How To Remove Hair From Office Chair Wheels (Pro Guide)

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Regularly cleaning and taking care of your office chair wheels can help you avoid the need to replace them, and it minimizes the strain when cleaning. Next time you get an office chair, consider one with detachable wheels as they are less challenging to clean.

It is also better to detach hair from your casters before wetting them to smooth the process.

In this article, I’ll guide you on how to remove hair from office chair wheels.

You can remove hair from office chair wheels using your hands, burning them, cutting them out, or using a hooked tool. Likewise, you can untangle hair from office chair wheels using your hands, drain cleaner, or disassembling the caster among other ways.

Table of Contents

How Do You Remove Hair from Chair Wheels?

The first step when riding your office chair wheels off of hair is to disassemble the casters. Most office chairs feature detachable wheels, although it may be a little challenging to pry them off if you don’t know how to go about it.

Working with only casters on your hands is less tedious and challenging than placing your office chair upside down and having to deal with the wheels attached.

To remove casters, flip your hair upside down and rest it on a protected (above a cloth or paper materials) working bench. Detachable wheels typically have a pop-on style. So, simply rotate and pull them off your office chair’s base. Some chairs may need you to unscrew the wheels.

Nevertheless, some casters come attached to your chair’s base, giving you no other option but to work with them that way.

The least strenuous way to balance an office chair with fixed casters is by positioning it on a table. Alternatively, you can remove the headrest and backrest and position the remainder of your seat upside down. This can make it less tedious to work if you remove the hairs while sitting on another chair.

So, How Do You Untangle Hair from Chair Wheels?

There are several techniques and equipment you can use to clean hair off your office chair’s wheels. And depending on the method you pick, the duration of clean-up will vary.

Hands

While you don’t have to spend cash to use your fingers, few people remove hair on office chair wheels using their hands. It may be easy to get rid of hair and similar materials from your casters using fingers.

However, sticky things like rocks and chewing gum may need you to use more rigid equipment like a small knife. Typically, hairs will stick around your caster’s axle and sticky objects within them.

Grease and Tweezers or Needle-Nosed Pliers

Using your fingers is only effective when handling loose hairs. And although this is a tedious alternative, it’s equally simple.

Grab a robust pair of tweezers and use them to pull out hair chunks from your casters. As you remove the hairs from your office chair wheels, you’ll likely have to cut the hair. The more hairs there are within your wheels, the longer the cleaning process will take.

You can also use similar sized and functioning equipment like needle nose pliers to pry off the hairs. To avoid struggling and extending your working duration, remove the hairs by taking off small chunks at a time.

Move your tweezers or needle-nose pliers side to side to detangle the hair effortlessly.

Drain Cleaner

Most drain cleaners have an effective operation and the ability to dissolve hair.

Put the cleaner into a container and dilute as directed by the manufacturer.

Add in the wheels and leave them soaking for some hours. Most likely, a lot, if not all, of the hair, will dissolve into the cleaner.

Remove your wheels from the solution and rinse them.

Observe the necessary precautions while handling caustic chemicals such as these. Don’t dip your hands into the solution. Ensure you work in a properly ventilated space. Remove your casters from the cleaner using equipment such as tweezers.

Lastly, wear gloves and wash them in water adequately before fixing them to your office chair.

Cutting Equipment

You can use cutting equipment like scissors, scalpels, or razors to remove hair from office chair wheels. These can help you cut tightly knotted strands to ease things if you haven’t maintained your office chair wheels for a long time.

Although you may scratch your caster’s plastics slightly, it’s no big deal as they will still operate okay. The axles craft from metal and should be fine as you tear the hair strands.

As you slice your way through the hair chucks, use something like tweezers to pull out the loose strands. This way, you can clear the mass to help you get to the inner strands with ease.

Hooked Tool

A tiny hooked tool like a needle or crochet hook can help you reach into casters and detangle hair. A hooked tool can help you directly pull out hair strands or detach them and use other equipment, say tweezers, to finish removing hair from your casters.

You can also use your sewing needle and thread to make a loop around the hair and pull the strands out. However, looping the hair with thread and you fail to remove it due to its tightness around a caster will only make the clean-up process more tedious as the thread adds to the pile.

You can also use a fishing hook to get rid of hair on your office chair wheels. Nonetheless, fishing hooks are pretty sharp, so you should handle them carefully to avoid injuring yourself. A dental pick can also help you get the hair out of the wheels.

By Burning

Burning is amongst the most straightforward ways when on how to remove hair from office chair wheels. You can either use blow torches, heat guns, or lighters. As hairs contain a thin oil coating, they are highly susceptible to fire and will burn in a short while.

Ensure you have a means of extinguishing any rogue fire such as water.

Although hair burns quicker than caster plastic, leaving your flame to burn the wheels for longer may damage them. Work fast and blast the wheels repeatedly instead of letting the fire burn continuously.

Duct Tape

Another means to remove hair from casters is to use adhesive tape such as duct tape coiled around a thin object, say a scalpel. The tape’s adhesive will trap some hairs as it touches them, and as you pull your scalpel, the attached hairs will come off.

Using duct tape is typically a secondary hair removal method that complements other ways to rid your casters off of hair. It is best to use duct tape after getting rid of some hair such that loose pieces are the ones remaining as these attach to the duct tape more readily.

Disassembling the Casters

While it takes more time, opening up the wheels and removing the clamps is a highly effective method to rid your wheels of hair and other debris.

Many casters typically contain plastic discs attached to the ends of a metallic axle. So, you can pop off the plastics and slide out the hair strands.

That said, this method may result in destroying your wheels. You cannot dismantle some wheels while old wheels may be brittle and snap when you try to pry them off.

Further reading:

How to Disassemble Office Chair – a Step by Step Guide

Frequently Asked Questions

How Do You Keep Hair Out of Chair Wheels?

The best way to keep hair out of your chair is to clean your office often. Ensure you tidy the place to lower the rate of grime buildup on your wheels.

A chair mat may also help keep your wheels off the floors. This way, you minimize the chances of something getting stuck in the wheels, say bubble gum, and attracting hair buildup.

How Do You Clean Old Caster Wheels?

Unless absolutely necessary, avoid disassembling old casters and try other methods to remove hair from office chair wheels. Old wheels tend to be brittle and more susceptible to damage if you try to open their assembly.

How Do You Maintain Office Chair Wheels?

You can begin maintaining your office chair wheels by eliminating the hair and other debris within them. After cleaning, wipe any remaining dirt away and let the wheels dry. Grease the wheels and reattach them.

Do routine cleaning on the floor and the wheels to reduce the quantity of hair within them.

Closing Remarks

After getting rid of hair and debris from your casters, you should clean them to extend their longevity. If your wheels are detachable, place them in soapy water and allow them to soak in for some time.

Stir the water, then remove your wheels. Doing this helps capture additional dirt you may have missed while removing the hairs. Dry the wheels adequately to prevent rusting.

Align your wheel properly before attaching it to ensure symmetry. Apply a lubricant to ease the rotary motion once you attach your casters. Ensure you don’t apply grease on your wheels’ circumference to avoid a greasy floor.

Most importantly, keep your office space clean at all times.

Author

Andrew Smith

Andrew Smith is the founder of CozySeating, is a father of 2, and an engineer from one of the leading furniture stores in the country. Due to his 10 years of experience, he has proved to be the best person to offer advice to clients regarding different seating furniture based on their needs and performance. Besides, he is a specialist in product reviews and always keeps up with the current trends in the market.

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How to Remove Hair from Office Chair Wheels – A Detailed Guide