Editorial
Front Page - Friday, October 8, 2010
What’ll they dream up next?
Turbo Snake
Misty S. Brown
The Turbo Snake is a tool that doesn’t require chemicals or a plumber to get rid of slow-moving drains. However, the short, flexible wire is difficult to twist, unable to reach deep clogs and will never retain its original perfect coil. The head of the Turbo Snake resembles the hooked side of Velcro and it can be difficult to clean off all the hair and debris.
- Misty S. Brown
I love this time of the year. Football season is in full throttle. Boots and hooded sweatshirts are making their way out of the back of the closet. The air conditioner can be switched off and the open doors and windows can allow the crisp breeze to circle through your home.
With frost on the pumpkin arriving during the chilly mornings and the leaves beginning their annual descent, autumn is finally here. Unfortunately, like the towering oaks shedding their thick foliage, my hair is following suit.
Luckily I was blessed with a head full of thick, curly hair so I know I won’t go bald any time soon. I will admit, though, it can seem unnerving to pull out gobs of hair each time I brush it or take a shower.
I’ve read up on hair loss in the fall and was relieved to find that it isn’t necessarily abnormal. There are plenty of things that can affect hair loss, including dryness, a poor diet, medications, hormones, how it is styled and brushed and yes, some daunting physical ailments. But hair loss is also a naturally occurring process based on the phase of the hair follicles themselves.
According to a “Today Show” health editor, hair has an anagen phase where a single follicle will grow a strand of hair during a period of four to six years. It then enters the telogen phase where it rests for a few months and is eventually pushed out and replaced by new shaft growth at a rate of about half an inch per month. At any point, 90 percent of your hair can be in the anagen phase and the remaining ten percent can be in the telogen phase. It isn’t uncommon for a person to lose 50 to 100 hairs a day.
I have had blood work performed in the last few months, so I know I am not sick. I also haven’t taken any new medications. And hormones, well, every woman has those, even more so during times of stress. So really, I have no cause for concern – it’s just a normal part of my hair’s life cycle. No need to worry, I have no qualms about visiting a doctor if it seems abnormal at any point.
The only concern I have is my slow drains caused by the hair clogs, which I hoped purchasing the Turbo Snake would help remedy.
What it is
The Turbo Snake is a drain hair removal tool for a sink or shower and tub.
How it works
The Turbo Snake has two options: a flat head for the shower and tub and a cylindrical head for the sink. It is a flexible, plastic covered 27-inch wire with a barbed head to grab onto the hair.
To use it, the drain screen must be removed if present. If a pop-up drain stopper is in use, it must be placed in the up position. It is made to glide past most drain stoppers, so there isn’t a need to remove them. The Turbo Snake must be uncoiled and extended down the drain. To grab and lock onto the hair clog, the Turbo Snake needs to be moved up and down and twisted.
Once the clog is snagged, the Turbo Snake should be slowly removed from the drain to avoid splashing or damaging any of the plumbing fixtures. The hair and debris can be removed from the head. Once it is rinsed, it can be coiled up and stored for future use.
Pros and cons
The Turbo Snake is a good alternative to chemical drain cleaners or calling an expensive plumber. However, this isn’t a great product for the squeamish to use since the hair clogs will also have all kinds of gunk with them.
My sink snake worked fine, but my shower and tub snake was pitiful at best. I’m not sure how all the plumbing in my tub is shaped since I live in an older apartment, but I was not able to push the tub snake in far enough to get to the clog, and the water still backs up significantly when I shower.
It’s great that the Turbo Snake is flexible to get through the traps and curves of the pipes, but when you try to twist it at the surface, you’ll just end up with a mangled piece of wire that will never again resemble the perfect coil it had in the package. With only 27 inches to work with, deeper clogs will be inaccessible.
Cleaning the debris from the barbed heads is a bit of a pain. I read one person’s suggestion that said to use a seam ripper to remove the hair. Basically, the heads look like the hooked side of a piece of Velcro and if you’ve ever tried to clean fuzz out of your Velcro fastenings, it’s not incredibly easy.
A good thing about the Turbo Snake is that once it is cleaned, it can be stored and reused later, whereas chemicals will run out and need to be repurchased.
Where to buy
I found the Turbo Snake set, which also came with a peel and stick storage hook, at Wal-Mart for $9.88. It is available at Walgreen’s and Bed, Bath and Beyond for $9.99. They are also available on Amazon.com for $5.79 for two packages.
Submissions
Send gadget ideas to misty@dailydata.com.
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