Cuddling with your furry companion is one of the best parts of being a pet parent — that is, until they leave a pile of fuzz and fur on your clothes, couch and every other surface imaginable. If finding lumps of Fido’s hair in your household is a daily phenomenon, it may be time to invest in equipment that helps remove loose pet hair from your home’s surfaces and lets you flaunt your dark-colored clothes again.
“Keeping a pet hair-free home requires a combination of grooming, cleaning and utilizing the right tools,” says Marla Mock, president of Molly Maid, a Neighborly company. “It's essential to establish a routine and be consistent with maintenance tasks to minimize pet hair and allergens in the household.”
SKIP AHEAD Best pet hair removal tools | How to keep your home free of pet hair
To help you determine the best tools to keep pet hair from taking over your home, we spoke to experts about how to manage this shedding and compiled some of our Select staff’s favorite products to keep pet hair under control.
Our top picks
- Best overall: ChomChom Roller Pet Hair Remover
- Best for cat hair: Furminator Short Hair Cat Deshedding Tool
- Best for dog hair: Maxpower Planet Pet Grooming Brush
- Best budget: Scotch-Brite Mini Lint Roller
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How we picked the best pet hair removers
To help rid yourself and your home of loose pet hair (at least temporarily), our experts recommend keeping the following factors in mind:
Hair type: You should choose products that are specifically designed to remove pet hair, but first consider the amount of loose hair you’re cleaning up on a daily basis. “There are deshedding tools designed for dogs with short hair or long hair, as well as products specifically for cats,” says Zach Neumann, product expert at pet supplies retailer Chewy. Some items, like reusable rollers and brushes, can help remove a small amount of hair at a time, while larger tools like vacuums are typically more beneficial for heavy shedders.
Surface type: Whether you’re tackling furniture, carpets, hard floors or clothing, make sure you pick an item that won’t damage your surfaces.
Versatility: To limit the number of tools you need to buy, look for options that can clean multiple types of surfaces. “Many products are multi-purpose, which makes shopping for solutions easier,” Neumann says. Some pet hair vacuums, for example, include various attachments that can clean carpets, hard floors and furniture.
Ease of use: Opt for user-friendly tools that are easy to handle and maneuver, Mock says. Look for durable pet hair removers that you can reuse to ensure they last a while and let you avoid needing to buy new supplies or lint roller sheets.
Best pet hair removal tools
Below, we’ve compiled expert-recommended and Select staff-favorite products that’ll reduce unwanted fuzz and get you back to cuddling your pet without hesitation.
ChomChom Roller Pet Hair Remover
This tool by ChomChom comes recommended by multiple Select staffers, as well as by Robert Haussmann, a certified dog trainer and co-founder of Dogboy NYC. It uses brush bristles to remove pet hair from your couch, bed, carpet or any other surface. It doesn’t use adhesive or sticky tape like lint rollers do, making it reusable without needing refills — you simply roll the device back and forth in short strokes to trap pet hair and lint inside a chamber, which opens at the touch of a button to let you easily empty it. Select commerce analytics manager Amanda Smith’s rat terrier mix, Mac, has black hair, which she says is extremely visible on light-colored surfaces. To solve that problem, she uses the ChomChom on her carpet and sheets and says she finds it helpful when she needs a quick cleaning and doesn’t have time to pull the vacuum out. “Because there’s no power source or batteries required, it's really easy to use over and over again,” she says.
“I love that the ChomChom is adhesive-free — you just swipe it across any surface where you want it to pick up hair and the little fibers on the roller do all the work,” says photo editor Vivian Le, who cleans up shedding from her domestic shorthair cat, Lola. “It’s also so easy to clean out: You just pop it open and scoop out the clump of hair.”
Furminator Short Hair Cat Deshedding Tool
CNBC Select reporter Elizabeth Knueven says she’s used the Furminator since it came out about 10 years ago to help reduce shedding from her domestic shorthair cats Fudge and Sal. “I'm a loyalist at this point,” she says. The Furminator has a stainless steel, comb-like edge that removes loose hair. The edge is slightly curved, which prevents it from digging into your pet’s skin and causing pain or discomfort, according to the brand. It also comes with an ejector button that conveniently releases the collected pet hair for easy clean-up. Furminator offers deshedding tools for both cats and dogs of all sizes and hair lengths.
Uproot Cleaner Pro Reusable Hair Remover
Select associate updates editor Zoe Malin typically has anywhere from one to four cats and dogs in her apartment at any given time. She noticed that most vacuums pick up hair on the surface of carpets, but they don’t quite get hair that’s deeply embedded in the fabric. This handheld scraping tool, however, does: “As you gently scrape it along the fabric, it lifts lint, hair and dirt out and collects it in a little ball, which you can either pick up and throw out or vacuum it up,” Malin says. She uses the Uproot Cleaner Pro on carpets, clothing, bedding, furniture and, her personal favorite, on pet beds and cat trees. The tool is reusable and doesn’t damage the fabric from her furniture. “I’ve used mine for almost a full year and it has not lost any of its cleaning power,” Malin says.
Maxpower Planet Pet Grooming Brush
If your pet has very thick fur that gets matted easily, this grooming brush has sharpened, fine-rounded teeth that help to de-shed and untangle their coat. I use this brush on my Havachon, Bella, several times a week to help prevent mats from getting out of control. Bella is a cuddler and though her breed doesn’t shed, loose hair will almost always show up on my dark clothes. Since using this brush consistently, I’ve noticed significantly less fur on my black leggings and T-shirts.
The brush is double-sided: One side has nine teeth that’ll help comb out tangles, while the flip side has 17 teeth that trap and remove loose pet hair from your companion’s coat, according to the brand. Weighing in at 3.5 ounces, the tool is also very lightweight and includes a non-slip rubber handle for stability.
Blue Pure 311i+ Max
“An air purifier can do wonders for minimizing airborne pet hair and dander from landing on your surfaces,” Neumann says. The Blue Pure 311i+ Max is one of our favorite air purifiers and the latest series from Blueair. Select reporter Harry Rabinowitz says the air purifier is lighter, quieter and easier to use than other air purifiers he’s owned. Rabinowitz says the 311i+ Max also captures plenty of pet hair in its pre-filter, or a large fabric mesh cover that wraps around the body of the machine. Neumann recommends looking for a pre-filter in an air purifier if you have pets who shed: “A HEPA filter will do plenty, but you can [make it easier] by picking up a device with a removable or cleanable pre-filter to catch the hair prior to hitting the HEPA filter,” he says.
You can turn the air purifier on manually or using the Blueair app, which also shows you detailed stats around air monitoring and filter status, and lets you set a schedule for when you want it to turn on or go into night mode.
Swiffer Sweeper Pet Dry Sweeping Cloths
These multi-surface dry cloths are a favorite of Malin’s — they connect to the brand’s Swiffer Sweeper Dust Mop to help collect pet hair, dirt and debris on hard floors like tile, vinyl and wood flooring. Malin says she likes that the cloths have a fluffy, 3D fiber pattern that locks in pet hair after picking it up. “Other dry cloths I’ve used have a flat fiber pattern, and I’ve found that those don’t trap pet hair as well, so you’re kind of just spreading it around rather than picking it up,” she says. These cloths also provide a fresh Febreze scent to rid your home of any pet odors, according to the brand.
Well & Good Black Cushion Slicker Cat Brush
Select managing editor Leah Ginsberg’s tortie cat, Izzy, won't normally tolerate more than a few strokes from most detangling brushes. This Well & Good slicker brush, which comes with tightly-packed wire pins angled to brush through your pet’s coat without touching too much of the skin, is the only one she will actually tolerate — and though Ginsberg says it doesn't take off as much hair as other deshedding brushes, “she likes being brushed with it for as long as I will brush.” Designed for cats with sensitive skin, this slicker brush helps you gently remove tangles, dead hair and debris and gives their coat a fuller appearance, according to the brand.
Safari Cat Self-Cleaning Slicker Brush
Another slicker brush option, this one from Safari is a favorite of Select reporter Harry Rabinowitz, who has used it for the past six years up to four times a week on his domestic shorthair cat, Zelda. He likes how easy it is to clean. “It collects tons of cat hair on the metal pins. When you need to clean it, you press the button on the back of the brush, which pushes all of the cat hair off of the metal pins,” Rabinowitz says. Zelda also enjoys the brush overall: “She’ll do what I call the ‘car wash method’ of walking over to me, getting a few brushes, then walking away, only to come back to me after about 15 seconds for more brushes,” he says. It also comes with a textured grip handle that makes it easy to hold and use.
Delomo Pet Grooming Glove
Massage this flexible, slip-on grooming glove over your pet and the loose hair and fuzz sticks directly onto it, according to Alison Chamberland, a professional dog groomer and owner of Best in Coat Grooming Salon. One of our favorite dog grooming tools, the glove is made of soft rubber, so your pet feels more comfortable and relaxed while they’re getting brushed, Chamberland says. It’s also one size fits all with an adjustable wrist strap to provide a more comfortable fit.
Dyson V8 Cordless Stick Vacuum
Francesca Cocchi, Shop TODAY’s branded commerce editor, says she needed a powerful vacuum to clean up her golden retriever Stevie’s heavy shedding. She received an older version of Dyson’s V8 stick vacuum and notes it's been a game changer: “I love that it's cordless, has a handheld attachment and is easy to clean between uses,” she says. It’s also easy to navigate around furniture and hard-to-reach spots in our condo, she says. The vacuum comes with a motorized anti-tangle brush roll, which automatically removes hair that gets wrapped around it as you clean, according to the brand. It also has a 40-minute runtime and uses the brand’s proprietary whole-machine filtration system with washable filters to reduce dirt and allergens from pets around your home.
If you’re looking for a corded, upright option, Dyson’s Ball Animal 3 vacuum is one of our favorite vacuums for pet hair, and, like the V8, includes an anti-tangle brush roll and a dog grooming tool to remove loose hairs, dead skin and other allergens directly from long-haired pets.
Scotch-Brite Mini Lint Roller 2-Pack
Malin loves Scotch-Brite lint rollers to remove pet hair in a pinch because they’re highly effective and super sticky. “No matter how well I think I clean pet hair off me before leaving my apartment, I always manage to find more later on and it drives me crazy unless I can get rid of it — these mini lint rollers constantly save the day,” she says. Malin keeps Scotch-Brite’s standard size option at home and puts the mini ones in all of her bags, as well as at her desk.
Smart Design Large Lint Roller
This large lint roller’s handle extends from 12 inches to 42 inches long, so you can use it as a handheld lint roller to clean tight spaces or help collect pet hair from hard-to-reach areas like underneath furniture. “I saw this on TikTok and bought it in about two seconds — I use it mostly to lint roll my comforter and sheets, but you can also use it to lint roll other furniture, floors, carpets in cars and more,” Malin says. The lint roller comes with 25 removable adhesive sheets.
How to keep your home free of pet hair
Pet hair is an almost inevitable nuisance of having a pet at home, but you can reduce the amount. Below, our experts share a few tips about how to maintain a pet hair-free home.
Groom pets regularly. You can use grooming gloves and brushes, as well as supplements and shampoos that are specifically formulated to help reduce shedding around your home and improve the health and appearance of your pet’s coat, according to Neumann. Mock recommends brushing your pet daily to remove loose fur and give them regular baths to reduce airborne allergens, too.
Following a regular cleaning schedule. This includes frequent vacuuming, wiping down surfaces, dusting, mopping hard floors and vacuuming everyday or every other day, depending on how much your pet sheds, according to our experts.
Consider furniture covers and blankets. “These are great options to protect couches, chairs, beds, car seats and other surfaces from getting excess hair on them,” Naumann says. When they’ve collected hair, just throw them in the wash to clean them and put them back on whatever you need to protect.
Keep your pets active and healthy to help reduce shedding. “Healthy activity can not only help your pet to burn calories, but it also can help burn off some stress, as well,” says Dr. Katy Nelson, senior veterinarian at Chewy. Much like humans, anxiety and stress in pets can lead to excessive shedding or hair loss, according to Nelson.
Meet our experts
At Select, we work with experts who have specialized knowledge and authority based on relevant training and/or experience. We also take steps to ensure all expert advice and recommendations are made independently and without undisclosed financial conflicts of interest.
Marla Mock is the president of Molly Maid, a home cleaning service and Neighborly company.
Zach Neumann is a product expert at Chewy.
Robert Haussmann is a certified dog trainer and co-founder of Dogboy NYC. He is a member of the Association of Professional Dog Trainers and the International Association of Animal Behavior Counselors.
Alison Chamberland is a professional dog groomer and owner of Best in Coat Grooming Salon in West Chester, Pennsylvania.
Dr. Katy Nelson is a veterinarian and associate director of veterinary relations for Chewy Health.
Why trust Select?
Mili Godio is an editor at Select who covers a variety of pet topics, including dog food, treats, toys and more. For this article, Godio spoke to four pet product and grooming experts about what pet hair remover tools are worth it for your home. She also compiled their recommendations and Select staff picks for the best pet hair removers to shop.
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