Showing posts with label hair. Show all posts
Showing posts with label hair. Show all posts

Monday, September 22, 2014

De-Fur Your Belongings

If you have a frequent shedder like I do, you probably have accepted the fact that in your home fur is an accessory just like the paint on your walls, or the picture frames full of candid photos. Fur is just part of your life, you have to accept it. I have even gone out of my way to purchase certain items because I know Luna's fur is more likely to blend in with it. Kind of like buying a tan car over a black car because the dirt and dust is less obvious on a tan colored car. 

I've accepted that I have a shedder, but I do try and clean up her fur every once in a while. Vacuuming becomes a challenge, where every 5 minutes I have to empty the contents because it is FILLED with fur. I swear I could make a whole pack of wolves with the amount of fur that comes off that dog. 


This weekend I decided to de-fur one of my blankets that Luna has now claimed as her own. It usually sits in my car to attempt to protect my back seat from dirt, mud, fur and whatever else Luna tracks in there. So you can imagine this blanket looking pretty gnarly. I shook it out first to try and get all loose fur and dirt off as much as I could.

After a quick Google search, I found a few alternatives to getting fur off of blankets or any other belonging that is furever furry. 

The first thing wiki how said to do was get your hands wet and rub your hands over the area. This weighs down the fur by getting it wet and makes it easier to grab the fur. Let me tell you, that is not happening. It is taking way too long with this blanket.



Another suggestion was to use latex gloves and use the "magnetic attraction" to get the fur off. I guess this would be like using a balloon (which Wiki actually suggested too), rubbing it on your head and attracting fur to it through static. This attempt was again taking way too long and the gloves I was using would just slip off my hands. (This was one of the better options Wiki How came up with though).


One of the last things I tried that Wiki said to use was fabric softener sheets. Dampening it then rubbing on the furry surface. Well that just made a soapy kind of mess and was really not working whatsoever (I think this was the worst option ever).



Finally, I stopped by Target to see if they had some kind of fur removal device I could use. And what do you know, in their cleaning supplies section they have a lint roller specifically for furry situations. It has a rubber little brush on one end and a huge roll of lint rolling sticky tape on the other side. What you were to do was "rake" the fur to one area and then pick it up by using the sticky tape. I found this alternative the best, easiest and fasted way to get the results I wanted. Buy this Evercare product at Walgreens for $6!



After defurring the blanket as much as I could, I threw it in the washer then dryer, and was pretty pleased with the results. (Not perfect, but as good as it's gonna get)

Tuesday, July 8, 2014

You Won't Believe This...


How cute is that tiny tiny Malamute puppy!? Oh wait, it's not a puppy? Then it must be a toy...nope, not a toy either. You won't believe what the owner of this dog did!

It is in fact a mini Malamute made out of....FUR! (I'm guessing they used the Furminator-- Read my review of the Furminator). I can't decide if the mini puppy made out of fur is adorable, or creepy. I'll settle with...creative. Here is a close up of the dog and the fur mini me. 


Look at that detail! Crazy! What do you think of this?

Monday, July 7, 2014

Furminator: Product Review

It's summer, the season of shedding. Oh what a great season it is. If your dog is an inside dog like mine, the shedding seems a lot worse. Fur becomes part of your everyday life. Part of your outfit of the day, part of your bedding and blankets, part of your dinner, part of your shampoo, etc. I mean where ISN'T there dog fur? It got to the point where I needed to figure this thing out. Let's start where the problem occurs: Luna. Well, I'm not getting rid of her, so lets just shave her? No, not realistic. 

I heard about this "Furminator" brush that sounds very intimidating, when I was at Pet Food Express. They even let me try it out for a test ride. A couple brushes down Luna's back and the thing was filled with fur. And when you gave her a pet on the back your hand was not filled with fur! What a concept! So what's the catch? The price. It's retail price is about $40-$70 on their website. And with my tight budget, I couldn't bring myself to pay for a $55 brush. What did I do? Ebay! It's a poor girl's best friend in times like these. I went home and found a Furminator for about $15-20 bucks. Still pricey for a brush but WAY more reasonable than $50. So I bought it, and waited what seemed like forever for it (since it was shipping from China, I'm sure they still had to build it!)



Finally, it arrived! And the first time I used it on Luna, it looked like a small animal exploded in my trash can. I kid you not, I could've made a stuffed pillow with the amount of fluff that came off Luna. Luna turned a complete lighter shade after I finished Furminating her, and probably at least 5lbs lighter. I gave her a bath right after and it seemed to be less work because I didn't have to scrub as much fur. It was similar to when your get your hair cut a lot shorter and you take a shower for the first time and realize you don't have to use a huge glob of shampoo because you hardly have any hair anymore. As I was scrubbing, I did notice a couple bumps on Luna's skin. I had also just switch shampoos on her, so it could've been that or possibly the intense Furminating that occurred 15 minutes prior, or a combination of both. I just kept my eye on it, and within an hour or so it was gone. Whatever it was, it wasn't life threatening. 



A couple months have passed since we first used the Furminator. I use it once a week (or at least try to) and the outcomes are not as crazy as the first time. Not as much fur comes off, which makes me aware that it's doing its job. But the shedding doesn't stop. A couple hours after I use the brush, Luna starts shedding again. Maybe it's because it's been really hot and she's just shedding like crazy. It's still a good investment and it's the only brush I use on her now. I don't regret that purchase at all (especially since I got a great deal on it).