The Best Way to Remove Cat Hair from Furniture—For Under £1

rosieebaird
Apr 25
2 min read

Cats have a lot of fur—which is quite surprising, considering how it seems like they shed every second of their existence. So much so, in fact, that it often feels completely pointless to even try removing fur from every soft furnishing in the house. Please consider that sentence an emphatic cry for help rather than an admission of slovenliness!

For those of us who haven’t fully surrendered to the idea that all our furniture is now the same colour as our cats—and that our cushions are just getting fluffier with time—there is a relatively simple and affordable way to manage this hairy problem.

A few years ago, my TikTok feed was flooded with videos promoting silicone brooms and small brushes, all claiming to be the ultimate tool for pulling pet fur out of carpets. I’ll admit, I was initially hooked. There’s something oddly satisfying about watching just how much hair can be lurking in a seemingly clean carpet.

Before this TikTok revelation, I had a housemate who used adhesive lint rollers to clean his room. While surprisingly effective, he burned through what must’ve been at least ten disposable rollers—just for one room! I tried using a lint remover rake (like the one linked here) ), which did an impressive job of collecting hair, but it also pulled up a fair bit of carpet with it. So, while I was definitely intrigued by the TikTok hype, I hesitated to spend money on yet another “miracle” cleaning tool.

Then, I had a lightbulb moment while cleaning out pens at my local animal shelter (SARA Animal Shelter in Redcar). I spotted a squeegee in the kitchen and realized: aren’t squeegees just mini silicone brooms? Right? Right!

I put my theory to the test and discovered that silicone really is the best material for pulling hair out of soft fabrics. Better still, squeegees are incredibly inexpensive and practical: