Dear Home-Ec 101,
I’m curious to know what’s the best vacuum for someone with long hair and a cat that has short hair. I’ve got a nice Kenmore canister vac, but my hair bogs up the roller constantly. And I ain’t cuttin’ my hair.
Signed,
Lovely With Long Hair
Ivy says:
Back when I had really long hair, I had the same problem. I have several suggestions, perhaps one of them will work best for you. What I did when I had this problem was to sweep the floor with a broom first before vacuuming to get most of the hair up. Sure, it’s a pain, but it really works to keep the long hair out of the vacuum cleaner.
If that’s too much of a pain and you have fairly deep pockets, you can buy a vacuum cleaner that has a stainless steel brush roller instead of the standard wood or plastic that comes with most models today. You will need to look into commercial vacuums to find this, generally. They’re expensive, but you may find it is worth it.
I’d also consider using something like a Swiffer Carpet Flick to run over the carpet before vacuuming. I don’t have one, so I can’t say whether or not it would work well, but I’d probably give it a try before shelling out the bucks for an expensive vacuum.
Send your domestic questions to helpme@home-ec101.com.
Sweeping the floor first would solve a lot of problems (including the issue of the cat eating my hair, but we won’t get into that), but that sure seems like a lot of work. Thanks for the advice on the other two–I don’t have deep pockets, but I’ll see what’s out there!
I had sort of the same problem. I have long hair and two short haired inside dogs so I can definitely understand this problem.
What I did was pick up one of those non electric, push brooms at a yard sale. It was the older kind that have the square base, rollers and a long handle. The older styles seem to have a larger dirt compartment.
I just quickly run it over my carpet first to get the bulk of the hair . It has really helped to keep the hair from clogging up and getting tangled in my vacuum.
For some reason, the long hair doesn’t seem to get tangled in the roller of the push broom so it’s easy to keep clean. I think I paid a dollar for it and I can store it away easily in my closet.
Just another suggestion you might want to look into.
I could’ve written this question, too. I have long hair and two short-haired cats. Luckily I’m in the market for my first real-and-needs-to-last-a-long-time vacuum cleaner, and I was actually thinking about emailing this question to Heather and Ivy. Thanks for reading my mind. =)
I vacuum first with the bare floor tool – no roller. I wrecked a couple of vacuums before I figured that out!
I actually prefer the swiffer floors rather than use a broom. Seems to pick up hair better.
i'll take this on board as i too ave cat who keeps leaving far too many hairs