Skip to product information
1 of 11

Floating Lint & Pet Hair Catcher for Top-Load Washing Machines – Reusable Mesh Bag Float

Floating Lint & Pet Hair Catcher for Top-Load Washing Machines – Reusable Mesh Bag Float

Regular price $18.99
Regular price $37.99 Sale price $18.99
Sale Sold out
Shipping calculated at checkout.
Pack
Quantity

A floating mesh bag that skims loose lint and pet hair out of the wash water

This is the flower-shaped laundry float: a foam flower on top, a fine white mesh cone hanging beneath it. You drop it in on top of the load in a top-loading washer, the float keeps the mouth of the cone at the surface, and as the water churns some of the lint and loose pet hair floating in it ends up in the mesh instead of back on your clothes or down the drain. When the wash ends you lift it out, turn the mesh inside out and tip the fluff in the bin. It is a small, cheap, reusable help for hairy households with a top-loader. It is not a filter for a front-loader, and it is not a substitute for de-hairing a blanket before you wash it.

What it actually is

  • A float, a ring and a mesh cone. The flower is soft closed-cell foam with a small flower button on top. A short plastic stem joins it to a thin plastic ring, and the polyester mesh cone hangs from the ring. There are no moving parts and nothing to attach to the machine.
  • It only works where it can float. A top-loading washer fills the drum with water, so the float rides on the surface with the load. A front-loader tumbles clothes through a shallow pool at the bottom, and the catcher just gets rolled around in the laundry. Do not buy it for a front-loader.
  • It catches what is loose in the water. Hair and lint that the wash has already lifted off the fabric and that drifts past the mouth of the cone. Hair that stays matted into fleece, towels or a pet blanket is not in the water to be caught. Shake or roll those first.
  • Small. Makers list the float at about 3.5 in across and the whole thing at about 7 in tall with the cone hanging. Makers of this catcher recommend one per load in a standard drum and two in a large-capacity drum.
  • Sold in packs. Two of one color, four in mixed colors (one each of blue, pink, green and orange), or ten in dark blue. The color changes nothing.

Using it

Before the wash
Load the machine as usual and set the catcher on top of the clothes, float up. Start the cycle. It will find the surface on its own once the drum fills.
After the wash
Lift it out with the load. Hold it over the bin, turn the mesh inside out and pick or rinse the fluff off. Let it dry open. If you want to keep it out of the spin, take it out at the end of the rinse.
Big or hairy loads
Use two catchers, or run the load twice. A very hairy blanket will overwhelm one small cone.
Care
Rinse the mesh under the tap and let it dry. Check the stem and ring each time; if the foam comes away from the stem, retire it.

Size and specification, as makers state it

Float
Foam flower, about 3.5 in (8-9 cm) across
Cone
Fine white polyester mesh, about 6 in (15 cm) long
Overall
About 7 in (18 cm) tall with the cone hanging
Ring and stem
Polypropylene plastic
Machine
Top-loading washers that fill with water; not for front-loaders
Care
Rinse and air-dry; not for the dryer

About the numbers, honestly. The sizes and materials are the figures published by makers of this catcher; we have not measured one ourselves. Nobody publishes how much hair it removes per load or how many washes it lasts, so we do not state either. Reviews of this design across the market are mixed: people with a top-loader and a shedding dog or cat tend to find fluff in the cone every wash; people with a front-loader, or expecting it to strip hair off a blanket, tend to find nothing. Buy it for what it is.

Good to know

  • Top-loaders only. This is the single biggest reason people are disappointed with this design. If your door is on the front, this is the wrong product.
  • It is a light plastic and foam item. The stem can pull out of the foam if the catcher is wrenched or caught in the agitator. Set it on top of the load rather than burying it.
  • Empty it every wash. A full cone floats lower and catches less, and damp fluff left in the mesh will smell.
  • It does not replace the machine's own filter or the drain-hose lint sock. It catches some of what would otherwise reach them.
  • Keep it away from small children. The foam and button are small parts.

In the box

  • Two catchers of the color you choose; or four catchers, one each of blue, pink, green and orange; or ten dark blue catchers

What changed on this page. We removed a description that borrowed another store's images and made a wash-count claim we cannot verify, and rewrote it around what the catcher is, which machines it works in, what it does and does not catch, and exactly how many arrive in each pack. The lead photographs are our own; the maker's photographs follow them.

View full details