How To Clean Hair From Chair Wheels

[REQUEST] How to remove hair in wheels of office chair?

I'm a Sikh hence I have uncut long hair. Now it isn't a problem in office but at home my chairs with wheels have gathered hair and they don't rotate smoothly anymore.

Is there a working life hack other than using candle or performing post mortem of the entire thing ?

EDIT: Woah! Didn't expect so much of help! Thanks a lot! Will report back soon.

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level 1

If you're careful, and do it outside, I feel like using a lighter would be quick and easy compared to attacking it with scissors or a knife.

level 2

I worked at a grocery store way back in the day. One day they told us to leave all of the carts outside because a crew was coming to clean them. They lined them all up on the side of the store, the whole crew worked together and rolled the whole line on to the side and then upside down. Then a dude lit a medium sized blow torch and went down the row hitting each wheel to get all the hair out. Then they flipped everything back over and pressure washed them all at the same time. It was quite an operation.

level 2

I work as an office furniture refurbisher and have done this before. A lighter works but a heat gun on a lower setting works best. In extreme cases, I've used a hot knife to cut through layers of hair.

I hope this helps!

level 2

Can someone try this and report?

level 1

For my vacuum rollers, I use a seam ripper to get out all the hair. I have thick, waist length, curly hair. Maybe it will work for your chair.

level 2

This was going to be my suggestion. Looks like this. You can probably find a cheap one in the craft/sewing section of Walmart.

level 1

Oddly enough, a small crochet hook or knitting needle is phenomenal for pulling the hair out of those wheels.

level 1

As a dog owner this would be useful too. My hoover wheels are forever getting bogged with fur.

level 1

A lighter would work. It would also stink. I'd get a sharp knife (we call it a Stanley knife in the UK, do Americans call it a box cutter?) and cut the hair into smaller pieces which should make it easier to pull off the wheel.

level 2

Box cutter or Xacto knife :)

level 2

we call it a Stanley knife in the UK

Interesting, do you know if it is a genericized trademark of the brand Stanley?

level 2

We have Stanley, but box cutter is the more generic term.

The thing about cutting is you still have to pull it out with your fingers and dispose of it. The good thing about burning is that it all goes 'poof'. So if you're going to burn, do it outside. I can't imagine OP's office mates want the stink of burning hair.

level 1

I've always just used a pocket knife to cut across the hair and pry an end up that I can start pulling on. Same for the vacuum cleaner. You'd swear with all the hair my wife and daughters shed that they'd be bald.

level 1

I have pried the wheels apart and slid the nest off the exposed axle.

level 1

Would drano be too corrosive for the wheel? It definitely dissolves hair easily enough.

level 2

I was wondering if Nair would do it... but would smell something awful :/

level 1

If you go the cutting method, i also recommend a cheap pair of tweezers to help loosen it up. When i clean the vacuum cleaner i use tweezers and a thin pair of scissors.

level 1

Comment deleted by user · 6y

level 2

Nair doesnt melt hair. It makes it fall out.