If you’ve been with me a while, you know I’m a devoted animal lover. And at this phase of life, cats are the primary recipients of my maternal nurturing. I even wrote a persuasive article on why you might want to consider introducing one of these curious beasts into your home and life.

The pet hair predicament

What I didn’t fully address in my previous post, however, is the pet hair predicament. And you don’t have to be a cat owner for long before you’re having to come up with ways to manage the excess hair. While I would never say the hassle is not worth the benefit (double negative, anyone??), the struggle is real!

Skip the next paragraph if you’re pressed for time.

[A totally pointless aside: I almost entitled this post “Hair in the Real World” but it didn’t play as nicely with my article as some other song title/song title parodies have in the past. Perhaps because I’m not a fan of country music, even though Alan Jackson seems like a nice guy… (I know, I know, now you’re wanting to go back and read ALL of my articles and search out the song references…) But for those of you looking for some “cat post mood music,” to hum in your head while your read, here’s a hilarious cat-themed playlist with some actual good songs on it.]

Back to your regularly scheduled post: What to do about that pesky pet hair??

Over the years, I’ve tried lots of things. Wetting dishwashing gloves with water (which actually works pretty well), wetting your hands with water, lint rollers (sooooo wasteful, but pretty effective), vacuuming (which scares the daylights out of the cats), special beds or mats designed to collect the fur, and of course extra grooming (not an exhaustive list). 

All of the aforementioned techniques have their place at different times, but I’ve come across a two-pronged approach for dealing with the couch-napping-spots which always accumulate the most cat hair, and which really need to be quickly cleaned up daily if you don’t want to be caught in a “hairy” situation, say, if a neighbor unexpectedly drops in. (It’s also important to consider how many of your friends/family members may have pet allergies and to try to keep the pet hair always under control where guests may be seated. Washable slip-covers are lifesavers as well!)

How to say buh-bye to the cat hair the easy way

So I’m going to share my two-pronged approach that has been quicker and easier (I am SO all about quick and easy!!) than things I’ve tried in the past. It doesn’t require any super-specialized equipment and I’ll explain why it works better than anything I’ve done before to try to keep pet hair under control.

The (very inexpensive) tools:

• A rubber grooming tool/brush. Here’s the link for the exact same purple rubber (I assume. Or silicone, perhaps?) brush shown. There are lots of others available to buy that would probably work similarly.

• A lint/hair mitt. The red one in the link looks great. I actually have a Norwex version, however, which works really well.

The technique

In a nutshell

So I start with the flat (kitty cat) side of the grooming brush. And I just scrub it back and forth across the surface of the couch fabric. Then I come back with the lint/hair mitt and quickly pick up all the little rolled up hair balls scattered all over the surface, by just raking it across the surface. That’s all there is to it!

Two (steps) are better (and faster) than one

Don’t ask me why, but the two steps work better and faster than either one alone. If you use the purple multi-use brush alone, it rolls the hair into bunches well, but then scatters them all over the surface, and they’re difficult to pick up by hand. Additionally, it will always leave a few stray hairs here and there. 

If you use the mitt alone it has to be carefully rubbed in one direction over the whole surface a little bit at a time, and you have to stop and clean it out because it stops picking up after getting coated all over with the fur. But when you start with the flat side of the rubber brush and give the whole surface a quick scrub, then the mitt easily picks up all the rolled up hair clumps and the strays, usually in just a pass or two.

The simple cleanup

I then use the rubber brush to remove the hair from the mitt by rubbing in the the same direction that the fibers lean, and then gathering it with my hand and throwing it away.

That’s it! I told you it was simple! Life changing…? Maybe… maybe not. But hopefully a small help in creating a more tranquil domicile. 😊

Let me know in the comments if you have a special tool/technique that is your go-to pet-hair solution!

Blessings,