How to thin hair?

Clodagh

Clodagh

Rage, rage, against the dying of the light.
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Pen gets way too hot out working on warm days. All mine are spayed but she’s the only one who ended up with a heavy coat, albeit only round her neck and shoulders.
I can’t clip her, any ideas for thinning and reducing the hair? (I’m saying I can’t clip her as her back half is lovely and she needs hair for protection in gorse and brambles).
Thank you.
 
Yes same principle but with proper blades in, so it doesn't just grip and pull but also cuts the hair. Because there's separate teeth it can make for a nice blended look unlike clippers. When mum's spaniels were kept in a show trim it's what we used to strip off their back and sides, but blend into the skirt. Because it cuts it can trash the top coat on anything with a true double coat though.
 
blackcob said:
Yes same principle but with proper blades in, so it doesn't just grip and pull but also cuts the hair. Because there's separate teeth it can make for a nice blended look unlike clippers. When mum's spaniels were kept in a show trim it's what we used to strip off their back and sides, but blend into the skirt. Because it cuts it can trash the top coat on anything with a true double coat though.
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Great. Thank you.
 
I’m a cheapskate, which leads me to prefer the top one.
Any thoughts?
 

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For ease you could clip with a long guard on it..? It then wouldn’t take anything off the back and would leave good cover. Cheap and easy to do.
Or hand stripping for the best ‘look’.
 
rara007 said:
For ease you could clip with a long guard on it..? It then wouldn’t take anything off the back and would leave good cover. Cheap and easy to do.
Or hand stripping for the best ‘look’.
Click to expand...
Poor Pen, handstripping is right up there with mane pulling as a horrible thing imo. And her hair is still quite short so I don’t think it would even be possible.
And clippers would be more expensive than rake! But thank you.
 
I guess it depends on your clippers…! These are my home use ones for my non hairy spaniel tidy and cob chin:

Amazon.co.uk

www.amazon.co.uk

I don’t mane pull but my spaniel doesn’t mind his ‘thighs’ being tidied up hand stripping (whilst watching TV!).
 
From memory the 20 is an extra fine finishing one (what we used on spaniel show coats) so bigger, coarser and cheaper should be fine. The website suggests fine-wide 23 for labs.
 
Another vote for Mars Coat King

I disagree that handstripping is akin to mane pulling though, you're removing dead loose jacket not actively growing mane.
 
druid said:
Another vote for Mars Coat King

I disagree that handstripping is akin to mane pulling though, you're removing dead loose jacket not actively growing mane.
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Fair point. I do remember MIL often getting bitten when she handstripped her borders, but she didn’t necessarily wait until the coat was dead.
 
rara007 said:
I guess it depends on your clippers…! These are my home use ones for my non hairy spaniel tidy and cob chin:

Amazon.co.uk

www.amazon.co.uk

I don’t mane pull but my spaniel doesn’t mind his ‘thighs’ being tidied up hand stripping (whilst watching TV!).
Click to expand...
I was envisioning a £100 set!! 🤣
 
druid said:
Another vote for Mars Coat King

I disagree that handstripping is akin to mane pulling though, you're removing dead loose jacket not actively growing mane.
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Neither of my BTs liked being hand stripped but are happy to be clipped, it’s definitely akin to mane pulling, some won’t tolerate it, many will, but it is uncomfortable.
 
HopOnTrot said:
Neither of my BTs liked being hand stripped but are happy to be clipped, it’s definitely akin to mane pulling, some won’t tolerate it, many will, but it is uncomfortable.
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I hand strip a lot of terriers (mostly borders and jacks) and done correctly they really shouldn't object unless unused to Grooming
 
Book an assessment with a groomer? The one who worked for us years back would often take labs, goldies etc in for a wash and blow, that would remove a lot of dead hair. Unless you already groom the coat out often?
 
Spotherisk said:
Book an assessment with a groomer? The one who worked for us years back would often take labs, goldies etc in for a wash and blow, that would remove a lot of dead hair. Unless you already groom the coat out often?
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It’s more she has grown a weird thick coat, post spaying. You can groom to your hearts content and nothing comes out. (Or very little). It’s healthy hair, just thicker and longer. Brandy got the same thing. Thankfully the others have kept their pre spay coats.
 
I have booked her in at the groomers to see what can be done. I bought the cheap thinning comb thing and it’s useless! She’s going in next week.
I wonder if it would be worth desensitising her to my very old and feeble hair drier? Will the blaster freak her out? She’s only had about 3 baths in her life, after badger poo incidents and all have just involved the hose and washing up liquid. 😆
 
Clodagh said:
I’m a cheapskate, which leads me to prefer the top one.
Any thoughts?
Click to expand...
I had a cheap one for my old lab who went a bit like a lion. It worked as well as my parents expensive one I borrowed to try out before buying. I could get a carrier bag of hair out of him and as a plus he really enjoyed it!

The only downside I found and I assume it was buying cheap was that the head worked loose all the time and I had to keep an allan key close to tighten.
 
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