E and C combs are not short!!

L

lutheranandproud

New member
Just going on a rant here but just wanted to speak my mind for a minute so bear with me. This rant is mostly aimed at doodle owners. Today I had a dog getting an actual haircut for the first time. The first three times this dog has been in were just clean ups, despite my boss telling the client that they should really take hair off. She came in today and actually agreed to get her dog an actual haircut this time. She’s a very fluffy dog. She had some matting in places but it wasn’t horrible. Was able to brush/comb out any mat I came across. So I did her body with a C which took off the layer of wispy thin hair and left the dog with a nice looking coat. I did an E head which took a little off so I had to clean up the head with scissors. At the end she looked really nice, despite the dog being a total pain.

When the owner came and picked up the dog she complained that the dog is too short. I had a feeling she would think is too short. Also I said before that I’m aiming this at doodle owners because I’ve noticed that doodle owners seem to think sometimes that they’re dogs haircut is too short even if we have them an E or a C.
 
@lutheranandproud I had a doodle owner beg me to use my longest guard comb (2"). I did, the first few times but she was realizing how much work it was to keep them long, and before I knew it, she was asking to go shorter, and shorter, and shorter, till the dog was 1/2"-3/8".
 
@tmur I have multiple doodles that went from an E alllll the way down to a #7 over the course of their lifetimes. Many of my doodles tend to go from an E to a 0 or a 1 guard by the time they’re a couple years old, thankfully. I gently steer people towards this, but luckily with my prices and far-out booking, customers realize on their own that it’s easier and less costly.
 
@lutheranandproud I’m just going to say that what is short is relative 🤷🏻‍♀️. For the average person, an E comb is long. However for someone who keeps their dog super long, in their eyes, that’s a short length. One time when I was a fairly new groomer, I had an extremely fluffy Pomeranian come in and the owners wanted a full haircut but still wanted them pretty fluffy. So I did an E comb. In my mind, the hair was still long. However that still took about an inch of hair off of the dog and the owners were shocked when they picked up. Lessons were learned that day.

Usually when puppies get their first haircut, I tend to try and stay around the 1.25” - 1.5” mark because that first trim can be a shock to people. Usually after that, people will start working their way down to a more manageable length.
 
@lutheranandproud I don’t keep my doodles in anything longer than an A/0. People can’t maintain anything longer. I always start with the E/C for first cut and every time they come in I take a length shorter until they are in a spot that is fair.
 
@dwrity90 We’ve done that to some dogs because the owners honestly wouldn’t even notice. We’ve also come to the point where we sometimes just say fuck it and let them keep their dog long so we can shave them when they’ll eventually mat up later on. I know that’s probably messed for up the dog but they insist and insist
 
@lutheranandproud Why i don't do doodles. New girl was like I breed them! I will do all doodles. I can do 4 dogs in the time it takes her to do a horrible matted doodle that wants a 3in haircut that has never been brushed. I am not sure what happens when people get a doodle...
 
@lutheranandproud Hey there, OP! Just wanted to let you know that, unless you want
us all to get naked with you (or the pun is intentional), you probably meant
to say bear with me rather than bare with me.

"Bear" means "to
tolerate", whereas "bare" means "naked".

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If you wish to provide feedback or ask that my comment be deleted, simply
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@lutheranandproud I must just be getting lucky so far... I just did a doodle in a 1/4" cc today per owner request. She specified that she wanted to be able to see ticks and was pretty happy with the length when she picked him up. I did another doodle in a 7 a few weeks ago whose owner wanted "as short as we can go" (after previously getting a haircut in a 5). My longest guard is only 1" so I'd be in bad shake it someone wants their dog's hair to be 2".😅

I'm curious about what the lady in question here actually said when she decided to get the dog an actual haircut. Did she give any indication of how much she length she wanted left, like half, or 3/4? Did she just agree to have "some" taken off without confirming what exactly she thought that meant? I haven't run into this issue yet but I am also newer so haven't had a ton of different clients yet, and I'm scared to just try whatever I think people mean so I ask for specifics on everything. I am always worried when I have someone who isn't just "same as usual" because during training I felt like when clients would ask for something, I would have something pretty different in mind than my trainer did.
 
@pythagon Well I didn’t talk to her personally my coworker did but my coworker told her that she highly suggests to get an actual haircut because hand scissoring this dog is going to cost her more money and help maintain her dogs fur. She didn’t really have an idea of how much to take off but we knew to keep the dog fluffy as we could.
 
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