How to Prevent & Remove Dog Hair from Your Car

Easy Ways to Get Dog Hair Out of a Car

Wipe your car’s interior with rubber gloves. Put on a pair of rubber gloves and run your hands along all the fabric surfaces in your car. The gloves’ surface has enough grip to pull up pet hair, but it won’t stick the way it does to fabric. This way, you can brush all the fur into a pile and dispose of it. It sometimes helps to wet the gloves with water first. Just make sure the carpets dry thoroughly so they don’t get moldy or musty.

Vacuum the hair. Vacuuming works best if the hair is already in piles, though it can also pick up individual hairs around your car’s interior. Use a cordless vacuum to get into hard-to-reach areas, or use a pet or upholstery attachment on a traditional vacuum cleaner. If you don’t have a vacuum on hand, many gas stations have car vacuums for a small fee. Use a lifting motion when vacuuming car carpets to help lift loose hairs out of the fibers. Avoid using a hard plastic vacuum head to scour the carpet, as this could damage it.

Use a lint roller for small amounts of fur. For a quick solution, run a lint roller over the fabric surfaces to pull up dog hair or get the last few bits after vacuuming. To get to hard-to-reach cracks and crevices, pull the sticky paper off the roller and stick it on the area or use a vacuum with a crevice tool. If you don’t have a lint roller on hand, duct tape works similarly. Just wrap it around your hand, sticky side out, and press the affected surface.

Try a dog hair cleaning brush, stone, or glove. There are a ton of dog hair cleaning products that can easily remove fur from your car. Dog hair cleaning brushes build up a static charge that pulls up the fur without damaging your upholstery. Dog hair cleaning stones are great for removing dog hair that’s deeply embedded in the fabric, and dog hair removing gloves are often recommended by professionals. Some popular products include the Chemical Guys pet hair rubber brush and the Lilly brush.

Use velcro hair curlers for a DIY hack. Many hair curlers have velcro, which can easily trap dog hair. Simply roll the curlers over the affected surface to lift the hair without damaging your seats or carpet. Once you remove the hair, just wipe it off the curlers outside of your car. Hair curlers won’t have to be replaced regularly like lint rollers do, and they’re easy to store in your glove compartment.

Use the wire bristle attachment on a steamer. If you have a steamer, the vapor is a great way to remove any germs and bacteria left by dog hair. When used with a bristle wire attachment, it can also pick up and remove the hair. This will also help remove other dirt, grease, and dust mites.

Remove fur with a squeegee. A squeegee is a quick and affordable way to remove dog hair, and it works similarly to using rubber gloves. Run the rubber blade over your upholstery, and it will gather the hair so you can collect it all in a pile and remove it.

Rub your seats with balloons. While this may sound odd, balloons have static electricity, which sometimes allows them to pick up dog hair. Simply wipe the balloon across the affected surfaces, then brush the collected fur off outside of your car. Repeat until all the hair has been removed. This may not be the most effective method, but it’s worth a shot if you happen to have a balloon lying around!

Try a wire brush if nothing else works. Wire brushes can be very effective at removing dog hair, but they’re usually only used as a last resort as they can damage your upholstery. If you’re willing to risk it, gently run the brush over your upholstery until all of the pet hair has been removed.

Call a professional if you can’t remove the hair yourself. If you’ve already tried everything and still can’t get rid of the dog hair, consider hiring a professional mobile detailer. They have tools and equipment to remove even the most stubborn pet hair from any surface in your car.

Preventing Dog Hair from Getting in Your Car

Opt for rubber or plastic floor mats. Using rubber or plastic mats rather than fabric ones can save a lot of time and effort when it comes to cleaning your car. Find all-weather floor mats online or at your local auto store, and simply take them out and spray them with a hose when it’s time to clean them. Trunk liners are also available for station wagons, hatchbacks, and SUVs.

Protect your seats with seat covers. Look for a synthetic fabric seat cover so you can just shake the pet hair off rather than having to clean the actual seat. If you don’t want to buy seat covers, try getting an inexpensive tarp or piece of scrap fabric and cutting it to size. If you choose to make a DIY seat cover out of fabric, choose something smooth; textured fabrics like flannel are harder to clean when it comes to pet hair. A moving blanket will also work if you want something less permanent.

Brush your dog before letting it in the car. Brushing your dog beforehand can help get rid of any loose hair and prevent excess shedding. While this won’t prevent dog hair from getting in your car altogether, it can help minimize it. This is a good solution if your dog doesn’t ride in your car often and you don’t want to spend extra money on things like seat covers.

Keep a pet-cleaning kit in your car. Put things like a lint roller, pet-safe wipes, a travel pet brush, a hand towel, and coffee pods in a kit for your car. This way, you can quickly clean up your pet before they get in your car and wipe up any hair you can’t prevent. Opening a coffee pod can help prevent pet odors from setting in if you’re on the road and can’t clean up right away.

Use an anti-static spray. Dog hair sticks to car seats and other surfaces because of static electricity, so applying an anti-static spray can help prevent it. Lightly spray the solution on your seats or floor mats to protect them from fur, or use it to unstick hair that’s already on the surface.

Get a car humidifier. This won’t prevent shedding altogether, but it might reduce it. When the air’s moisture is low, dogs’ skin often gets dry, causing them to scratch and lose hair. A car humidifier can soothe and moisturize their skin, and it will improve the car’s air in general.

Removing Pet Odors from Your Car

Use baking soda or coffee grounds to remove odors. If there are lingering pet odors in your car, put some baking soda or dry coffee grounds in a cup or dish, and leave it in your car for a few hours. Both items are great at absorbing odors and should have your car smelling fresh in no time. The sooner you use them, the better they are at removing the smells. If baking soda or coffee grounds don’t work, try something more professional like odor bombs or ozone machines to remove the smell entirely.

Removing Dog Hair FAQs

What material does dog hair not stick to? Dog hair is less likely to stick to materials like leather, plastic, chiffon, silk, and satin, as it’s harder for the fur to get in the fibers. Placing these materials on your car seat covers can make it easier to clean up pet hair in your car.

What DIY methods get dog hair off of car seats? You don’t need to go buy a lot of new materials to clean up dog hair. Things like lint rollers, duct tape, and hair curlers can easily pull it out of the fabric. If you have a pair of rubber cleaning gloves, wiping them over the surface works well, too.

How do you get dog hair out of velcro? If there’s velcro in your car or you used velcro hair curlers to remove dog hair, use a stiff bristle toothbrush to loosen the fur that’s trapped in the hooks. Then, roll a lint brush over the loose fur to remove it. If necessary, alternate with a soft bristle brush to remove hair that’s deeply embedded in the velcro, or try pulling it out with a pair of tweezers.