Unblocking a drain if you have a septic tank?

[mistressploppy]

Argh, the baby is 4m old and my hair is falling out in HANDFULS - the shower is blocking up despite using a hair-catching thingy. It's still draining (just very slowly)

In our old place I'd merrily have chucked some lethal Mr Muscle-type gunge down there but we now live with a septic tank and I don't know what I can use which won't kill the tank but will actually work??

So grateful for any ideas

I usually chuck a load of Veet hair removal cream down the plug hole, leave for half an hour and rinse away - hasn't affected our septic afaik but don't quote me on that!

Oh, that's an idea!! I wonder if I can bulk-buy Veet....

I think Tesco does an own brand version which might be significantly cheaper....

Can't you hook it (the hair ball) out using some old tweezers or something? That's what I always do at any rate...

Good idea about putting veet down, I'd never have thought of that.

Hair removal creams contain chemicals unsafe for septic systems.

Hook out as much as possible. Then vinegar, bicarb, boiling water. Clears it out and septic tank ok so far...

Do you have an old wire coat hanger? Bent into a hook, they make great drain cleaners.

Stick a cotton bud down the plug hole and twist, you'll bring a lot of hair and gunge back up on the bud, don't use hair remover, you'll end up with a sticky glob of hair and gunge going nowhere. If your water is slow to drain check the manhole outside, you might need to rod the pipes, some older houses have shower, bath and toilet ending up
going through same pipe at septic tank end,can be blocked easily.

The hair ball got stuck in 2012

Give your hair a really good brushing immediately before washing it.

Have you never used a plunger? I use it regularly on our shower (two teenage daughters). No chemicals required ever just a bit of elbow grease. There are even YouTube tutorials on how to use them!

No one seems to use a good old fashioned plunger anymore.

i have a serious head of hair and i got this plastic gadget from amazon about a foot long, stink it down the plughole and its sickening what comes out. Best quid i ever spent!

I took out the shower drain thing which is useless and use a large stainless steel sink strainer instead. Hair collects into a neat ring on top.

Septic tanks aren’t so delicate that you can’t put ANY chemicals down. You just have to be sparing. I use Mr Muscle unblocker about once a quarter for a stupidly designed basin where you just can’t do any hooking type technique. Septic tank always gets a clean bill of health for its bio-thingy.

Get something like this that hooks the hair out:
www.manomano.co.uk/p/drain-unblocker-flexible-cleaner-hair-clog-remover-tool-sink-plug-hole-hook-pull-41826774