Shower Drain Unblocking Tips: Hair Removal Cream

23 October 2015
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If you find yourself wading in smelly drain water while you're taking a shower, your drain may be clogged up with hair. Sometimes, you can fix this by grabbing visible hair on top of the drain plug and pulling it out, or you may be able to dig carefully into the drain with an unbent coat hanger to pull out clumps near the surface.

However, sometimes hair clumps get stuck further down in the drain's pipe, and you can't get to them to remove them. If you don't want to use chemical drain unblockers or don't have one handy, you can try attacking the blocked drain with hair removal cream.

Dissolve Hair Blockages

Hair removal cream isn't just an effective way of getting rid of the hair on your body; it can be used to deal with any kind of hair. Typically, removal creams attack the structure of hair, breaking down its proteins and effectively dissolving it. If you have a large clump of out-of-reach hair sitting in your drain pipe, it may help to squirt a good amount of cream down the drain. This may break up the clump enough to make it pass down and clear the blockage. Wait for a good half an hour to an hour, and then try running your shower again. If it's worked, the drain should start working properly.

Alternative Drain Unblocking Tips

If hair removal cream doesn't clear your drain or only improves your drainage a little, try other ways to unblock it:

  • The hair removal cream may have had some effect on the hair, even if it is still stuck down there. Try holding a sink plunger over the drain and plunge it a few times. This may shift a partially broken up clump, putting enough pressure in the pipe to force it to move.
  • Drop a cup of bicarbonate soda down the drain and then immediately pour down a cup of vinegar. The two will combine and make a bubbling chemical reaction that may break up or force down a blockage. You may need to do this a couple of times, especially if you have some residual standing water in the drain. When you're done, run the shower again to clear the pipe.

If you can't unblock the drain using stuff you have around the house, you can try drain cleaners that are designed to deal with hair. Alternatively, you may find that a drain snake helps dislodge stuck clumps so you can pull them out or let them fall through the pipe. If all else fails, you may need to get expert help from a plumber.