If you, or someone you live with, has long tresses, you’ve most likely dealt with this problem over and over again.
The shower drain is clogged with hair.
It’s gross, but luckily, this is an easy fix. Read on for some tips on how to unclog your hair-filled drain.
Unclog Your Drain with Boiling Water
You may have heard of this one before. Simply boil a pot of water and pour it straight down the drain. The idea is that the water will loosen up soap and grease that are keeping the hair in the drain. It may work, but it may also loosen your PVC joints, causing more harm than good. If you have PVC piping, proceed with caution!
Unclog Your Drain with the Old Baking-Soda-and-Vinegar Trick
But sometimes, the clog is bad enough that just using boiling water won’t be enough, so you need to resort to stronger measures. We love this hack: not only is it simple to execute, you probably have a lot of the ingredients already sitting in your kitchen.
Heat 2 or 4 liters of water on your stove or in a kettle to just short of boiling. Add about 1/2 cup of salt. Try pouring this down the drain, then wait 15 minutes before seeing if it will clear more easily.
If you need a stronger cleaning, pour 1/2 cup of baking soda down the drain, then add 1/2 cup of vinegar. The two ingredients will create a chemical reaction that's excellent at cleaning out clogs. Wait 15 minutes, then pour in very hot water to clear out the residual clogging agent and cleaner. If you really don't like the smell of vinegar, you can try using lemon juice instead, because the acidity has a similar effect.
Once again, pouring hot water down your drain may loosen PVC joints. If you have PVC piping, proceed with caution!
Unclog Your Drain with a Plumbing Snake
If you own one, a plumbing snake is a tool that is made for these types of clogs! Push the snake into the drain, turn the handle once you find the clog, and then pull out the hair. However, we do NOT recommend using a plumbing snake. If the plumbing snake breaks, it can cause way more harm than good. Only a trained plumber should use a plumbing snake on your clogged drains.
Unclog Your Drain with a Coat Hanger or Hook
This trick is best suited for the untrained plumber, as the risk of damaging your sink is low. Simply unravel a wire coat hanger. Bend the end of the coat hanger into a small hook. Stick the hook in the drain and fish around for the clump of hair that's causing the obstruction. You may need to remove your drain stopper for better access. Happy fishing!
Unclog Your Drain with Your... Hand
While not for the faint of heart, this method requires no tools whatsoever – just your hand (though we recommend putting on rubber gloves first!) You might want to take a flashlight for assistance in spotting the clump of hair.
How to Prevent Hair from Clogging Your Drain
It may seem that having hair stuck in your drain is inevitable, but there are some things you can do to prevent it.
Try brushing your hair before you get in the shower so that your hair ends up on the brush rather than in the drain. You can also buy a drain protector, which you can find for around $10 and are effective at keeping hair out.
Need a little extra help unclogging your drain? Give your local Benjamin Franklin Plumbing a call – we are always here to help! Call us at 1-877-BEN-1776, or contact us online.
