Best Pet Hair Remover Tools - Consumer Reports (2024)

Performance: If you can only have one pet hair remover tool in your cleaning toolbox, this is the one. The ChomChom was a favorite with my at-home evaluators and the best performing in our formal lab tests. What sets this tool apart is that it’s the only tool that gathers and picks up all of the pet hair it touches. After just three forward and backward swipes to velvet and linen-polyester pillows, they were left almost completely free of hair, minus a few stragglers.

I was surprised to find that it was the best tool to use on carpet too, even though crouching low to use it wasn’t the most comfortable position. No other tool left the carpet as hair-free as the ChomChom. Two of our three at-home evaluators and I liked this tool so much that we bought it for ourselves post-evaluation.

It was tricky to clean clothing with this tool. You have to hold the clothing taut for a smooth swipe, and it’s a bit too bulky to maneuver around small areas. On the knit sweater we evaluated all the tools on, the nylon material of the ChomChom got caught on the surface, so no pet hair was picked up at all. It fared much better on the polyester camisole.

Ease of use: Cleaning the tool was a breeze, too. A single button on its handle opens up the compartment that holds all of the pet hair. Some got stuck in the corners of the compartment, but freeing those wasn’t difficult.

One evaluator who has carpal tunnel syndrome noted that this tool required significantly less pressure to work, which meant that her condition wasn’t aggravated as it was with a few of the other pet hair removers. “This was super comfortable and easy to use. The instructions were a no-brainer and more importantly, it worked wonderfully. It’s essentially a self-cleaning tool, minus opening up the compartment to empty the bin, and that was super easy, too.” said Karen LaCasa, a senior client systems analyst at CR.

Performance: The Analan is a triangle-shaped pet hair remover that has three uniquely sized ridged sides, and it did very well in our evaluations. The rubber material created a static attraction with the velvet pillow so that it was able to pick up all of the cat hair we applied to the surface. This was the only surface where it picked up hair. On the polyester-linen blend pillow, it bunched up the hair in easier-to-pick-up piles. Ditto for the carpet, where it did a great job gathering up the hair in neat piles, but we did notice some redepositing of hair on subsequent swipes as it became stuck on the ridges.

As for the performance of the individual sides of the tool: not much difference to note. As far as the at-home evaluators and I could tell, the size of the ridges didn’t affect the tool’s ability to gather the cat hair. They could prove helpful in removing embedded hair from sturdy, textured surfaces, though when I tried to clean the knit sweater with the Analan Pet Hair Remover it caught on the fabric often (beware of delicate sweaters). The smooth camisole was easier to clean as long as I held the material taut. The results weren’t perfect, so this isn’t the tool I’d keep in my bag for on-the-go cleanups.

Ease of use: The hole in the center of the triangle allows for a comfortable grip and switching from one side to another was easy. Because the ridged surfaces are so small, cleaning a large area like a whole upholstered couch takes a significant amount of time. Small areas of a couch that are difficult to reach with larger tools, like in between cushions and along the edges of the seat, are easier to reach with the Analan.

Because a lot of hair sticks to the tool’s rubber material, cleaning the pet hair remover is a bit tricky. Rinsing under running water was helpful to rid it of some stragglers.

Performance: The Lilly Brush is another rubber-edged tool that’s handy for small areas, but it’s not the most effective for large surfaces. Unlike the Analan tool that has ridged sides, the Lilly Brush has flat sides that, in our evaluations, turn out to be a disadvantage. Because the surface is flat, it doesn’t do much for the hairs that are a little embedded into the material being cleaned. As with every tool other than the ChomChom, it didn’t pick up any of the pet hair, instead making neat piles of hair along the cleaned surfaces.

It performed about as well as the Analan on the velvet and polyester-linen blend pillows but struggled significantly on the low-pile carpet. With every swipe, about half of the hair was left behind and the few bunches that were formed were deposited on the next area I tried to clean. Our at-home evaluators noticed the same thing on their couches.

Though it required more swipes than some of the others, it produced the best results on both the camisole and the knit sweater. By taking the small extra step of removing the pet hair that gets stuck on the rubber before an additional swipe, you can even avoid redepositing hair on a clean area of clothing. This fact, plus its small, easy-to-carry size and shape, make this a tool I’d keep in my bag for quick hair cleanup I notice on an outfit after I’ve left home.

Ease of use: Our evaluator with wrist issues wasn’t fond of this tool. It required a significant amount of downward pressure to really work, which exacerbated her wrist pain, so much so that she commented that she would have returned it if she had purchased the tool on her own.

I didn’t run into that problem, but I didn’t think it was as comfortable to hold as the Analan Pet Hair Remover. Getting the tool clean was easy, though. A quick rinse under running water removed all of the hairs that couldn’t be removed by hand.

Other Pet Hair Remover Tools We Tried

Performance: The Uproot Clean Uproot Cleaner Pro Pet Hair Remover has two sets of metal teeth to pick up hair from upholstered surfaces. It worked really well but also snagged on nearly every surface we tried it on. According to the instructions on the packaging, you should hold the tool at a 90-degree angle when cleaning “fine-haired fabrics,” but in our evaluations, it still snagged on the polyester-linen blend pillow cover, the carpet, and the knit sweater in this position. The instructions list the surfaces it should not be used on, including wool, knitted fabrics, and silk, which is helpful.

Our at-home evaluators didn’t feel comfortable using this on their more delicate furnishings, either. Catherine Roberts, a CR writer, said: “On the gray woven fabric of my couch, it did seem to snag a bit, and I would worry that a more delicate weave might easily be damaged by the snaggly teeth of this tool. I was worried about my green chair for this reason, although that seems to have been unfounded, probably since the weave of the velvet is so tight that snagging wasn’t possible. It worked well pulling cat hair off the velvet as well, so no real complaints there. Still, it’s not my first-choice tool because of the potential for fabric damage, and I would certainly not use it on my delicate rag rug for fear of it ripping up rug fibers.”

Ease of use: Removing the hair from the metal teeth is easier than expected and the tool requires no pressure at all to remove even the embedded hairs from upholstered material. It’s worth noting again that this is not a tool you want to try on any delicate fabrics, no matter how badly you want to remove embedded hair from them.

Performance: The Mr.Siga Rubber Broom is a tool that can only be used on rugs, carpets, and floors. Upon first removing this pet hair remover from its packaging, the first thing I noted was the strong rubber smell coming from the product. It’s certainly one you want to let air out for a day or two before you start using it.

With all of the hair that was re-deposited on the carpet with every swipe, it’s hard to say that this pet hair remover is worth having at home. Even when we cleaned the rubber bristles in between swipes, there wasn’t much hair gathering or picking up going on. It did dislodge a significant amount of dirt and debris that was trapped in the carpet fibers but did little more than bring them up to the surface.

Ease of use: The long metal pole is adjustable, but it isn’t comfortable for use on couches or clothing. Dirk Klingner originally liked the idea of the broom-like tool but was disappointed with its performance and found that it was difficult to clean. Our two other home evaluators found this tool to be a waste of time since they still had to vacuum their rugs after using it.

Performance: The second of our long-handled tools, the Uproot Clean Uproot Cleaner Xtra didn’t fare much better than the Mr.Siga Broom. Like the handheld pet hair remover from the same brand, it has two sets of metal teeth and needs to be used at different angles depending on how delicate the rug to be cleaned is.

It did an okay job making small piles of pet hair that were easy to pick up, but re-depositing was an issue if we didn’t clean the hair from the metal teeth between swipes and it tugged on the carpet fibers significantly. For carpets you don’t mind treating a little roughly, it could be beneficial, at least to bring embedded pet hair to the surface where a vacuum will be able to suction it up easily, but beware of using the tool on any antiques.

Roberts was shocked to find red and blue fibers from her antique handmade rug mixed in with all of the pet hair it removed. “At first I thought, WOW, this rake is doing so much better than the Mr.Siga at pulling up fur. But then I picked up a clump of the fur, and while there was definitely fur in it, there were also blue and red fibers. The thing was destroying my rug!”

Ease of use: The handle is long and adjustable, but the tool cannot be used on anything other than rugs and carpets. Like with the Mr.Siga Rubber Broom, vacuuming is still necessary to totally clean rugs after using the tool.

How We Evaluated Pet Hair Remover Tools