Wear Your Sweaters With Pride... After Giving Them a Good Shave

I’ve been going through a real wardrobe makeover since moving from Los Angeles to Seattle. I prepared in advance, but I keep finding that I wasn’t prepared enough. I bought sweaters, coats, boots, and shockingly I keep realizing I need more or different stuff. One thing I was absolutely unprepared for was sweater maintenance. I grew up in the Midwest, I have been shaving my sweaters since I could be trusted with a razor, but didn’t expect to be outright ashamed about the state of my sweaters (which I have to wear all the time now). I found myself putting a sweater on, taking one look at myself, and thinking, “Oh NO, you can’t go out in such a state.” I needed a solution.

I used to tidy up my sweaters with an actual razor. This is how my mom taught me to do it. You go in the shower and get your, again, ACTUAL RAZOR that you use ON YOUR BODY and just shave the pills off your clothes. This is not ideal for many reasons: 1) you typically destroy the razor or fill it with sweater gunk and while it’s acceptable to use your razor from the shower (debatable, but stay with me), you can’t just PUT IT BACK. So ideally you use a well-used razor and then toss it. 2) It’s easy to cut yourself. 3) It’s even EASIER to cut a hole right in your sweater, and then you’re really screwed.

This is why you (and I) need the Gleener Ultimate Fuzz Remover. It is better than any electric sweater shaver, lint roller, or Venus Razor I have used. For $20 you get three levels of sandpaper-like razor edges, a lint roller on the other end, and a little bag to keep it all together.

The lint brush is great for if you, like me, look down at your black jeans and realize they’re absolutely riddled with tiny dog hairs and sweater/blanket fluff (I keep a separate lint brush in my glove compartment for this exact reason). But where the Gleener really shines is the other end of this two-headed tool, the shavey bit (the description calls them simply “edges” but that doesn’t describe them well, I think).

You get three “edges,” with three levels of shave-ability. I don’t know if I’ve ever used the toughest one, because it’s kind of intimidating, but with the lesser two you can just go to TOWN on your stuff and not worry about shaving a hole in your clothes, or yourself. I did a little before and after on a sweater of mine to illustrate how effective this tool is.

As you can see from the after photo on the right, you will get a lot of fuzzies on your de-fuzzer, so be prepared to clean it throughout if you’re tackling a big job.

I keep this little tool in my closet, and I grab it every time I wear a sweater. Now that I live in an area with actual seasons, and it’s getting quite chilly, I’m using it A LOT. I love that it’s virtually idiot proof (something I actively look for when it comes to clothing care) and you don’t need to replace the batteries - because it doesn’t use any. All that AND it works better than any other thing I’ve tried to make my sweaters look good as new. Put this on your Target list, it’s the most useful $20 you’ll spend all season.