Life

How To Prevent Your Shower Drain From Getting Clogged For Less Than $15

Bustle / Amazon

Calling a plumber to remove hair from a clogged shower drain can be costly and inconvenient. Fortunately, the best shower drain hair catchers stop your hair from clogging the drain, all while still allowing your shower water to flow as usual.

The 2 Types Of Drain Catchers

When searching for a shower drain hair catcher, you’ll notice there are two main types:

  • A shower drain screen captures hair and other debris before it has the chance to slip in. Simply place it over the drain and get rid of the collected hair when you see that it's full. Only downside to this style? It may not stay in place as well as an in-drain catcher. To help with this, some options are weighted or have suction cups.
  • An in-drain hair catcher grabs the hair as soon as it enters the drain. It can be a bit more complicated to install if you have a drain cover, since you'll need to remove it, but it's still totally doable for most. Since it sits inside the drain, you may not notice when it needs a good cleaning — make sure you check regularly to see if it needs emptying.

Drain Catcher Materials

There are a couple of different material options to consider:

  • Silicone is flexible, easy-to-clean, and won't slip around the shower.
  • Stainless steel is rust-resistant and durable, but may not stay in place quite as well.
  • Plastic catchers tend to be flimsy and can get grimy quickly. Because of this, there are no plastic drain catchers on this list.

The average woman loses between 50 and 100 strands of hair per day, and unclogging your own drain is possible but really gross, so pretty much everyone can benefit from using these nifty devices. These four shower drain hair catchers are favorites on Amazon, with thousands of reviews backing their effectiveness.

We only recommend products we love and that we think you will, too. We may receive a portion of sales from products purchased from this article, which was written by our Commerce team.

1

A Fan-Favorite In-Drain Hair Catcher

The TubShroom is basically the gold standard when it comes to in-drain hair catchers. With a whopping 30,000-plus reviews on Amazon and a solid 4.4-star rating overall, it's clear that the TubShroom works really well. The secret to its success is the mushroom-shaped design that effectively collects the hair, which wraps neatly around the cylinder part of the TubShroom, without interfering with water drainage. TubShroom claims that you can go weeks without cleaning out the catcher, but many Amazon reviewers mentioned they clean it far more often than that. When it's time to clean the catcher, pull the TubShroom out, wipe off the gathered hair with a paper towel, and simply place it back in the drain.

The TubShroom comes with a 60-day money-back guarantee. Many Amazon reviewers said that they also use this product to prevent pet hair from clogging their drains.

Enthusiastic Amazon review: "Wow!!! Whoever invented this product....THANK YOU!!!! I have dealt with clogged drains for many years...have daughters with long hair. I have bought every product on the market, but the hair always managed to still slip through. This product fits snuggly into the drain, while still allowing the water to flow freely. The hair collects around the bottom, and when you're done taking a shower, you just remove it from the drain, clean the hair off...which by the way is easy to do...and replace the product back in the drain. Super simple to use, quick clean up of the collected hair. Seriously, the TubShroom is the BEST product invented!!!! If like me, you are constantly buying drain cleaners, this will pay for itself in two weeks! Try it...you won't regret it!!"

2

The Overall Best Shower Drain Screen

OXO is known for its quality products, and this shower drain screen is no different. Made of rust-resistant stainless steel, the hair catcher sits on top of the drain and collects hair and debris. This pick also features a nonslip silicone rim to prevent it from sliding around the floor of your shower.

At nearly 5 inches in diameter, the catcher will work with most flat drains (but not with pop-up ones). Amazon reviewers gave this pick a 4.3-star rating among 4,300 and growing reviews.

Enthusiastic Amazon review: "Love this hair catcher! Girls, who hate cleaning the bathroom and esp. clogged drains... get yourself one of these. They will save you so much time and hassle. Or even pet owners, this has caught SO much dog hair when I give my dogs a bath it's unreal. If MY hair didn't clog the pipes already... trust me theirs would have. This product is a lifesaver. I love it. You just wipe up the hair with a napkin when you're done and boom it's ready for next time. Highly recommend and would repurchase if need be."

3

A Weighted Hair Catcher For Pop-Up Drains

This OXO hair catcher can be used in most shower drain situations; it’s a screen-style catcher that sits on top of the drain, but since it has a dome shape, it’ll work for both flat and pop-up drains. It’s made of a combination of stainless steel and silicone, so it’s rust-resistant and durable. It’s also weighted so that it stays firmly in place. The edges of the drain catcher sit flush with the shower floor, so hair won’t accidentally slip through, either.

Thousands of reviewers on Amazon sang the praises of this pick, mentioning that it is a quality product that actually works as advertised.

Enthusiastic Amazon review: "After tossing away quite a few cheap-o drain protectors that became dingy over time no matter how I soaked and scrubbed them, I decided to splurge on this OXO silicone drain protector. I've been very impressed! It's tall enough to fit easily over my pop-up drain and (even without suction cups) the weighted top keeps it in place -- even with my faucet running almost directly on it [...] I have medium-length hair and seem to shed almost as much as my cat, but the drain protector catches it all and is easily removed and tossed away. [...] It looks like this drain protector will last a very long time."

4

A Set Of Silicone Drain Hair Catchers With Suction Cups

Two drains catchers for under $10? Not only is that a total steal when it comes to price, but these Holikme shower drain hair catchers are also quite effective. The BPA-free silicone drain catchers sit on top of the drain, and stay in place thanks to suction cups (which are detachable). This set also comes with some extra suction cups if you end up needing them. The drain catchers are actually quite large in size — nearly 6 inches across — so they should work for most flat drains.

Enthusiastic Amazon review: "I got this product because I am postpartum and am [losing] a lot of hair. It is clogging the drain a bunch and it is really annoying to have to clean it out all the time. I have used this in the shower and it has solved this problem. I like that it came in a pack of two, for the price many other companies are selling one for. I was able to use the second one in the spare guest bedroom. I like that it has suction cups because I can easily pull it off when I need to clean the shower tub. It was nice also that they included extra suction cups to attach, once the ones that were originally on it get lost I will have extras. This product does a really good job at catching the hair as well but also lets enough water get through that it doesn’t get full of water. Overall, I would highly suggest buying this product."