The complete guide
How To Clear Hair From A Plughole With A Drain Brush
Why the basin is slow again
If you share a bathroom with anyone who has long hair, you know the pattern. The shower tray starts holding a centimetre of water. The basin gurgles and takes its time. Nothing is fully blocked, but nothing is draining the way it should.
The cause is almost always the same. Hair goes down the plughole a few strands at a time. Most of it washes through. Some of it catches on the crossbars of the waste or on the rough edge of a joint just below. Once a few strands are caught, they act like a net. Soap, toothpaste, shaving foam and skin all stick to it. In a few weeks there is a soft grey plug sitting only a short way down.
The good news is how close it is. You do not need a long machine or a call-out to deal with something a hand's length below the plughole. You need a thin, bendy brush that can get in, grab it and bring it out. That is what this pack is.
What is in the pack
There are two brushes. The maker gives the length of each as 60cm. They are made of stainless steel and nylon, and the maker lists the handle as plastic or silicone.
The maker describes the brushes as flexible and says they can be bent, which matters because a waste pipe is never a straight drop for long. They are also listed as reusable. The colour is given only as multicolour, with no specific colours named, so we will not promise one.
A few details are not stated by the maker, including the diameter of the bristle head. The brush is described as made to slide into a plughole, and the photos give a fair idea of scale. If your waste has an unusually fine grid, look closely before you order.
How a drain brush catches hair
The idea is simple. Bristles stick out in all directions from a thin stem. When you slide the brush down past a clump of hair and give it a turn, the bristles tangle into the clump. When you pull back, the clump comes too.
The maker's own method is short. Insert the brush into the plughole. Turn it slightly to grab hair and gunk. Pull it out slowly. The maker also describes the brush as having a swivel design that helps it reach awkward spaces.
The slow pull is the part people rush. If you yank the brush out, the hair can slide off the bristles and drop back down. Draw it out steadily and it stays wrapped around the head all the way to the top.
Using it without the mess
Have a few sheets of kitchen roll and a small bag ready before you start. What comes out is not pleasant, and you will not want to carry it across the room. A pair of rubber gloves is a good idea too.
Lift out the plug and any strainer or removable cover. Run the tap for a second so the pipe is wet. Feed the brush into the plughole and keep going until you feel it meet something soft, or until it stops. If it stops hard, do not push. Ease back, turn it a little, and try again.
When you feel the soft resistance of a clump, turn the brush slightly. One or two turns is enough. Then draw it out slowly. Wipe the head firmly with kitchen roll, which is what the maker suggests, and drop the kitchen roll in the bag. Rinse the brush under the tap.
Go in a second time. The second pass often brings out as much as the first, because the first one loosens what is below it. Keep going until the brush comes out clean. Then run warm water for a minute and watch how quickly it drains.
Bin the waste. Never flush kitchen roll or hair down the toilet, because that only moves the blockage somewhere harder to reach.
Where the maker says it can be used
The maker lists kitchen sinks, washbasins, bath drain holes, bathroom floor drains and fridge drains. It also lists porcelain, stainless steel and plastic as suitable surfaces.
In a bathroom, the basin and the bath or shower waste are the obvious places. In a kitchen, the brush will bring up food scraps caught near the top of the waste. The small drain hole at the back of a fridge is a less obvious use, but it is one the maker names. That hole carries condensation away, and when it clogs, water collects at the bottom of the fridge.
This is where having two brushes helps. Nobody wants the brush that cleaned the shower waste going anywhere near the fridge. Keep one for the bathroom and one for the kitchen, and mark the handles if you need to.
Is 60cm the right length
For a plughole, yes. The hair in a basin, bath or shower waste usually sits in the first hand's length of pipe, on the crossbars or just above the trap. A 60cm brush covers that with plenty to spare, and it is short enough to control with one hand in a small basin.
Longer brushes, a metre and more, are made for scrubbing further along a pipe. They are useful for that, but they are awkward when all you want is to hook a clump of hair from just below the waste. A shorter tool gives you more feel. You can tell the difference between the soft give of a hair plug and the hard stop of a pipe bend, and that tells you when to turn and when to back off.
If you only ever buy one drain tool for a bathroom, a brush of about this length is a sensible place to start.
What it will not do
A 60cm brush works on the first stretch of pipe. That is where most hair blockages are, so it solves most hair problems. It does not reach a blockage further along the waste, and it is not a match for a pipe coated in hardened fat.
If the brush comes out clean and the water still will not go down, the trouble is deeper. A plunger is the next step, then a drain snake. If the bath fills when you empty the basin, or several fittings are slow together, the shared drain is involved. That is a job for a qualified plumber or drain contractor. If the blockage is in a public sewer, contact Uisce Éireann or your local authority.
We also do not recommend chemical drain cleaners. A brush removes the hair. A liquid tends to run past it, and it leaves you with a sink full of something you should not put your hands near.
Keeping the brushes in good order
After each use, wipe the brush firmly with kitchen roll and rinse it well. A drop of washing-up liquid worked through the bristles helps shift soap film. Shake off the water.
The maker suggests hanging the brushes in a ventilated place when they are not in use. That is good advice. A brush left wet in a closed cupboard will smell the next time you pick it up. Hung on a hook, it dries out between uses and takes up almost no room.
Avoid folding the stem sharply. It is made to bend, but a hard crease in the same spot again and again will weaken any metal over time. Check the bristles now and then. If the head has gone flat or lost a lot of bristles, move on to the second brush.
Making it a habit
The people who never have a blocked shower are not lucky. They clear the hair out before it builds. Once every few weeks, lift the cover, run the brush down, turn, pull, wipe, rinse. It takes about two minutes.
A strainer over the plughole helps too, because it catches most hair before it gets into the pipe. Between a strainer on top and a brush every few weeks, most bathroom drains never get the chance to block.
The short version
This is a pack of two flexible drain brushes, each 60cm long, made of stainless steel and nylon. Slide one into the plughole, turn it slightly, and draw it out slowly with the hair attached. Wipe it with kitchen roll, rinse it, and hang it up to dry.
Keep one for the bathroom and one for the kitchen. Use them every few weeks and you will rarely see a slow drain. If the brush comes out clean and the water still sits there, the problem is further down and it is time for a plunger or a plumber.