Last October I paid a plumber £120 to unblock my bath drain. It was the second time in twelve months I'd had to call someone out for the same problem. The first time I'd assumed it was a one-off — an accumulation of years of hair and soap scum that just needed clearing. The second time, I had to accept that this was going to keep happening unless I did something about it.
The plumber, to his credit, was very pleasant about the whole thing. He cleared the blockage in about twenty minutes, showed me what had caused it (a dense, matted plug of hair that I will not describe in further detail), and suggested I look into a drain guard. He didn't recommend a specific one. He just said: “Anything that catches the hair before it goes down will save you calling me.”
I went home and started researching. That's when I found the TubShroom.
The Problem With Most Drain Guards
I'd tried drain guards before — the flat mesh ones that sit over the top of the drain. They work, in the sense that they catch hair. But they also sit visibly on the surface of the bath, collect hair in a way that's immediately visible and slightly revolting, and need cleaning after every single shower. I'd bought two over the years and stopped using both of them because the maintenance felt worse than the alternative.
The TubShroom is different in a fundamental way: it fits inside the drain rather than sitting on top of it. The patented mushroom-shaped design slots into a standard 1¾-inch bathtub drain, with the cap sitting flush at drain level and the stem extending down into the pipe. Hair wraps around the stem as water flows past, rather than going down the drain. You can't see it from above. It doesn't interrupt the look of the bath. And because the hair collects around the stem rather than on a flat surface, cleaning it is a single wipe rather than a messy untangling job.
Ordering and First Use
I ordered through Altoe and it arrived within a couple of days. Installation took approximately four seconds — you push it into the drain until it sits flush. No tools, no instructions needed beyond the obvious. It fit my standard bath drain perfectly.
The silicone construction is flexible and feels genuinely durable — not the cheap, brittle plastic you sometimes get with bathroom accessories at this price point. The grey colour is unobtrusive and doesn't show soap scum the way white versions might.
The first time I cleaned it — after about a week of use — I pulled it out of the drain, wiped the hair off the stem with a piece of tissue, and put it back. The whole process took about fifteen seconds. That's it. That's the maintenance. Fifteen seconds once a week instead of £120 every six months.
Fourteen Months On: Not a Single Blockage
I've now had the TubShroom in my bath drain for fourteen months. In that time I have not had a single slow drain, let alone a blockage. The drain runs as freely as it did the day after the plumber cleared it. I clean the TubShroom roughly once a week — sometimes less if I've been away — and it takes no time at all.
I have long hair. I shed a lot of it in the shower, as anyone with long hair will know. Before the TubShroom, that hair was going straight down the drain and accumulating in the pipe. Now it wraps around the stem, I remove it weekly, and the pipe stays clear. It's a genuinely elegant solution to a problem that I'd been managing badly for years.
The Maths Are Embarrassingly Simple
Two plumber call-outs at roughly £120 each: £240 over twelve months. The TubShroom: a fraction of that. I've now had fourteen months of zero blockages and zero plumbing costs. The TubShroom has paid for itself many times over and will continue to do so indefinitely.
I'm slightly annoyed that it took me this long to find it. But mostly I'm just relieved that I did.
What I'd Tell Anyone Who's Had a Blocked Bath Drain
If you have long hair, or live with someone who does, and you've ever had a slow or blocked bath drain, this is the solution. Not a temporary fix — a permanent one. The TubShroom Silicone Tub Drain Protector is one of those rare products that does exactly what it promises, requires almost no effort to maintain, and costs so little that the only question is why you haven't bought one already.
- Patented internal design — fits inside the drain, invisible from above, no surface mess
- Universal 1¾-inch compatibility — fits any standard bathtub or bathroom sink drain
- Durable silicone construction — flexible, long-lasting, easy to wipe clean
- No tools required — push in, done, takes four seconds
- Eliminates the need for chemical drain cleaners — better for your pipes and the environment
- Award-winning design — genuinely clever engineering for a genuinely common problem
- Maintenance: ~15 seconds per week — wipe the stem, replace, done
Get yours here: TubShroom Silicone Tub Drain Protector – Hair Catcher Strainer, Grey
And if you're sorting out your bathroom, these collections are worth a look:
- Drain Strainers
- Drain Covers & Strainers
- Drain Components
- Plumbing Fixture Hardware & Parts
- Hardware
Laura Hennessey is a secondary school librarian from Belfast who has been slowly making her rented flat more liveable one small purchase at a time. She writes about the products that have genuinely solved real problems in her home — no gifted items, no brand relationships.
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