Curls, Curls, Curls

I have a lot of customers that like long, scissored cuts.

Every once in a while a customer will come in with their dog and want a long scissored cut, only they do not want me to 'fluff' up their dog.

They want the hair to stay curly.

I usually explain to them that I have to 'fluff' their dogs coat, because I hand dry every dog, and I also need the coat fluffed as straight as I can get it to get an even cut.

I also tell the customer to just give it a few days after the grooming and the coat will start to curl  up again.

The owner of this particular dog does not bring him in as often as I think that she should, for the amount of coat that she likes to leave on the dog.

The owner really loves the curly, scruffy look that her dog has when it comes in.

It is  just a guess, but I think that she does not bring the dog in more often, because she really does not like the dog 'fluffed' out, although she does understand why he is fluffed up.

I can't even begin to tell you how much this dog HATES being brushed. (I could show you the bite on my arm)

Because he hates being brushed so much, his owner just cuts any mats she finds out of his coat.

So, because of that, I can not give him a full scissor cut and also get his coat even at the same time.

Again his owner understands, and would rather have the full coat instead of an even cut.

So, because he looked so uneven when I finished scissoring him, I decided to surprise the owner and make him curly again.

Only a groomer can understand how hard and painful this was for me. lol

 I made a mixture of water and finishing spray.

Then I just started to spray away...all over the dog.

I grabbed small hands full of hair and squeezed it to get the curls back in the coat.

I also used my fingers to brush the coat up and backwards to encourage the hair to curl.

I felt like I was putting mats BACK into the coat. :-p

It worked.

The coat did curl back up.

There was only one problem.

Now I had to get the coat dry again without removing the curls.

I used my hand dryer and my fingers to dry the dog again.

I used my big pick comb to pick at the coat just enough to separate the curls to help them dry quicker.

This dog dried so fast with the HV.

It took FOREVER to dry the curls.

I did end up putting him away a little damp to finish air drying.

The coat wasn't as curly as the owner liked, but I am sure that by the next day he was pretty curly.

The owner loved it.

She made another appointment for sooner.

Hopefully, the fact that I showed her that she could get her dog back curly, she will become a regular.

If this dog comes in more regularly, maybe, just maybe, I can get him to at least tolerate the brushing.

He is so sweet....as long as you don't have a brush in your hand.

✂ Happy Grooming, MFF ✂