Jackson's 'Bangs' - ARGH

JacksonsMom

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#1
Okay, so, backstory:

Jackson went to one groomer for the first year and a half of his life. She always did a decent job, but his ears were always cut all weird. We switched to a mobile groomer in mid-2010 and I've always been very happy with how she's cut him (except for one time) but then she started doing the 'visor cut' (like straight across)... it always looks cute... for about three days, lol. Then the hair hangs in front of his eyes. His hair NEVER used to do this. It used to just... grow out. Now I can't seem to get rid of the bang look.

So I told her I wanted to stop doing the visor cut, which she was fine with, so now it's not so 'straight across' but it still begins to hang in his eyes fairly quickly after being groomed.

Example: this was him after he was groomed in January,


It looks super cute at first. But it quickly begins to fall into his eyes. This was two days later:


This is what he looks like as of last week, if I don't push it back with a bit of water and I even used some hair gel once, LOL, just to get it out of his eyes:


At this point, do you think it's almost long enough to where it will go back with the rest of his hair and not hang in front? If I let it keep growing out...? When I push it back away from his face, it stays there for a bit, but then ends up falling back down.

Here's an example of how I like his hair... (this was right after the first or second time our current mobile groomer gave him a haircut):


And this is how it USED to grow out, a month later from the above photo


I'm kinda not wanting to use the same mobile groomer anymore, because I keep telling her every time "Still growing out those bangs..." but then I find I just have to start ALL over again because of the way she cuts them, they end up right back in his face. But otherwise she does a good job!! So I'm kinda torn, and I do like her.

Is there a particular thing, (I think we have some groomers on here) that I should say to how I want them cut?

I don't ever remember having so many issues with his hair ever, it used to just... grow out, and that was that, never had to mess with his hair in any way. Now it irks me so much to look at him and have his hair just hanging over his eyes! LOL
 

MericoX

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#2
Looks like more was cut in the middle between his eye brows and shorter in the middle compared to some of the other cuts. Other then cutting it shorter or maybe tying it up I've no idea.

I'm a mean mum and let the schnauzers eyebrows get kinda long before I start hacking away at them.
 

*blackrose

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#3
I honestly don't really know, either. Cooper has bangs, but it takes him awhile to grow them out. I just cut them rather short to begin with, so then I don't mind as they grow. LOL I also trim the hair that is between his eyes, so it isn't a "unibrow" but "two brows", if that makes any sense. And I shave the top of his head in typical Schnauzer cut fashion so no hair from the top of his head can fall on his face, even though he's a Yorkie. I just don't like long hair.

Honestly, I think your best bet would be to just get a pair of scissors and trim it up yourself between grooms, especially if you don't mind the length his other fringes are. I've done that plenty of times with Cooper.

ETA: I agree that in the pictures of him you like the cut, it looks like more hair was trimmed up between his eyes/on top of his face.
 

Saintgirl

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#4
A very common complaint. Unfortunatly it is not something that your groomer is doing wrong, she can't help how the crown on your dogs head allows the bang to fall as it grows out. You have two options-

1. Have the bang turned into brows. Like was already mentioned, trim higher between the eyes to seperate the 'visor' look and trim the top of the head shorter.

2. Have the head cut shorter all together (on the very top at least). Have your groomer thin out the top of his head so that you can begin training the fur to fall towards the sides again instead of the front.

As a dog matures this is often the case! Fur that previously fell one way turns and falls another way. This is not something that your groomer is doing wrong it is just the natural way for the fur to fall. You can try to retrain the crown to fall another way but in my opinion you would have better luck going shorter and thinning the top so the curtain of bangs is not nearly as thick and blinding!

Communication is key with your groomer. You need to show her these pictures and talk to her about what you used to like about how his fur would fall as it grew out and what you don't like now. What you think you are telling your groomer and what your groomer thinks could be two different things. Pictures are always the easiest way to communicate what you want leaving no interpretation!

I offer free face trims in between grooms for this very reason, especially on shihtzu's. A little extra customer service goes along way to keeping a client happy. It takes me no more than a couple of minutes and keeps a groom looking fresh for a little longer. It also keeps my clients from hacking away the fur on the face themselves and then wanting me to fix it!
 

JacksonsMom

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#5
Thanks guys! :)

A very common complaint. Unfortunatly it is not something that your groomer is doing wrong, she can't help how the crown on your dogs head allows the bang to fall as it grows out. You have two options-

1. Have the bang turned into brows. Like was already mentioned, trim higher between the eyes to seperate the 'visor' look and trim the top of the head shorter.

2. Have the head cut shorter all together (on the very top at least). Have your groomer thin out the top of his head so that you can begin training the fur to fall towards the sides again instead of the front.

As a dog matures this is often the case! Fur that previously fell one way turns and falls another way. This is not something that your groomer is doing wrong it is just the natural way for the fur to fall. You can try to retrain the crown to fall another way but in my opinion you would have better luck going shorter and thinning the top so the curtain of bangs is not nearly as thick and blinding!

Communication is key with your groomer. You need to show her these pictures and talk to her about what you used to like about how his fur would fall as it grew out and what you don't like now. What you think you are telling your groomer and what your groomer thinks could be two different things. Pictures are always the easiest way to communicate what you want leaving no interpretation!

I offer free face trims in between grooms for this very reason, especially on shihtzu's. A little extra customer service goes along way to keeping a client happy. It takes me no more than a couple of minutes and keeps a groom looking fresh for a little longer. It also keeps my clients from hacking away the fur on the face themselves and then wanting me to fix it!
Thanks so much for the great advice. I've also heard about the hair changing as it matures, etc. The only thing is, this started directly after she started giving him the straight-across visor cut last year (at 3 1/2).

Example:


That's when it all began unfortunately.

We did one time use a different mobile groomer in a pinch, he needed a cut and the other was unavailable, and he was 3 years old at this point. And it did not grow quickly back over his eyes like in the pic in the OP where he's in the black sweater 2 days after a groom.


I think I may try her, just for the heck of it, and see if it makes a difference or not. If not, I'll know it's just his hair, and not the particular way it's being cut.
 
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#6
Besides the reasons written above from the hair, have you or the groomer changed the shampoo or conditioner lately?


This is something show handlers tell owners a lot, you see if the shampoo or conditioner is moisterizing the hair a lot then the hair becomes softer and it will fall more flat and have less thickness and it will break more easy

If the shampoo or conditioner aren't the deep moister type, then the hair will have more thickness and it will "stand up" more easy ;) and have more puff.
 

Saintgirl

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#7
The difflerence between the two above pictures is that the head is cut differently. Thetop picture has a bang and is left longer on top wihile the second pic is cut higher between the eyes to offer more of a brow than a bang and the top is cut shorter so it takes longer for the bang to reform and fall forward. I really like how your current groomer is shaping the head I just think she is leaving the top too long.

Shampoos could be the reason too but typically not on the kind of fur Jackson has, shampoos typically effect a wire coat or a curly coat more significantly. I think that maybe Jackson's bangs may have fallen in the same direction with your old groomer too but she recognized that his crown is so far foreward that she trimmed higher between the eyes to counteract the hair fall.

Either way, he is so cute it hurts!!!
 

frostfell

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#8
it APPEARS that she used to do a very short head all over, possible just taking a guard comb over the entire thing, so it grew out "round". and now she is scizzoring it to be much longer

try asking for a guard on the head? an O or an A?
 

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