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plumber-poils
You wash the black jumper on its own, careful as anything, and it comes out worse than it went in. It's not the dog. It's a place inside the machine your detergent can't reach. Here's what I pull out of these machines all week.
The first thing people say when I'm knelt down with the filter out is always the same.
"But I wash his stuff separately." Everyone says it. And it makes no difference at all. Because once the hair's in the machine, it's in the machine. Washing it separately just decides which load put it there. I'm a plumber, twenty years on the tools, so let me tell you what's actually going on.
When you wash anything with dog hair on it, the hair doesn't rinse away like dirt does. Dog hair is keratin. It's a protein, the same stuff as your fingernails. And the second it gets wet it turns sticky and grabs hold of everything inside the machine you can't see. The drum, the seal, the filter.
Here's the part almost nobody knows. Your detergent can't do a thing about it. Detergent is built to shift grease and dirt. It cannot break down a protein. Full stop.
So the hair doesn't leave. It just moves. It lets go of one load and grabs the next one going in. Your machine stops being the thing that cleans your washing and quietly becomes the thing that coats it.
When I pull the seal back on these jobs there's a grey felt of it, wrapped the whole way round the rubber, packed solid into the filter. Hair from washes months ago, still in there, still going round.
None of it works, because none of it touches where the hair actually is. It's not on the jumper. It's in the machine, waiting for the jumper.
Here's why I see so much of it. That felt round the filter doesn't just coat your washing. Left long enough it packs down into the pump, and that's the day you stop worrying about a hairy jumper and start ringing me instead. A call-out runs from £75 to a couple of hundred, more if the pump has burnt out. After twenty years of clearing the same avoidable thing, I started to feel like a bit of a fraud. Because it is completely preventable, for less than the price of one visit from me.
The only chemistry that breaks a protein down is enzymes. An enzyme called protease gets inside the trapped hair and dissolves the keratin the fur is made of, so instead of packing in behind the drum it breaks down and flushes out with the wastewater.
It's called Draen. It isn't a detergent, and it does not go in with your washing. It's a machine job. Two tablespoons in an empty drum, on the hottest self-clean cycle, once a week.
One straight word about the catch. It only works hot. The enzyme is dead on a cold quick-wash, so it has to go on the hottest cycle. It works with every type: front-loader, top-loader, HE and compact.
I use it at my own place. I've got two labs, so believe me, I know moulting. I run it through mine empty, and I do the dogs' bedding with it too, on the hot wash. After what I pull out of other people's machines every week, there's no chance I'd leave my own to it.
First the felt stops coming off on your hand when you wipe the seal. Then your washing starts coming out of a machine that's actually clean, instead of one that's been hoarding six months of hair to hand straight back to you. And the black jumper comes out a black jumper.
"My dog moults constantly and every wash came out covered, even things I'd washed on their own. A couple of empty hot cycles with Draen and the hair stopped coming back. My clothes finally come out clean."
Charlotte M.✓ Verified customer"I'd given up wearing black. Large German Shepherd, hair everywhere, especially in the machine. After a few weekly cycles the drum is clear and my dark clothes come out of the wash actually dark. Far exceeded my expectations."
Amelia R.✓ Verified customerDraen is £24.90. Less than most people have already spent on the lint rollers, gadgets and grabber balls that were never going to reach the hair. And a fraction of what one call-out costs you the day that felt finally blocks the pump.
One thing I will say. It sells out. If it's in stock when you click through, don't sit on it. Draen comes with a 30-day money-back guarantee, so there's no risk in trying it. The only risk is rollering the same jumper every morning for another year.
Free UK delivery. Ships from the UK.
Two tablespoons in the empty drum, on the hottest cycle (90°C), once a week.
The enzyme only activates at a proper heat. On a cold or quick wash it won't do anything.
No. It's a machine treatment, run in an empty drum. You can also use it on pet bedding on a hot wash, but not with your everyday clothes.
30-day full refund. No questions.
This article reflects the personal experience and professional opinion of the author and is an advertisement feature for Draen. Individual results may vary. Draen is a household cleaning product for an empty washing-machine maintenance cycle. Do not use on wool, silk, leather, cashmere, down or colour-sensitive fabrics. Keep out of reach of children. Prices and offers correct at time of publishing.