We love dogs because they make for great company at home, outdoors, and in our cars on those ever-exciting road trips. Dogs enjoy traveling in the car probably as much as we do; with their tongues hanging out and their ears flapping in the wind through the windows, they are as happy as they can be. It is pretty difficult to leave our furry friends behind as we travel.
If you’re the sort of pet owner who likes to travel with their puppy, it’s time to learn the best hacks to get dog hair out of cars.
Perhaps not too exciting is the pet hair left on the car seats, carpet, and dashboard after sharing the car space with dogs. We know it can be quite frustrating and time-consuming trying to get rid of dog and cat hair from the car seat. Nonetheless, we must hack our way out of the nuisance that is dog hair.
You need helpful and practical solutions to remove dog hair from your car with ease, speed, and all-out efficiency. We will show you just how to do it because the excitement to take road trips with your pet should not die down because of dog hair in the car – a manageable problem if only we know how to handle it.
To remove dog hair from the car, you can use one or a combination of the following methods:
- Lint brushes,
- Liquid solutions cleaners,
- Tape,
- Wire brushes that pick and gather dog hair, and
- A vacuum cleaner with the proper attachment.
In many instances, these methods are workable and highly effective. However, nothing beats prevention. A proactive approach is the best method to reduce dog hair in the car. With this in mind, we’ll also show you a few prevention tips you can use.
Below are some simple hacks to get dog hair out of car and leave it clean and free of dog hair.
#1. Loosen Pet Hair And Ensure Hacks to Get Dog Hair Out Of Car Are Effective
There are two liquid options you can use to loosen hair off the car upholstery. The simplest liquid solution to use is to spray 100% clean water only. Water will hydrate the pet hair, loosen it, and make it much easier to remove from car upholstery.
Research has shown animal hair does display shape-memory effect that’s stimulated by water. When water hydrates the hair, the hair swells and becomes more elastic, making it easier to lift from upholstery materials.
Alternatively, you could also use a mixture of water and some fabric softener (two to three spoons). The fabric softener works to loosen hair strands, especially stubborn ones. Unlike pure water, the water-fabric softener mixture works to soften the pet hair much faster. This loosening makes it easy to get rid of dog hair from upholstery using gloves, a brush or a vacuum cleaner (upon drying).
Additionally, the fabric softener will deodorize your car, getting rid of the characteristic dog smell.
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#2. Wet the Upholstery And Carpets Covered With Hair
Put the liquid solution in a spray bottle and spritz the liquid on the part of car upholstery ridden with dog hair. Alternatively, you can opt to wet the tools you use. For instance, if you are using regular rubber gloves or pet grooming gloves, put on the gloves, dip your fingertips in the solution and scrub the affected area.
The idea is relatively straightforward: fur on the car upholstery comes off easier when moistened with a light mist of water. As such, even before you choose the pet hair removal tool for car to use, consider hydrating the pet hair.
#3. Vacuum Your Car’s Upholstery And Carpets
With the dog hair stuck in car seat hydrated, it’s time to bring out the best car seat wet vacuum cleaner. The THISWORK Car Vacuum Portable Cleaner or the Dirt Devil Plus 16V Cordless Vacuum Cleaner will do quick work of the loosened and dislodged hair.
Consider investing in a portable, convenient handheld Vac cleaner if you do not have one. After all, if you love taking your dog on the road with you, whether on a trip to the mall or a road trip, you will be cleaning pet hair from your car quite often. A high-quality vac cleaner will make the cleaning task a tad easier.
To extract some more of the stuck hair, run the vac using the THISWORK’s brush nozzle. The brush bristles will dig deeper into the upholstery and carpet and dislodge some more pet hair. Thereafter, fit the extendable or flathead nozzle and suck up the grimy pet hair from your car upholstery and carpets.
#4. How to Get Dog Hair Out Of Car Seats Using Pumice Stone, Rubber Gloves, or Wire Brush
Not all cases call for the use of a vac. In some cases, it is practically impossible to use a vacuum cleaner and get the desired results. When faced with such a situation, it’s time to use the following manual tools.
Rubber Gloves
Rubber gloves offer an excellent solution for removing dog hair stuck in car seats. They are the only product you can comfortably use to get into the nook and crannies of car seats and remove embedded pet hair.
Importantly, rubber gloves are effective at lifting pet hair. As you rub the gloves against the car upholstery, the gloves accumulate some electrical charge. The electrostatic charge created on the surface of the rubber gloves attracts pet hair to its surface, making it easier to remove the hair.
Use rubber gloves to brush along the fabric’s surface in long strokes from one end to the other. Dog hair will collect at one end of the glove, and you can pick the lumps of hair. Alternatively, you can vacuum the pet hair.
The kind of gloves you use to clean dishes is one of the best pet hair removers for a car. Just makes sure the rubber gloves have nubs or dimples on the palms side to enhance their effectiveness. Other alternatives to rubber gloves include latex gloves and pet grooming gloves. However, if you are allergic to latex, nitrile gloves are also an excellent alternative.
Pumice
An unknown hack on how to remove dog hair from car upholstery is to sweep the surface with pumice gently. Pumice stone is an excellent alternative for rubber gloves to remove hair from fabric.
Wet the pumice stone before use. Swipe off hair in long and gentle gliding motions and one direction only and from top to bottom. Refrain from sweeping the stone back fourth as such a motion would embed the hair rather than dislodge it. The hair will gather as a ball on one end of the upholstery, and you can pick it up using your hands or vacuum cleaner.
Pumice stone is helpful because its abrasive surface grips the hair and pulls them out of the car fabric or carpet.
Also, note that pumice stone is too abrasive and easily scratches hard surfaces such as plastic, vinyl, metal, and carbon fiber. You should only use the stone on upholstery. Pumice stone is a good choice as a dog hair remover for the car because it is cost-effective and easy to use.
Wire Brush and Other Scrubbing Tools
You can also use a wire brush or a kitchen sponge to brush the hair off car seats, especially if you do not have kitchen gloves with you.
Some pet owners use a wire brush in conjunction with other methods to get rid of pet hair from fabric and while most use it as the end step of the cleaning process. A wire brush is handy when dealing with the stubborn dog hair on the car seat and works just like a pumice stone.
If you are considering buying a pet hairbrush, it is best to look for one with flexible rubber nodules that can slacken off loose hair and lift the hair strands from the car seat or carpet.
#5. Using a Squeegee
Yes, we are talking about the same window-cleaning squeegee, if you are wondering. A quality squeegee such as the Baban Squeegee Window Cleaner is a handy tool with multiple uses, such as removing dog hair from car seats and carpets. It is also affordable.
The rubber edge of the squeegee grips hair strands as you move the squeegee in sweeping motions to get rid of hair from the car fabric and carpet. Using the squeegee involves pushing the squeegee in one direction and making long strokes from the top to the bottom of the seat.
Squeegees are available in varying sizes in the market, so choose a size that will make it easy to clean your car seats and carpets.
However, as a pet hair removal tool for a car, a squeegee is more appropriate for use in the boot or the back seats because it allows you to clean a large area in a short time. It works best to eliminate pet hair on car upholstery when used together with a vacuum cleaner.
#6. Using a Balloon (Unconventional but Effective)
Fill a balloon with air and make rubbing motions over the hairy areas of upholstery using the balloon. The balloon’s surface creates static energy that attracts hair to the balloon’s surface, removing hair from a fabric’s fibers.
Dog hair will collect on the balloon and at the lower edge of the seat, making it easier to remove the hair by hand or a vacuum cleaner. A balloon is well-suited for this role because it a good conductor of static electricity that pulls dog hair from the upholstery.
However, this method is not suitable to remove hair that is already deeply embedded in the upholstery. You can only use this technique to remove surface pet hair.
#7. Using Lint Roller
Remove the protective covering and roll the lint with the adhesive side in contact with the upholstery or carpet’s surface.
The hair should easily stick on the sticky strip on the roller. Remove the strip and dispose of it off once it has collected enough hair from the fabric’s surface.
Lint rollers work best on freshly shed hair. You might need to use other methods discussed above to remove stubborn hair from the car seat or dog hair embedded in the car seat.
#8. Using Adhesive Tape
The plan is to cover your hands using the tape with the sticky side facing the palm side. Then pat the areas with dog hair in the car.
The tape will catch the hair and dislodge it from seat fabric or carpet yarn. Ensure you dispose of the tape at the end of the process. You will have to regularly replace the tape, depending on how much dog hair the tape dislodges from the car seat surface. The more hair the tape collects, the faster it loses its adhesiveness.
Using tape is an alternative to using a lint roller. At the same time, lint rollers are more expensive compared to tape.
We recommend using packing tape as it is less sticky and less likely to leave residue on the fabric upon retraction.
Unfortunately, you can only use tape to remove surface-level dog hair on the car seat. Additionally, it may not be the most hygienic method. After cleaning the pet’s hair, you will need to wash your hands thoroughly.
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Prevention Measures on How to Keep Dog Hair Out of Car Carpet and Seats
Taking a proactive approach to dealing with dog hair in the car is the best method to handle the pet hair menace.
Tip #1. Brush Your Pet Before Every Car Ride
Grooming your dog manages the shedding of pet hair and deals with the hair problem at its source. To reduce the amount of dog hair in the car, brush your pet carefully before each car ride to get rid of loose dog hair before it falls on the car seat and carpet.
Certain dog breeds such as Labrador Retriever, German Shepherds, Golden Retrievers, and Cardigan Welsh Corgi shed a lot. As such, you’ll need to increase the number of times you brush their coat while ensuring you do a thorough grooming job. These breeds of dogs tend to have longer hair lengths and a faster hair growth rate, requiring regular brushing, especially before car rides.
You might also have to brush your dog more during the warm seasons; certain dog breeds are known to shed more fur in warm periods than in the cold season.
Tip# 2. Using a Seat Cover
Many pet owners wonder how to keep dog hair off car seats in the first place. Covering the seats and the car’s carpet with a blanket or a towel will help catch the hair and reduces instances of dog hair stuck in car seats and carpets. To make the process of covering your car seat and mats easier, consider buying car dog seat covers.
Most people use hair-proof covers as the primary option for keeping dog hair off car seats and adopt supplementary methods like vacuum cleaning, rubber gloves, and lint rollers to remove extra hair.
Nonetheless, after some time, you will have to wash the car seat covers, taking advantage of hacks for cleaning pet hair from blankets.
The good thing about using a seat cover is that it is easy to remove the cover. Additionally, the cover does an excellent job protecting the car seat and carpet from dog and cat scratches. Finally, the seat cover has the added advantage to guard dirt and mud against soiling the car seats.
Tip #3. Buy a Dog Crate
Dog crates are supposed to serve as the second home for your pet while on the move. Crucially, they should make your pet’s transportation more comfortable for you and your furry friend. You can teach your dog to love sleeping in the crate in the house or traveling in the car.
Additionally, pet crates are a safe way of holding your pet in one comfortable place, thereby reducing the spread of pet hair all over the vehicle.
Remember to fasten the crate on the vehicle’s seat to avoid the crate rolling over the car while you are driving.
Conclusion
Combining the above hacks to get dog hair out of cars will help you keep free of pet hair. That being said, if you are looking for a dog, you can reduce your clean-up workload by adopting a dog breed with less hair or one that does not shed as much hair; banning your dog from entering your car is not fun.
Despite the above hacks being effective, you may need to develop a sound maintenance practice that includes periodic brushing of your pet’s coat to keep dog hair out of car seats in the short and long run.
A good maintenance plan to curb dog hair in your car should include periodic professional car cleaning and detailing to remove dog hair, dust, and lint from the vehicle. Most car wash shops have a vacuum cleaner for industrial use as part of the professional car wash services. Industrial vacuum cleaners are more capable and can suck much more pet hair than commercially available vacs.
