Men’s Journal put a question to a group of working plumbers this month: what do you actually do about a clogged shower or sink drain if you are not reaching for a bottle of chemical cleaner? Travis Hargrave was one of the pros they asked. The piece ran August 13, 2026 under the headline “I Asked 3 Professional Plumbers How to Clear a Clogged Drain Without Chemicals. They All Said the Same Thing,” written by senior editor Madison Freeman.
The short version of what the pros agreed on: go mechanical before you go chemical. Here is what that looks like, plus the tip Travis added for homeowners here in Acadiana.
The Problem With the Bottle Under Your Sink
Chemical drain openers work, in the sense that they will usually move a clog once. What they also do is sit in your pipe and react. Bob Cardwell of Cardwell HVAC told Men’s Journal that the caustic ingredients in those products, sodium hydroxide and strong acids, are rough on older pipes and on the rubber seals and gaskets holding the system together. He noted that most of the real damage comes from misuse: pouring in too much, running treatment after treatment, or mixing two different products in the same drain.
That lines up with what we find in homes around Lafayette. A drain that needed a bottle every couple of weeks was never actually unclogged. It was being burned open just enough to buy time, while whatever caused the clog stayed right where it was.
What the Plumbers Said to Do Instead
Every expert in the article started in the same place: pull the clog out rather than dissolve it. John Akhoian of Rooter Hero Plumbing and Air recommended a manual snake or a hair removal tool as the first move on a small clog. His reasoning is simple. Most bathroom sink and shower clogs are not a mystery. They are trapped hair, and if you catch one early, the hook tool is the whole job.
Those cheap plastic drain sticks cost a few dollars at any hardware store and reach far enough to grab what is sitting in the trap. Run one through once a month and most homes never reach the standing water stage.
Travis’s Tip: Flush More Than One Fixture
What Travis told Men’s Journal was about the debris a screen never catches. Even with a good drain cover, fine hair and soap film slip past and start clinging to the pipe wall a few feet down, well past anything you can reach with a tool.
His fix is volume. Run hot water through several fixtures at once instead of one, so the line carries a real column of water rather than a trickle. That moves the loose material along before it has a chance to settle and build. It takes about a minute and costs you nothing.
Keeping It From Coming Back
“Prevention is always better than cleaning,” is how Scott Eyman of Eyman Plumbing, Heating and Air put it in the piece. His routine, and it is a good one:
- Put a mesh screen on every shower drain. Eyman priced them at five to eight dollars.
- Let the water run about thirty seconds after your shower.
- Use an enzyme treatment once a month. Enzymes break down organic buildup without attacking the pipe.
Switching from bar soap to body wash helps too. Bar soap leaves behind the film that hair sticks to in the first place.
When It Is Not a Hair Clog
All of that assumes the problem is in the fixture. Sometimes it is not, and the tells are consistent:
- More than one drain runs slow at the same time.
- A toilet gurgles when the washing machine drains or a sink empties.
- The clog is back within days of clearing it.
- You have older cast iron or clay under the house, or mature trees near the sewer line.
Those point at the main line, not the trap, and no amount of hot water or enzyme treatment will fix them. A sewer camera inspection puts eyes on the actual pipe so you know whether you are dealing with grease buildup, a belly in the line, or roots. From there it is usually drain cleaning or hydro jetting to scour the pipe wall back to full diameter.
Thanks to Men’s Journal
Thanks to Madison Freeman and the Men’s Journal team for including Travis, and for running a drain story that tells people to put the bottle down. You can read the whole thing, with tips from all of the plumbers they spoke to, at Men’s Journal.
Drain Still Backing Up? Call Hargrave’s
If you have run the snake, put a screen on it, and the water is still standing, the clog is past the point where a homeowner tool helps. Our Lafayette team clears drains across Acadiana, from a single slow shower to a main line full of roots. Reach out and we will get someone out to look at it.
