How do I stop my shower drain from constantly getting clogged and producing this gross black stuff?

Hi all, apologies if this is a dumb question! My shower drain regularly gets clogged, which I'm always able to resolve using Drano, but I know that Drano isn't great for pipes and isn't a good frequent / long-term solution. This happens despite the fact that I have a tub ring hair catcher that goes around the drain, so I'm not sure what is causing the frequent clogs. I clean out the tub ring every day, and there is always all these super gross black particles that come out of it. I can't tell if these are actually pieces of the tub ring, or if this stuff is actually coming out of the shower drain. This black stuff also builds up in the tub -- I clean the tub every week, yet the surface of the tub is always a bit gross and dirty by the end of the week. I'm not sure what I'm doing wrong here and definitely welcome suggestions!! I don't know if I'm using the wrong kind of hair catcher, or if there is some regular maintenance I should be doing, or anything else. Below, I am attaching photos of the black stuff that comes out of the tub ring, an example of the build-up of the black stuff, what our drain looks like (I believe it's a pop-up?), and what the tub ring looks like on the drain. Thank you so much!! Black stuff that comes out Black stuff that builds up What the drain looks like What the drain looks like with the tub ring submitted by /u/TheMagicSeahorse [link] [comments]

Jun 1, 2025 - 23:48

Hi all, apologies if this is a dumb question!

My shower drain regularly gets clogged, which I'm always able to resolve using Drano, but I know that Drano isn't great for pipes and isn't a good frequent / long-term solution. This happens despite the fact that I have a tub ring hair catcher that goes around the drain, so I'm not sure what is causing the frequent clogs.

I clean out the tub ring every day, and there is always all these super gross black particles that come out of it. I can't tell if these are actually pieces of the tub ring, or if this stuff is actually coming out of the shower drain. This black stuff also builds up in the tub -- I clean the tub every week, yet the surface of the tub is always a bit gross and dirty by the end of the week.

I'm not sure what I'm doing wrong here and definitely welcome suggestions!! I don't know if I'm using the wrong kind of hair catcher, or if there is some regular maintenance I should be doing, or anything else. Below, I am attaching photos of the black stuff that comes out of the tub ring, an example of the build-up of the black stuff, what our drain looks like (I believe it's a pop-up?), and what the tub ring looks like on the drain. Thank you so much!!

Black stuff that comes out Black stuff that builds up What the drain looks like What the drain looks like with the tub ring

submitted by /u/TheMagicSeahorse
[link] [comments]