I feel like an idiot for not knowing about these.

Every 2-3 months I have to snake out our shower drain with a 25’ snake. Giant PITA.

After some web searches, I stumbled across these hair trap devices. They come in both external and internal configurations. Many different types to choose from.

I purchased an internal one, installed it, and am going to give it a try. In theory I can just pop it out and clean it instead of snaking the pipes. Folks tell me they work well. If this one doesn’t work I’ll try another type. They are fairly inexpensive.

  • robolemmy@lemmy.world
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    2 months ago

    My solution to the problem was to preemptively lose all my hair in my thirties but yours probably works too.

    • Flying Squid@lemmy.world
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      2 months ago

      I know I’m in a tiny minority, but I wish I had gone bald. I hate getting haircuts and I just shave it all off when it gets unmanageable.

      • QuantumStorm@lemmy.world
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        2 months ago

        Look up st baldricks and see if they do events in your area. It’s shave your head for childhood cancer research and you can donate the hair too. I do it once a year and just let my hair grow in between shaves.

        • Flying Squid@lemmy.world
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          2 months ago

          Thanks. I will definitely do that, but my hair is crazy. I have to shave like once every 3 months.

      • robolemmy@lemmy.world
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        2 months ago

        I’m with you. If there weren’t health and social complications, I’d be wishing for full-blown alopecia.

    • Steve
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      2 months ago

      I started buzzing my hair down to an 1/8th inch when I was 14. Then much if it fell out in my 30s also.

  • kmartburrito@lemmy.world
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    2 months ago

    They’re fantastic! Ours is a tub shroom.

    They’re fantastic until your 9 year old takes the rubber plug with hair in it and drops it down the drain.

    We’re waiting on a plumber to come snake it out. However, that aside, they really are fantastic at catching the hair. 100% recommended.

    Also, talk to your kids about not dropping shit into the drains (hair, objects, and/or shit) and make sure they know it’s not a bottomless void.

    Education is important 😂

  • THB@lemmy.world
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    2 months ago

    Been using a Tub Shroom for the past few years and it works great!

    • naticus@lemmy.world
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      2 months ago

      Can confirm, I’m on my second one now and it’s so good. Some traps back the water up and others don’t trap enough of the hair to be worth using, but these are perfect.

    • Boozilla@lemmy.worldOP
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      2 months ago

      That one is my backup if the one I got doesn’t work! Thanks for the recommendation.

  • MachineFab812@discuss.tchncs.de
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    2 months ago

    My house has an OLD sewer connection. Gotta snake the tubs and sinks(and formerly the kitchen sink and washer connections) so often that I used a hole-saw to remove the cross-shaped bits that would normally hold a plug(and catch a bit of hair).

    You’ll never guess what never comes out(any more) with our 50ft, 1/2-inch drain auger; Hair. Waxy stuff? Check. Black Goo? Check. Fricken YARN/threads from the washing machine on the other end of the house? Check. We’ve somehow got it down to where only the tubs need snaked regularly, but still, no hair any more.

    I thought the whole house was sharing a 1.5-inch(okay, two inch) connection, then a few months back when there was flooding nearby, this bastard swam up our toilet:

    Figure he needed at least a three inch pipe to get through without just getting stuck.

    • AnarchistArtificer@slrpnk.net
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      2 months ago

      What a cutie. I’m glad I get to see him via a photo though, and not in the toilet bowl when I’m trying to pee — that must have startled whoever found him

      • MachineFab812@discuss.tchncs.de
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        2 months ago

        Not gonna lie, he scared the bejeezus outta me. Like, I just happened to look before I would have sat down. Animal-enamas-and-even-vaguely-adjacent-experiences rank damn near the top of my NO THANK YOU list.

        There’s a creek across the alley, but its also on the other side of a neighbor’s property. I was never concerned at where he came from or how, just surprised he made the trip unscathed.

  • Flying Squid@lemmy.world
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    2 months ago

    As a father of a girl who inherited my both curly and wavy hair that refuses to ever get a haircut, a hair trap in the shower is a godsend.

    And cleaning it out is gross.

    • Boozilla@lemmy.worldOP
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      2 months ago

      Yeah, I always glove up when I clean out the p-traps under the sinks. The smell is the worst part.

            • angrystego@lemmy.world
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              2 months ago

              I guess everyone gets wierded out by something else. Pubes of an offspring seem to me like a breath of fresh air after all the urine and poo and puking… well, puking may come again, but their babyhood prepares you for the things to come ;)

        • howrar@lemmy.ca
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          2 months ago

          I think the part that stinks is all the dead skin sticking to the hair and all the skin oils and bacteria accumulating on that mass.

          • Flying Squid@lemmy.world
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            2 months ago

            Oh probably, but it’s the pubes I think about.

            I don’t like thinking about the fact that I’m having to clean up my kid’s pubes.

          • Flying Squid@lemmy.world
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            2 months ago

            I don’t want to think about what might be worse. We’re talking about my teenage daughter here. If it was just gross stuff coming off of me and my wife’s body…

  • Cephalotrocity@biglemmowski.win
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    2 months ago

    Word of warning: they tend to trap more than hair. If you have a teenage boy in the house you’ll find out real quick what I mean.

    • warbond@lemmy.world
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      2 months ago

      As a former teenage boy, sometimes it’s really just soap and soap scum and dirt and whatever else caught in the hair rather than anything else.

      Also, for anyone caught in a sticky situation, cold water to keep the proteins from denaturing and getting sticky in the first place, and if all else fails use shampoo to try to emulsify it to stick to the water instead of the floor, to make little sewer babies with your neighbors.

  • roofuskit@lemmy.world
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    2 months ago

    Lye crystals will also dissolve that hair in seconds. The plumbing in our place was poorly designed, too many tight bends. We have to use it every so often. It actually works better than the snake and takes a tiny fraction of the effort.

  • kofe@lemmy.world
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    2 months ago

    This may not work for everyone, but I pull what hair I can out as I wash it and slap it on the walls. Then I swirl it up to throw away after. I hardly ever have to snake it back out, maybe once every few years.

  • WoahWoah@lemmy.world
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    2 months ago

    Damn how much hair you losing in there. People shaving animals in your shower or what!!?