This 3-Minute Trick Will Make It So You Find Way Less Cat Hair All Over the House

Have you seen more cat hair floating through the air than usual? Are you finding tufts of the stuff all over your clothes and furniture? It turns out we are in the middle of shedding season. Brushing is incredibly important during this time of year to help your furry friend feel comfortable, but sometimes it’s not enough to keep cat hair from accumulating everywhere. To keep cat shedding under control, there’s another tool you can use, and it’s probably already in your closet: a lint roller.  

Using a lint roller in between brushings is a great way to stop those hairs from floating around your home. It will also reduce the amount of grooming your cat has to do, which means fewer hairballs. Unlike a brush, which tugs deeply at the root and may cause discomfort, a lint roller gently removes hair from the surface.  

Testing Out the Lint Roller

Of course, I couldn’t leave this lint roller trick up to chance. To test it out, I enlisted the help of my sister, Katherine, and her two furry friends, Spark and Poptart. 

Spark has a medium-length coat while Poptart has a short-haired one. Spark gets brushed every two days, and Poptart needs only a surface-level brushing every so often. Thus, trying the lint roller on both cats helped us determine whether it worked better for short hairs or long hairs.  

First up was Spark. After bribing him with plenty of treats, Katherine got to work rubbing him down with the lint roller. Spark easily scares, so a gentle approach helped him stay put for about three minutes. After that, he decided it was time to leave! 

Then it was Poptart’s turn for a moment in the spotlight. Also skittish, she stayed just long enough for the treats and a gentle wipe down with the lint roller.  

Upon examining the lint roller, Katherine noticed that it caught both short and long hairs. In other words, it seemed to work well on both cats.  

As an added bonus, pain and discomfort were not an issue. “It didn’t seem to hurt them as much as startle them,” Katherine said. “The lint roller wasn’t yanking out hair still attached to the follicles. It seemed to only grab the loose hairs, which in turn didn’t hurt them.” Katherine also noted that the roller tugged even less on Poptart, who has very short hair.  

The overall verdict? A lint roller doesn’t replace a good brush, but it is an excellent tool to use between regular brushings. “It’s good for shedding season, when they have lots of flyaway hairs that are already loose on their bodies,” Katherine said. “It will prevent those hairs from getting everywhere.”  

While Poptart and Spark didn’t get much enjoyment out of the activity, your cat might. This YouTube user noted that her cat loves the gentle rub down. And it’s mess-free! 

This article was updated on Wednesday, October 12 at 11:30 a.m. EST. It was originally published on October 21, 2021.