I Tested 9 Methods for Removing Lint and This Is What Worked the Best

As a tee shirt and jeans kinda gal, I typically don’t have issues with lint — that is, until I get out my wool skirts, hats, and coats around wintertime. Black wool looks so classy and timeless until it starts working like a lint magnet and becomes a scrubby, frizzy mess. So to deal with my fuzzy little problem and help you in the process, I took the time to test some of the most commonly recommended lint removal tips.

Now you could always use a lint roller or anti-static spray, but we don’t always happen to have those handy. Here’s what else what I found to be effective for removing lint, plus the methods I recommend you completely avoid.

Before we get cracking here, it’s important to recognize that while pilling may look like lint, it’s a different beast altogether. Pilling occurs when little linty pieces of fabric raise up and get knotted up with the still-attached fibers. It most commonly happens in areas where clothing rubs together.

Lint, on the other hand, is just little tiny pieces of fibers, dust, or other materials that collect on the surface of your clothing. It is loose and typically sticks with friction, making it slightly annoying to remove, but still easier than pills. Most of the methods below won’t work for pilling, so if that’s your problem, try these pill removal tips instead.

These tips worked well and didn’t have any notable downsides. While some are easier than others, they all are good strategies for stripping lint from your duds.

Who knew scouring pads — you know, the scratchy green ones you use to scrub your pots and pans — could also get rid of fuzz and lint on your clothes? Just dampen a scouring pad to soften it, then scrub off the lint like a pro.

I found this method to be very effective because it’s so quick and effective — plus, who doesn’t already have a scrub sponge on hand? I was also happy that this method helped lightly clean the surface of my wool hats and jackets without submerging them, which could potentially stretch the time between dry cleaning trips.

Wool dryer balls can help reduce lint in your laundry loads — but they can also be super effective in stripping lint off dry clothes as well. To use them, just rub a clean dryer ball across your lint-covered fabric. I was honestly shocked to see just how effective and easy it was to remove lint this way.

It makes sense that dryer sheets, with all their antistatic laundry properties, would have the power to remove lint from your clothes even when used outside of the dryer. But while some online sources claim you can just wipe a dry dryer sheet on the item for instant lint-free results, I found this to be a blatant lie.

The dryer sheet method works only when you wet it, first. Ring it out until it’s barely damp, and then rub it over your clothes. When I first did this, I was actually terrified that I had ruined my linty hat with the gross, gooey-looking gunk the dryer sheet left smeared all over my hat. But then I wiped that gunk away with a damp towel followed by a dry, lint-free towel (you might also try a blow dryer), and it came out pretty darn clean —and it smelled like it just came back from the dry cleaner.

Fresh out of lint roller sheets and covered in fluff or dog hair? Fret not: Masking tape can do the trick. Just use the sticky side of a piece of masking tape to pick up each piece of lint to score a fur-free outfit!

This trick worked great for me, which makes sense when you think about it — masking tape has the same sticky power as those handy lint rollers, only it doesn’t roll. The only problem is that tape can loose stick quickly, so you’ll need to switch pieces of tape frequently.

If you go this route, I recommend using the widest tape you can fine, preferably 3 inches wide, to make the work go faster.

Put on an all-black outfit only to discover it’s covered in lint? Don’t panic. Just toss it in the dryer with a clean dryer sheet and run the “air only” setting to rid your clothing of all that lint in a pinch.

While this method didn’t work perfectly for me when I tried it, it certainly did help de-lint my pullover jacket. I may not recommend this as your only means of lint removal, but if you don’t want to spend all day removing lint manually, it could certainly be a useful first step to make the rest of the process easier.

Some of the other lint-removing tips I tried did not work at all; others worked fine but had some unhappy side effects. Here are some tips we don’t recommend.

Adding a cup of distilled white vinegar to your laundry during the final rinse cycle can help remove fuzz from sweaters and bath towels. The problem? Even though the method is effective, most washing machine manufacturers advise against using vinegar in their appliances because it can damage the seals.

Washing your clothes inside-out is a good method for preventing lint and pills from forming in the first place. I usually wash my jeans and tees inside out to help reduce wear on the outer fabric, which helps protect my beloved tee graphics. Perhaps that’s one of the reasons I don’t have much lint or pilling on my clothing.

But as a method for removing lint from clothing once it gets there, I was underwhelmed by the results when I tried it out. It may work if you’re washing a load of all fuzzy sweaters, though.

Sitting on a roll of contact paper or a pack of self-adhesive drawer liners? You could use the sticky side to remove lint, much like you’d use masking tape or a lint roll. It worked when I tested it.

But it’s an extravagant way to use expensive contact paper, no? And anyway, how often do you happen to have contact paper but no lint roller, masking tape, dryer balls, or clean scrubbing sponges? This method just seems wasteful.

Yes, this method is featured in our video, but after testing it out I have some reservations. When I tried it on a coat I noticed a little lint coming off —and a lot of white pumice stone powder sticking to my black fabric. Aside from that, I felt like I was damaging the fabric and would likely rub a hole in my coat if I kept going. It may be alright to use on a very thick, sturdy, light-colored cotton or linen, but proceed with caution.