We have one of these strainer things in our shower/bathtub drain. It's easy to remove if I want to plug the drain for a bath and for cleaning. I think it might fit in the sink too, but I haven't tried.

I also picked up one of these: Zip-IT and it works great! It's a little gross, since you're pulling gunk out of your drain, but it works way better than any chemicals I've dumped down!

Here is a link that might be useful: Strainer

I just use an old crochet hook, but the zip-it looks like it would be faster.

Thanks purplehooker; I have never seen a small strainer like that and thought I had to put in a sink (like a bar sink) to get a drain big enough to accomodate a strainer. Someone on the plumbing forum mentioned a lift and turn drain which I also had never heard of.

Writersblock, I also use a crochet hook and altho I think the zip it looks better, I just want to keep the hair out of the drain altogether because it is such a yucky job.

I am simply puzzled why we have strainers in kitchen sinks to keep debris from entering the drain, yet we struggle to keep bathroom drains cleaned out either manually (womanly in my case) or with harsh chemicals. It is curious that we haven't adopted a standard fix for the problem. I thought a bar sink, which has a larger drain opening than bathroom sinks (but smaller than a kitchen drain)and accomodates a kitchen sink type strainer would be a good solution, but I still can't determine if there is a problem plumbing-wise to put a pretty bar sink in the bathroom.

I just bought a bathroom sink strainer at Home Depot last week. They had several kinds. I got the kind with the "screen" instead of the larger holes.