Need help on grooming please!
Why do we groom against the normal direction of hair growth? How do I avoid taking out too much of the undercoat if it is matted? |
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snoozy wrote: I'm new to the 'posts' and new to line grooming. Why do we groom against the normal direction of hair growth? How do I avoid taking out too much of the undercoat if it is matted? Hi Snoozy, Welcome to the forum. I hope you are able to learn the things you need to know here and will contribute where you can including sharing stories and photos. We are all more than just a bit obsesssed with each other's kids and their photos. Anyway, Grooming can be done "against the grain" as I have illustraed in my photo essay or "with the grain". On the whole there are more advocates of "against the grain" than "with the grain" but everyone needs to determine what works best or them and their own Bobtail. The reason I, and probably many others, choose to brush against the grain is that it allows better hair management during the grooming session and also makes it easier to groom all the way down to the skin which is critical to preventing matting. As line grooming proceeds you are also able to get a very good view of the coat and skin to readily identify any developing knots/matts and monitor the skin condition. It is much harder if not impossible to see all this information if you groom "with the grain". Keeping the undercoat is an ongoing challenge that virtually everyone who wants to keep their Bobtails in full coat with "full volume" experiences. Success in this regard is very dependant upon overall grooming techniques and experience. The two most important factors however are pin brush quality and "gentleness" of your grooming technique. Your pin brush needs to have moderately long pins (18-22mm / 5/8"-3/4") and a soft pad and must never have "ball ends" on the individual pins. You want the pin length and pad firmness to work together to allow the pins to "bend over" and relaese the hair if they encounter too much resistance in the form of tangles or extra thick hair. (Overall the lighter the pad colour the softer the pad is. For the most common brush manufacturers black pads are firm, white pads are soft.) Short pins and firm pads won't flex very well and hence will pull out both guard and undercoat, especially the undercoat when tangles or matts are encountered. I have often said that grooming should be a relaxing slower paced activity. Each brush stroke needs to be deliberatly paced rather than frantic and rushed. Also be careful not to "flick" the brush as it exits the coat at the end of each stroke. Ideally you should not hear the brush passing through the coat. If you can hear the coat "rustle" chances are the coat is beng stripped of undercoat. (This sound is distinct from the pin ends rubbing on the skin which in my mind is more of a scraping sound.) Don't be too concerned if it takes a while to develop a good technique. Undercoat actually grows quite fast and you'll get "a second chance" within another 6-8 weeks. If anything it is probably better to take out too much undercoat, hence minimizing the chances of matting than under-brushing and increasing the risk of matting. Hopefully this is of some help. As ever don't hesitate to ask further questions as needed. Thanks and Cheers Carl |
| Thanks so much for the help and advice |
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