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Pets can add plenty of joy to life, but the hair cats and dogs leave behind on floors, furniture, and clothes can be frustrating to deal with. If you have pets, you’re probably no stranger to pet hair removers. You likely also know that some tools work better than others — and finding the best pet hair removers isn’t always an easy job.
If you’ve gone through one pet hair remover after another, searching for the best way to pick up those stubborn strands stuck in your floor and car, you’ve come to the right place. We tested 13 pet hair removers to save you the trouble and chose the top performers across seven categories. Our top pick is the Chom Chom Roller, a reusable roller that works efficiently on every surface we tested, from clothing to car seats to carpet.
Read more about how Business Insider Reviews tests and researches pet products.
Our top picks for the best pet hair removers
Best overall: Chom Chom Roller – See at Amazon
Best for clothing: Gonzo Natural Magic Pet Hair Lifter – See at Amazon
Best for furniture: Lilly Brush Pro Pet Hair Tool Kit – See at Chewy
Best for carpet: Neater Pets Fur Dozer Pet Hair Remover – See at Chewy
Best for laundry: Smart Sheep Wool Dryer Balls – See at Amazon
Best for car: Analan Mini Pet Hair Detailer – See at Amazon
Best roller: Scotch-Brite Pet Hair Pickup – See at Amazon
Best overall
The effectiveness and versatility of the Chom Chom Roller make it one of the best pet hair removers you can buy, and it’s a great alternative to single-use lint rollers. For one thing, it really works. It did a great job pulling up cat and dog hair on every surface we tested, and we didn’t need to spend a ton of time or elbow grease working it.
To operate the tool, you run it back and forth across the surface and hair collects inside the roller. You need to empty it after each use, but this is easy to do. We tested it on knit socks and leggings after other pet hair removers failed and found that the Chom Chom Roller did a better job removing hair. Although it’s no substitute for a vacuum cleaner due to its small size, we also tried it on furniture and rugs. The rugs looked like they had just been vacuumed when we finished.
A true test of the Chom Chom Roller was the Halloween hat pictured here. After pets napped and chewed on it, it became pretty much unusable as a costume, but the roller got the hair out when nothing else did.
Crystal Raypole/Business Insider
Best for clothing
The Gonzo Natural Magic Pet Hair Lifter works by gently collecting pet hair from clothing and other fabrics. Like the name suggests, it only lifts hair. It doesn’t collect it, so you need to gather the hair as you go to keep it from spreading back across the garment or furniture. We alternated between pulling the hair clump off with our hands or using a lint roller to grab it up.
This tool is easy to grip and use, and it effectively lifts hair from different types of clothing, including tights, sweaters, and jeans. However, we don’t recommend it for loosely knit garments. It loosened the knit on one of the openwork sweaters we tested. We also tested it on dog beds. Among all the products we evaluated, this was the only one that could effectively lift hair (along with bark, grass, and dirt) from a dog bed made of shaggy fabric.
Crystal Raypole/Business Insider
The Gonzo Natural Magic Pet Hair Lifter is made of all-natural latex rubber and feels like a slightly sticky, rough sponge. It also has a slight odor. You use it dry, but you can wash it as needed, though it may take a day or two to dry completely. This pet hair remover should last a long time, too. We used it regularly over a few weeks and didn’t notice it breaking down at all.
Best for furniture
Lilly Brush Pro Pet Hair Tool Kit
The Lilly Brush Pro Pet Hair Tool Kit is a two-in-one pet hair removal tool that quickly and effectively scrapes pet hair off furniture and car seats.
The product packaging recommends the Lilly Brush Pro Pet Hair Tool Kit for use in cars, and it definitely removes pet hair from car seats and floor mats. But we consider this tool one of the best pet hair removers because it also does a great job removing pet hair from furniture and carpeted surfaces like cat trees.
It did a great job removing hard-to-see fur from the sofa, and the long-handled crevice tool does an excellent job cleaning corners and tricky surfaces, like narrow spaces between chair cushions and car seats. On a carpeted cat tree, it pulled up several months’ worth of embedded cat hair with several good scrapes — and it only took about 20 minutes to thoroughly clean the tree’s three levels.
Crystal Raypole/Business Insider
This tool didn’t work as well on clothing, in part because of its broader shape, but it’s not totally ineffective, either. We love the stretchy band that keeps the tool firmly in your hand as you use it. The Lilly Brush Pro Pet Hair Tool Kit costs more than nearly all of the other tools we tested, but it’s effective, durable, and well-made, so we think it’s worth the price.
Best for carpet
The Neater Pets Fur Dozer Pet Hair Remover isn’t the best option for pulling pet hair from clothing, but it really shines on carpet. We tried it on different types of carpet, furniture, and dog beds and found that it works best when it gets some resistance from the material, so it’s a good option for rugged fabrics, like the dog bed pictured, and higher pile carpeting.
Crystal Raypole/Business Insider
This sturdy tool is made to last, and its small size means you can store it pretty much anywhere, including your bag or car. But even though the Fur Dozer is small, it’s wide enough to quickly cover even larger surfaces, like area rugs.
We liked how it’s comfortable to hold or use with either hand, which means you can switch off hands for longer cleaning jobs. The quiet operation was another plus. Some pet hair removers make scratching or scraping sounds that can bother some sensitive or anxious dogs, but the Fur Dozer worked quietly enough that our pets didn’t mind sticking around during testing.
Best for laundry
If you wash a lot of fur-covered garments, blankets, and pet towels, the Smart Sheep Wool Dryer Balls can help your laundry come out of the dryer hair-free — and all you have to do is toss them in the dryer with the wet clothes. We loved how well they worked and cut down on drying time. A trip through the dryer with one of these balls got most of the cat hair off the curtain pictured, which is a favorite space for cat naps.
Crystal Raypole/Business Insider
The Smart Sheep Wool Dryer Balls are easy to use, contain only wool, and don’t have any fragrance. While they don’t last forever, they do last a long time. The package directions say they’ll still work once they begin pilling, but they removed a little less hair after drying more than 15 loads, especially loads of hairy items like dog blankets.
Unlike dryer sheets, the balls don’t do much to reduce static cling, but they’re one of the best pet hair removers you can find for laundry. Plus, not only are they more effective than the dryer sheets we tested, they’re better for your clothing and the environment. Just make sure to store them out of reach of your dog, since they can easily grab and shred any stray dryer balls that escape your laundry basket. (This happened during our trials!)
Best for car
Analan Mini Pet Hair Detailer
The Analan Mini Pet Hair Detailer is a small but powerful pet hair remover that quickly pulls pet hair from car seats, car floors, furniture, and clothing.
The Analan Mini Pet Hair Detailer is a small tool that works best for removing pet hair from car seats and floor mats. The triangular tool has teeth running along its edges — three different sides with different tooth sizes. Starting with Side 1, which has the largest teeth, you work the tool over the cleaning area, using all of the sides to remove the hair.
We loved how well it worked in the car and on furniture. In fact, we found that most of the hair came up when we used the first side. We tried this on car seats and floor mats, dog beds, clothing, and household furniture. It works best on carpeted or upholstered surfaces, like rugs and car seats, but it does an OK job removing pet hair from clothes, too. It’s less effective on very shaggy fabrics, however.
Crystal Raypole/Business Insider
This tool’s small size makes it very portable, too — you can easily stash it in a bag or car glovebox. The small size may be a drawback if you have larger hands, since you may find the tool harder to hold or manipulate. The size also makes it less ideal for very large surfaces, like floors or area rugs.
Best roller
Scotch-Brite Pet Hair Pickup
The Scotch-Brite Pet Hair Pickup has extra-sticky sheets designed to pick up pet hair and other dirt and debris from your clothing and furniture.
If you prefer a standard roller, the Scotch-Brite Pet Hair Pickup is a good option. It has super sticky sheets specially designed to pull pet hair from clothing and furniture. It worked on everything we tested, including a sweater that defeated some of the other best pet hair removers, and does a better job removing pet hair than many other sticky rollers.
Crystal Raypole/Business Insider
However, it’s not perfect. The sheets spin loosely on the roller, making the tool less effective unless you grip it firmly and press down hard. This also makes it more difficult to tear off the sheets. We found that the roller would spin too far when we tried to tear off the used sheet, and the clean sheets would end up sticking together.
This is a great choice for quick pet hair removal, especially if you want something to keep in your car or bag. However, we don’t recommend it for large areas or deeply embedded pet hair.
What to look for in a pet hair remover
The things you’ll want to consider when shopping for the best pet hair removers will generally depend on what you want to use the tool for. A few things to keep in mind include:
Recommended surfaces: Not all pet hair removers work the same way, and some do a better job on some surfaces than others. If you mostly need to remove pet hair from clothing, you may want a smaller tool, like a roller or sponge, that’s designed for delicate fabrics. You may find a different tool works better for larger, carpeted surfaces, like your rug or sofa.
Shape and size: If you know you’ll use the pet hair remover often, you’ll want to make sure you can hold it comfortably and use it easily. People with very small or very large hands may find certain tools harder to grip and use over a longer period. The shape of a tool can also affect how well it works for different surfaces and situations. For example, the Chom Chom Roller has a larger size that makes it a little awkward to use on clothing you’re already wearing.
Operation: Before purchasing a pet hair remover, read the directions and product reviews. This information can give you a better idea of how the tool works and whether people found it easy to use as directed. Most pet hair removers are fairly easy to use, but some may require more steps or cleaning than others.
Price: When shopping for pet hair removers, you’ll find plenty of options for different budgets. The prices of our top picks range from $5 to $33. While $30 may seem like a lot to spend upfront, a more expensive reusable tool may be worth the expense, especially if you go through single-use lint rollers quickly.
How we tested the best pet hair removers
To find the best pet hair removers for all of your needs, we tested 13 tools across seven different categories. We scored each product in the following categories.
Effectiveness: We tested how well each tool worked when used for its intended purpose according to the product directions. We also checked how well the tool worked on additional surfaces not listed in the directions.
To test effectiveness, we used each pet hair remover for both dog and cat hair on the following surfaces:
- Clothing and bedding in several different fabrics, including T-shirts, jeans, sweatshirts, tights, sweaters, jackets, sheets, pillowcases, and duvet covers
- Furniture, including sofas, chairs, and cat trees
- Flooring, including high and low pile carpet, area rugs, tile, and concrete
- Dog beds, including plush, shaggy, and carpeted beds
- Car floor mats and seats, though only some removers were tested on leather seats
We tested the effectiveness of pet hair removers designed for laundry by adding dryer sheets or dryer balls to wet clothes in the dryer.
We used sticky single-use rollers on all of the testing surfaces listed above.
Ease of use: For each product, we evaluated the ease of operation, effort required to pick up pet hair, and effort required to clean the tool after use.
Durability: To test durability, we used each pet hair remover daily on a few different surfaces over a period of two weeks. We used the dryer sheets and dryer balls in 15 loads of laundry containing a variety of fabrics.
Size: We evaluated whether anyone could comfortably use these tools or if they worked better for people with larger or smaller hands. We also considered whether the tool needed a very tight grip to work as intended. To check this, we had people with different hand sizes hold each tool and try using it.
Price: We checked prices for similar products to determine whether each tool had a comparable price.
Other functions: We tested other advertised functions of the product, like picking up leaf debris and dirt or reducing static cling.
Portability and storage: We considered whether these pet hair removers were easy to take on the go or store at home, depending on their intended purpose.
Pet hair remover FAQs
What is the most effective pet hair remover?
You’ll find plenty of different options when shopping for the best pet hair removers, and there’s no single most effective fur remover for all situations. The best tool for your needs can depend on the surface you want to use it on, how much hair you want to remove, and how often you need to use the tool. Our best overall pick, the Chom Chom Roller, was the most effective pet hair remover for the most surfaces and types of pet hair.
What picks up dog hair the best?
Many pet hair removers work well to pick up dog hair, including all of our top picks. You may need to try a few different tools to find the one that works best for your dog’s fur. We particularly liked the Gonzo Natural Pet Hair Remover and the Fur Dozer for picking up dog hair embedded in furniture and carpet. However, some dog fur may prove extra resistant. If you don’t get the results you want from a handheld pet hair remover, you may want to consider investing in one of the best vacuums for pet hair.
How do I keep pet hair off my furniture?
If you have pets, you probably won’t be able to keep their fur off your furniture completely, but you can use a pet hair remover to pick up any hair your pet leaves behind. Brushing your pets regularly can also help reduce the amount of hair they shed on your furniture. Furniture covers will also protect your furniture from excess pet hair.
