Can You Flush Hair Down the Toilet? Safety Facts & FAQ

Like most people, after combing your hair, you probably find yourself thinking about the best way to dispose of it. While your first instinct may be to flush it down the toilet, that may not be the best solution. Flushing hair down the toilet can entirely clog your pipelines and block them from functioning correctly. Even if you’ve been flushing hair for a long time now and have never experienced any issues, you will surely start noticing significant problems after some time.

To prevent this from happening, it may be wise to find a better way to dispose of your hair. Sometimes simply throwing it in the garbage will be a better solution, although if you want to give your best, you can always create a composting pile and compost hair regularly.

Read our article below to learn more about flushing hair down the toilet and adequately handling it in different ways.

Is It Safe to Flush Hair Down the Toilet?

While tossing your hair into the toilet after showering or combing it may be tempting, it may not be the smartest solution. Hair, especially long hair, can cause a clog in your pipeline, preventing anything else from passing through. Certain particles tend to accumulate in the pipelines over time, and flushing hair down the toilet can only create a type of web that catches other waste trying to pass. While this issue may not seem significant or visible initially, it will cause a more severe problem over time. Hair takes a long time to decompose, so a clog in the pipeline won’t resolve itself very quickly.

Can You Flush Short Hair?

Even though you may believe that long hair is the only one to cause problems in the pipelines, unfortunately, it goes for all types and lengths of hair. Short hair may be problematic the same amount because it is just as strong as long hair, or in some cases, stronger. While short hairs won’t create webs that trap waste, they will adhere to the irregular parts of the pipelines, and this way causes clogging. After trimming your hair, don’t be tempted to throw it in the toilet as it will indeed cause a clog after some time, which can only be resolved with special equipment.

How to Properly Dispose of Hair

The most common solution that people turn to is throwing hair into the garbage bin. While this solution isn’t very environmentally friendly, it is a much safer option than flushing the hair.

Other than throwing the hair away, you can always put it to good use. Composting hair is the safest solution that won’t harm the environment in any way possible. Hair is an excellent source of nitrogen to the soil. You can compost human hair as well as pet hair or fur.

What You Can Safely Flush Down the Toilet?

Once you find out that there are many things you should avoid flushing, including hair, you are probably wondering what things are safe to flush down the toilet. The only two things you can safely flush are human waste and toilet paper. While this may seem like an exaggeration, make sure to understand how significant it is to maintain your pipelines properly. Flushing anything down the toilet that doesn’t belong there can cause severe problems, and solving those problems takes a lot of time, money, and effort. Instead, it is best to be responsible and dispose of trash accordingly.

Things You Shouldn’t Flush Down the Toilet

There are many things you may think are alright to go down the toilet but can make quite a mess in the future. The list is long, and it may surprise you to hear that everything besides human waste and toilet paper is unsuitable for flushing.

Final Thoughts

Handling waste responsibly is important. If you want to avoid causing irreversible damage to your pipelines and the entire toilet system, make sure to follow the tips you read above. After learning how big of an impact certain materials and substances have on your surroundings after being flushed down the toilet, hopefully, you’ll use your toilet only for what it was meant for!

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