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It feels pretty fantastic to cuddle up with your furry friend on a cold winter day. But cleaning pet hair off your bedding can be quite a nightmare, especially if you have a knit or wool blanket.
Some types of blankets like microfiber or fleece naturally repel pet hair, but those small pieces of fur tend to cling to other materials and can be very time-consuming to fully remove.
In this handy guide, we’re going to show you how to get dog hair off blankets in washer machines, so you can restore the luxurious look and feel of your blankets.
How to Get Dog Hair off Blankets in Washer
It’s pretty hard to wash a large and bulky blanket by hand. Most people use a washing machine when it is time to give their bedding a good clean.
Washing machines naturally remove quite a bit of pet hair from linen, but with Sherpa blankets, wool blankets and textured blankets, these machines can sometimes make the pet hair get stuck even deeper in the blanket fibers, which makes them even tougher to remove by hand.
Taking the right steps can help get much more hair out of the blanket during your machine washing cycle. Here’s a quick look at a couple of things you can do to get more hair out while using a washing machine.
Pre-Washing Treatments
Taking a couple of extra steps before you place the blanket in the machine can help you get more fur out during your wash – and will help protect your machine. Here’s what you should do before washing your blanket.
Use a Lint Roller
A lint roller or lint brush is great for getting rid of loose fur before these items get stuck in your blanket fibers. Try grabbing a lint roller and roll it all over the blanket before taking it off your bed so you can catch all the loose hair.
Use Tape
If you don’t have a lint roller, you can always grab a large strip of tape and dab it all over the blanket to remove as much excess hair as you can.
Wipe With Rubber Gloves
When you rub rubber gloves over a blanket, the gloves will create friction. This friction creates a magnetic field that makes fur stick to the rubber gloves. All loose fur on the blanket will cling to the gloves.
Use the Dryer
You can also try and run the blanket for a 10-minute dryer cycle before washing it. The dryer will suck out and capture most of the loose fur pieces before they become intertwined in your blanket.
Washing Instructions
Once you remove as much hair as possible, your blanket will be ready for machine washing. Most blankets are perfectly safe for machine washing, but with a weighted blanket, you might want to take some extra care.
Here are the best steps to take to loosen up and clear pet hair from your blanket.
Step 1
First, give the blanket a good shake to remove lingering hair, dirt and dust.
Step 2
Pour 1/2 cup of white vinegar in with your wash cycle. The vinegar will loosen pet hair and eliminate bad pet odors.
Step 3
Wash the blanket the same way you would normally do your load of laundry in the washing machine. It might be best to use a longer wash cycle so you can loosen as much fur from the blanket as possible.
Step 4
After washing the blanket, you should run an extra rinse cycle through the machine to clear out any loose dog hair (or cat hair) from the washing machine. You should also wipe the washer tub down after the empty rinse cycle to clear hair from the machine, or they can end up stuck on your clothes during the next wash cycle.
Step 5
Once you remove the blanket, hang it up to dry. It’s best to hang the blanket in a breeze or to place a fan in front of it. The breeze can also help loosen some of the furs.
While the blanket is hanging to dry, you can grab your rubber glove and give it a wipe down again. The rubber gloves will create friction again to get rid of the last of the fur.
Use a Fur Remover or Lint Trap in the Machine
Lots of companies sell pet fur removers or a lint trap that you can add to your washing machine or dryer. These small balls are usually textured with nodes or loops and are designed to capture any loose hair on your clothing or bedding.
If you have a pet hair remover for laundry, you can add it to the washing machine while washing your clothes. The fur remover will capture loose dog hair drifting about in the machine so the fur won’t get stuck in the blanket fibers.
FAQs About Removing Pet Hair
Pet hair on blankets is a pretty common issue that many pet owners deal with on a daily basis, and these struggles usually result in plenty of questions. Take a look at the most frequently asked questions that pet owners have about bedding and pet hair.
Can Pet Hair Damage My Washer?
Pet hair can damage your washing machine because water and pet hair together can form clumps. These clumps of cat and dog hair will stick to the sides of the washer drum and will eventually find their way into the drain pump filter.
Large clumps of hair can clog up the drain pump, which can result in some unfortunate damage to your washing machine.
How Do I Remove Pet Hair From My Washer?
Newer washing machines come with a self-cleaning cycle. This cycle is designed to flush dirt, debris and pet hair from the washing machine so it won’t stay behind to cling to other clothing items.
Older washing machines come with a lint filter that screens out and captures pet hair. This filter needs to be emptied and washed whenever it becomes full. Older machines also need to be rinsed by running an empty cycle after washing pet blankets.
Bottom Line
Learning how to get dog hair off blankets in washer machines will help you take better care of your machine and keep your beautiful blankets in great shape for longer.