The easiest way to remove hair from your vacuum cleaner brush

The easiest way to cut away hair from a vacuum cleaner brush head is to remove the brush and cut through the hair with scissors, following the brush line (making sure not to cut the bristles).

While it’s a straightforward process, it isn’t always quick or easy.

Well, I’ve found a tool that makes cutting tangled hair off a vacuum cleaner brush simple – a safety cutter.

What is a safety cutter?

Safety cutters are designed to cut the tape on a box without the risk of harming yourself. The blade is as sharp as that of a box cutter, but it’s safely contained within the hooked head. You just place the hook under the box tape and pull.

Cleaning your vacuum cleaner head

The hook on a safety cutter is perfect for getting under tangled hair and threads wrapped around your vacuum cleaner’s brush head. Simply turn your vacuum head over, place the hook under anything that’s caught up and pull, making sure to follow the line of bristles.

Once cut, you should be able to easily pull the hair away from the brush. Depending on the size of your vacuum cleaner head, you may need to make more than one pass.

A vacuum head with cross braces over the brush can be awkward to cut around, so you may need to remove the brush cover. One of my household vacuums (yes, we have two) has two bars but, because of my vacuum cleaner’s design, it was still easier for me to remove the cover and use the safety cutter to cut the hair than removing the head entirely and using scissors.

I suggest looking for a safety cutter with a more tapered “pointy” hook (it’s better at getting under tightly wrapped hair).

How much does it cost?

The safety cutter I trialled cost $9 from Mitre 10, but you can find them from $4 for a basic one up to $30+ for the fancier ones. They’re commonly sold in hardware, stationery and work safety stores.