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How To Shave Without Clogging The Drain

If you keep clogging your sink when you shave then something ain’t right. Here are some easy fixes for how to shave without clogging the drain. 

Table of Contents

How To Shave Without Clogging The Drain

Try one or try them all – at least one of these suggestions should stop you from clogging the drain when you shave. 

Shave More Often

If you only shave once or twice a week, preventing clogged drains can be as simple as shaving more frequently. One or two days’ worth of stubble probably won’t clog the drain since the individual bits of hair are just too small. 

Don’t Fill the Basin

Another habit that might be causing your drain to clog is filling the sink basin with hot water when you shave. When you finally remove the plug and let all of that water drain, the water goes down first, followed by the gross congealed mixture of shaving cream and hair. Over time, this can clog the drain even if you shave often.  

Instead, you’d be better off just quickly turning on the faucet to rinse your blade, and then shutting it off. 

Another option is to fill up a bowl with warm water and rinse your blade in there. When you’re done, that water can be dumped in your garden. If you’re shaving short stubble, you can also pour it into the toilet without fear. 

Choose an Electric Shaver

If shaving more often is not an option, switching to a rotary or foil shaver (something like Braun Series 9, which works well even with a week’s worth of growth) will help. Modern rotary and foil shavers have compartments under the blades that collect your stubble, instead of letting it fall down the drain. Then, when you’re done shaving, cleaning your shaver out is very simple. 

Lay Down a Paper Towel

If you dry shave with an electric razor that doesn’t do a great job collecting stubble, you can lay down a paper towel over the sink. The paper towel will collect all of the debris when you shave, and then you can just ball it up and dispose of it easily.  

Buy a Sink Strainer

If you don’t want to waste paper, a sink strainer can also do the trick. Look for a strainer like this with tight, flexible mesh. Once you’re done shaving, you can dump it out as you would the strainer in your kitchen sink.  

How To Trim Beard Without Clogging Sink

Beard trimmers often toss hair clippings every which way. Since you probably don’t use yours as often as you would a shaver, they can also leave longer clippings that are more likely to clog the drain. 

A paper towel or strainer is probably your best bet – as would just not trimming your beard at the sink. The easiest (although costlier) workaround is to buy a vacuum beard trimmer. Vacuum beard trimmers trap the hair as you shave, preventing mess and keeping your drains clog-free.  

How To Dispose Of Hair After Shaving

So you’ve finished shaving or trimming, and now you have a bunch of hair to contend with, either clogging up your electric shaver or collected in a paper towel. What’s next? Well, you can just toss all that stubble straight into the garbage. But there’s another option, and it’s a little more eco-friendly: Compost. 

Your hair is an organic material, and throwing it in the compost bin will allow it to have a second life. It’s simplest if your city collects compost as part of regular garbage collection. Just make sure to do a quick Google search to make sure it’ll accept hair clippings.

You can also start your own compost pile, especially if you have a garden.  

How To Unclog A Sink After Shaving

If it’s too late and your sink is clogged, here are a few different ways to unclog it. 

  • If it’s a fairly mild clog, pour some boiling water down the drain. The hot water will loosen the clump of shaving cream and hair, helping it all go down more easily. 
  • No luck? You can try using a drain snake to loosen up the clog, instead. 
  • Another option is a plunger, which will rely on air pressure to loosen the clog. Make sure to first seal up the overflow hole with some tape. Before plunging, fill up the sink with a bit of water, as it’ll help the plunger create a tighter seal.
  • Finally, if the situation is really dire, you may have to put your plumber hat on and actually remove the drain trap. Place a bucket under the drain trap. Then, with your hand or a wrench, loosen the slip nut until the drain trap until it comes off (you can just let it drop into the bucket). Find which part of the pipeage is clogged (it’s probably the trap or the tailpiece), and clean it out with your hands or a pipe cleaner. Finally, put everything back together and make sure it’s in working order. 

If none of these methods work, you’ll have to call a plumber to check out your sink.

Miles is a professional men's grooming analyst who believes that to look good a man just needs to take good care of himself. He’s all about wet shaving, sustainability, and evidence-based grooming - an obsession he’s ready to share. Miles is known for his in-depth analysis of men's grooming products, brands, and best practices you can't find anywhere else.