To get hair and other crud out of the front axles I use a plastic dental pic thing. Dunno how to describe it, but it's a small disposable light-green plastic dental tool, and the tip of it tapers to a real small point... perfect for slowly working out the crud.
Another thing that sometimes helps is to use standard waxed dental floss. Simply wrap the floss around the axle a half of a turn, and pull it through in the opposite direction that the hair is wrapped around the axle. The wax on the floss helps to grab a hold of the crud, as well as acting like a basic lubricant for the axle -
