Unscrew or pry off the strainer or stopper. Look inside for visible hair and soap buildup. Pull out what you can with your fingers or needle-nose pliers and drop it in the trash.
Boil a large pot of water and carefully pour it down the drain. Let it sit for five minutes. Sometimes the heat loosens soap buildup enough to restore some flow.
A hand-crank drain snake from a hardware store can reach 6 to 8 feet down the line. Feed it in, crank it slowly, and pull up any hair you snag. Do not force it.
If your shower still drains in more than 30 seconds, the blockage is too far down or too dense for a DIY tool. A plumber has a motorized snake and camera to locate and clear the clog without damaging the pipe.
Hair is the enemy of fast drains. Every shower sends hair down the line, and it wraps around the trap and collects soap film and mineral deposits from our local water. In Prunedale and the neighboring towns, the mineral content in water adds another layer to the clog over time. A slow drain often means weeks or months of buildup, not something that happened overnight.
If you ignore it, the slow drain becomes a stopped drain. Water backs up into the tub and does not move at all. At that point, taking a shower becomes impossible, and the bacteria and mold breeding in the blocked pipe can smell awful. Prevent a full stoppage by treating slow drainage as a signal to act.
A plumber will either use a motorized drain snake to break up and pull out the clog, or send a camera down to see exactly where the blockage is and whether it is hair, mineral scaling, or a broken pipe section. After clearing it, the drain should flow freely again. For future prevention, use a drain screen or trap to catch hair before it goes into the pipe.
Describe what you're seeing to a real Prunedale plumber: call (831) 555-0170 or send the form. Free, no obligation.