is the HairBuster worth it

We finally broke down and bought Baby the HairBuster, a comb for rabbit fur.

While we’re Small Pet Select ambassadors (and there are some affiliate links in this article), we’ve decided to give an honest review of this bunny brush.

Why we bought the HairBuster

The past year has been quite the stressful journey. Baby had not one but two instances of GI Stasis.

It definitely took a hit to our emergency funds, and our stimulus checks went largely to his medical treatments.

The hospital visits were also extremely nerve-wracking. Both included four overnights at a large emergency hospital about an hour and a half away from home. It was no vacation stay for Baby. And I was a nervous wreck, crying everyday and waiting anxiously by the phone for updates from the vets.

NOT an experience we would want to repeat for a third time!

After the second visit, the vet shared some theories about what may be happening.

Baby is no spring chicken and may be developing arthritis. He’d likely groom less, especially near his tail, which would take a stretch.
He may be grooming less frequently in general now that he’s older. So when he does groom, he’s ingesting a lot more hair all at once – instead of small amount over time.

Either way, we had to change things up.

Until that point, we hadn’t been brushing him with a real comb or brush. Nothing ever seemed to work. Baby either hated it and would attack. Or the brush itself wouldn’t actually pick up any hair.

The hospital visits told us our bare hands and hours of petting just weren’t getting the job done, especially during shedding season.

How we got our rabbit used to the brush

Once the comb came in the mail, we tried to get Baby used to the feeling of it.

It’s definitely more intense looking than any brush we’d ever tried. The comb has hard metal teeth with a piece of rubber weaving in between every few. The handle is also hard plastic but easy to grip.

Baby was not interested at first. He even grabbed in in between his teeth and tried to push it away.

We started out slow. At first, we pet the top of his head (his favorite) while running the flat part of the comb along his fur – not putting the comb teeth through the fur.

Once he got used to the feeling, we started replacing our hand with the comb. We tried on his lionhead mane first, since it’s closest to the head pets he loves. Then we moved to his butt, which in general is a no-go for him. It took longer for him to get used to it, but you could tell his hops away were just nervousness. The brushing wasn’t actually hurting him.

Does the HairBuster work?

We haven’t gone through shedding season with the comb yet, but after a month, we’re really starting to see a difference.

Here are our thoughts so far:

Pros

Effectiveness: Even after shedding season has ended, this brush gets a surprising amount of hair during each brushing session. It also means less fur on my hand when I’m just trying to pet Baby, not necessarily de-hair-ify him.
Oddly satisfying: There’s something about watching the line pattern that forms in the fur when you brush along your rabbit’s back – almost like a fluffy zen sand garden.
Routine establishing: Having a physical reminder of grooming makes it harder to forget brushing is essential for the health of your rabbit. I keep ours on a little side table, always within reach in our small one-bedroom apartment.

Cons

Cleanliness: While the purpose of the rubber band is to help collect hair, it seems like there’s always some stuck on there. If you’re a perfectionist, be prepared to go in with some tweezers to get the comb truly clean after a brushing session.
Price: I never thought I’d spend so much on a comb. Period.
Strangeness: Like I said, it took a few days for Baby to get accustomed to the feel of the brush. This is not an instant process.

Like using any tool around your bunny, it’s important to make sure you’re attentive when brushing your rabbit. My fear is that my eyes will wander to my phone, and I’ll accidentally poke Baby’s eye out. But it’s the same caution you’d need if you were, say, using clippers to trim your bunny’s nails.

Comparing the HairBuster to other methods

But the HairBuster is certainly not the only option for shedding rabbits. Here’s what we’ve tried over the years:

Using your hands: This has always been my go-to method because it’s the easiest and free! But the vet said this wasn’t good enough in Baby’s situation.
Wetting your hands: This option definitely works better than just using your regular old hands but still doesn’t do the job for Baby. He also hated having wet hair after.
Using a pet grooming glove: This was a big NO from Baby. He did not like the feeling, and the look of the gloves over our hands was too scary for him.
Using other types of brushes: We’ve bought a bunch of different types of brushes before and they just ended up being a waste. One pink brush in particular ended up becoming his nemesis.

Final Verdict

Each rabbit is different, so not every rabbit will need something as intense as the HairBuster.

For our family, it made sense to splurge on the comb – because of the vet mandate to upgrade from our bare hands and the great reviews it already had from other pet parents.

We’ll update this article once real shedding season hits again, but for now, we really recommend this comb for longer haired buns and those who have struggled with GI Stasis.

Have you tried the HairBuster for your rabbit? Let us know what you thought of it!