This TikTok-Viral Carpet Scraper Completely Purged Lint From My Life

I don’t have a pet. But, as an anemic vegetarian who sheds a lot of hair and owns three shag rugs, I am my own pet. Vacuuming is, or should be, a weekly deal in my Brooklyn apartment; there’s the dust and muck that comes in from the city streets, the errant fluff balls from my cherished Scandi rugs, the fallout from all of my goblincore hobbies (incense blending, sewing, and general witchcraft), and the crazy speed at which my roommate's and my hair tangles into Princess Mononoke monster-esque floor floofs.

There’s a lot to not only suck, but hand-pick out of my rugs when I’m cleaning. And while I love my $61 Bissell vacuum, I don’t always want to schlep it out every time my rugs are looking musty. So when I was scrolling through TikTok before bed and saw the Uproot Clean carpet scraper, I was smitten, albeit skeptical that it could get rid of carpet gunk in seconds.  The American Girl Doll-sized rake (?) appeared to effortlessly remove all of the hair and debris from surfaces of all kinds—carpets, couches, cat furniture, and even clothes—with some legit As Seen on TV magic. Only this wasn’t an infomercial. It was real (accidental ASMR) content from people who love their pets, but hate the way they shed:

I have painstakingly curated my FYP algorithm over the years. My content is a *chef’s kiss* blend of fantasy shit, that dude who carves sculptures from Mini Babybels, and anonymous people power-cleaning dirty rugs. With over 42 million views on TikTok, the #uprootclean hashtag was my holy grail—I binged the vids, poured over the 13,300 Amazon reviews, and smashed that order button to see if it could clean up my rugs, and maybe even my soul.

What was rad

“STOP! Scan before using” the packaging on my Uproot scraper read, instructing me to instead scan the QR code on its little plastic casing. I liked getting dommed by the instruction manuals of my cleaning gear, so I was relieved to see that Uproot does the most to make sure you understand how to… rake? It’s very intuitive to use, TBH. But you should ideally use it at a 45-degree angle for hard/short fabrics, and comb over delicate fabrics at a 90-degree angle. (In both instances, move the scraper from left to right or top to bottom.)

I actually like pulling hair out of the drain, so I loved this. I brushed the scraper over my short-haired kitchen rug, and it removed all of the hair and dust in a cinch. I used it on my Jamiroquai-like hat to get rid of pilling. But the real test came when I needed to clean my shag and wool flokati rug—the latter is especially high-maintenance and sheds everywhere. I don’t mind the upkeep, as it’s in a pretty low-traffic part of my house (the bedroom… lol) but it does have some salacious reviews on Amazon. In the words of one reviewer, “Its [shedding is] worse than herpes. I want to F***ing burn it. I just want to spread awareness of this carpet.” Here is how it looked before it got Uprooted:

Photo by the Author

… And after about four rakes:

Photo by Author

The difference was immediate. With all the hair and dust and stuff scraped out, it looked as good as new—no vacuum needed.

What was tricky

My only advice is to carry a little trash bag or trash can with you as your scrape, because you will be getting rid of even more gunk from your rugs/clothes than you anticipated.

I also wished that it came in a smaller travel size—and for once, my wish was answered. There is indeed a mini, folks:

TL; DR

If you have pets, this thing must be a godsend. I don’t have any, and it still is, because it removes all the hair and dust from my most high-maintenance rugs in seconds, and it takes infinitely less time to use than a whole ass vacuum. You just… scrape. It’s as gratifying as picking a scab that’s juuust ready to fall off and reveal baby fresh skin underneath, which is a rancid metaphor, I know, but it’s the only one that communicates how rad this thing is. Even if you decide you don’t need it (you’re wrong; you do), you should at least uncork the Whispering Angel and watch some of the deeply satisfying cleaning TikToks in which it went viral. I’m not saying it’s magic, but I am saying it’s a miracle even Jesus didn’t perform.

The Uproot Clean Pro Carpet Scraper is available on Amazon.

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