We love our Angoras! We love spinning their fiber and spending time grooming our sweets. What we don’t love is being covered in Angora fiber after every grooming session! Even just carrying our rabbits to and from areas or a simple blow out can leave a big mess. Not only is it a pain to clean up, it’s also a waste of a lot of usable fiber.
Over the years, we have stumbled across a few ideas of neat ways to keep the fiber off our clothes and from all over our grooming spaces. In this article, I will share with you what works for us (and where to get your own)!
Keeping Fiber Off Clothes
If you own Angoras, you have probably found your clothing covered in fiber more than once. Even a task as simple as sitting around with your rabbit can result in being covered in fur. Most pet owners, know that fur comes with the territory (and if you’re anything like me, you may own an army of Roombas for that reason). However, you have probably also learned that removing that fiber from your clothes isn’t exactly easy (and washing it with fiber on it does not produce the desired effect).
A couple of simple tricks we use to remove fiber is using a slicker brush on our pants or shirt. Be careful of what kind of material you use a brush on, because some fabrics will fray when brushed. Another trick is to grab your blower, and quickly blow your clothes off.
We also believe that an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. One of the best purchases I ever made was a set of grooming scrubs (or 2 or 3 sets). Not only do they significantly reduce the amount of fiber that sticks to your clothing, in general, they are also great to wear for general cleaning due to being water resistant and easy to wipe off. I keep a set by the back door, and just throw them over whatever I am wearing before grooming or cleaning the rabbits. They have been a life saver! If they do get a small amount of fiber stuck to them, simply blow or shake off.
I use these grooming scrubs:
Grooming Scrub Top – I prefer this grooming scrub top because it easily zips on and off over clothing, and it has big deep pockets, big enough to fit baby bunnies.
Grooming Scrub Bottoms – I use these pants because they also have pockets and a comfy elastic waist band. They do run a bit on the smaller side.
Keeping The Fiber From Blowing Away
When blowing out an Angora, any loose fiber tends to fly everywhere. The end result is wasted spinning fiber and wool stuck to everything (and probably in your eye). A recent TikTok video of a groomer using an old baby playpen net to blow out a husky gave me an idea. I hopped on Amazon and purchased a mosquito net for a baby stroller. Once it arrived (in a convenient 2 pack) it was just a quick task to slip it over a small dog grooming table (with a grooming arm), and I had a handy little net to prevent fly aways. As a bonus, it also made most of the rabbits feel contained, so reduced movement on the table. When I was finished blowing out my rabbits, I carefully removed the net and pulled out all the fiber that had been collected to add to my box of fiber.
Clean Up Time
Even with a net for blow outs and grooming scrubs to reduce fiber from flying everywhere, loose fiber is still somewhat inevitable with Angoras – especially if you use clippers for harvesting or even if you spin. The last handy little tool I have found to help with the clean up is a fur broom. I love this little contraption for both my rabbits and my dogs that like to gift me with fur babies in the form of summer shedding.
Wrapping Up
I hope this article will help you find that nifty tool that you can not live without. This items have made a game changer in reducing the amount of work I have to do after grooming is done, and I could not see myself having angoras without them. Happy groooming!
Disclaimer: I do make an affiliate/referral fee when you use the links above to purchase any of these items. However, I do not recommend any products that I have not already bought and tested out for myself first!