using a pet hair brush or a FURminator tool, brush your cat or dog every day, if possible, to cut down on loose hair. When you can, bathe your dog with a shampoo designed to reduce shedding. You can also bathe cats (honest, you can) with cat deshedding shampoos that keep their coats healthy and reduce dangerous hairballs.
STEP 2: SHAKE, THEN ROLL HAIR OFF
Step outside and give your garment a good shake to remove as much hair as possible. Then go over the item with a lint roller. If you don’t have a lint roller, you can wrap packing tape around your fingers, sticky side out, and press the tape into your clothes to pick up hair. If you don’t have a lint roller or packing tape, slip on a rubber dishwashing glove, wet it, and rub it over the material. When the glove is full of hair, simply rinse it off.
STEP 3: TUMBLE-DRY YOUR CLOTHES BEFORE WASHING
Set your dryer on a cool- or no-heat cycle, toss in a dryer sheet with the clothing, and dry for about 10 minutes. As the clothes tumble, they soften, and pet hair loosens from them. The dryer sheet helps keep hair from clinging back on your garments. Don’t forget to clean your dryer’s lint filter after doing this!
STEP 4: WASH THE CLOTHING AND DRY AGAIN
Now that you’ve gotten as much hair as possible off your clothes, you can place them in the washing machine. Even if you don’t normally use it, you can add a small amount of fabric softener or add ½ cup distilled white vinegar to the wash. Fabric softener and vinegar both loosen pet hair from clothing.
After you’ve washed the clothes, return them to the dryer for heated drying. You can add dryer sheets for pet hair removal, or you can toss in a dryer ball, both of which will reduce the static that makes hair cling to clothing.
STEP 5: CLEAN THE WASHER AND THE DRYER
All that pet hair had to go somewhere, so you need to clean your washer and dryer after laundering clothes to remove pet hair, or you’ll end up with that hair on the next clothes you wash.
If your washing machine settings include a “clean” cycle, run that cycle, or run a hot-water cycle without any clothes in it. Then wipe down the interior with a wet cloth to capture any remaining hair clinging to the drum.
For the dryer, be sure to thoroughly clean the lint filter. Wipe down the inside of the dryer with a wet cloth to catch any stray hairs remaining inside it.
CALL SPACE MAKERS TO REMOVE FURNITURE OR APPLIANCES DAMAGED BY PETS
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Pets can be hard on furniture. They have accidents, they shed or release oils into fabrics, and they tear up couches, chairs, and other furniture items. If you have some furniture that pets have ruined, we can haul it away. We do furniture removal of couches and sofas, loveseats, recliners, chairs, mattresses, and any other types of furniture damaged by pets.
Pet hair can be hard on appliances, too. If you frequently wash pet bedding or items thick with cat or dog hair, that hair can build up and damage washers and dryers. If this has happened to you, Space Makers Junk Removal can haul off old or damaged appliances, too.
CONTACT your local San Antonio area junk removal specialists today for furniture removal or appliance removal!