# Grooming help- straightening her hair



## Laurelin (Nov 2, 2006)

My dogs are both cowlick city and I was just wondering for fun if there was a way to really flatten out their hair. Especially Mia, lately she looks like a walking furball. I am jealous of Nard because he has nice papillon hair that just air dries flat and pretty. 

I'm really bad in that generally I let them air dry so maybe If I really combed them and blow dried them it'd work. Is there a product you can use to keep their hair flat?

I miss the days Mia's hair looked like this:










vs this:


DSC_1342 by Summer_Papillon, on Flickr

I know a lot is maturity and being spayed but is there a way to tame it at least some?


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## ireth0 (Feb 11, 2013)

Speaking just from my experience with my own hair (which is naturally slightly wavy) there is a huge difference between when I let it air dry and when I blow-dry it. That's without using any extra products or a special drying/combing style or anything like that.

I don't know if it would work the same for Mia, but it certainly could make a difference.


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## gingerkid (Jul 11, 2012)

ireth0 said:


> Speaking just from my experience with my own hair (which is naturally slightly wavy) there is a huge difference between when I let it air dry and when I blow-dry it. That's without using any extra products or a special drying/combing style or anything like that.
> 
> I don't know if it would work the same for Mia, but it certainly could make a difference.


Second this. There is a huge difference between when we blow dry Snowball to completely dry, even without brushing, vs. blow drying to sick-of-chasing-him-around-the-bathroom dry-ish. His ruff gets all wavy with the latter.


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## pinksand (Dec 11, 2013)

I agree with everyone else. I let Charlie air dry after his last bath and his poodle curl came out more than ever! He has a subtle wave to his fur if I blowdry it. I also put olive oil on him after a bath so his skin doesn't dry out but I didn't distribute it evenly and got a greasy spot right on top of his head so his fur laid flat on top like a really greasy middle school kid with a center part. AWFUL! I've been trying to fix it all week


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## Kathyy (Jun 15, 2008)

She probably has a lot more hair now. Max does. I look back at his young adult pictures and his coat is much thinner. Course I usually took the picture because I had just gotten after his fuzzies but there is no way I can smooth down the curls over his back now. Best I can do is blow it dry from underneath so it stands out straight, it will not lay flat and straight. 

You could try brushing her out every couple minutes while she is drying. That helps a lot with Max, especially with the actual curls under his chin. I let Ginger air dry with just the initial brushing out this week and she has an interesting cow lick now, guess I will be brushing her dry if I want a flat coat on her.


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## Crantastic (Feb 3, 2010)

When I blow-dry Crystal (and brush her as I do), she gets that nice silky look. If I let her air-dry, her fur is much wavier. Of course, the humidity here is so bad that even when I blow-dry her and make her all nice and pretty, she ends up a puffball in a few days, anyway!


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## Boleyn (Aug 25, 2008)

Plush Puppy makes a product called Swishy Coat that I used on my Skye Terrier when he was in full coat. It works fantastic but their products are pricy!


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## elrohwen (Nov 10, 2011)

Most spaniel people clip a towel over the dog after a bath to keep the hair smooth and flat. You can even buy spandex type things that do the same thing and probably stay in place better. Blow drying will add volume so it will straighten, but not necessarily get the sleek look. Plus it's easier and you can do it any time they get wet and need to dry off.


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## GottaLuvMutts (Jun 1, 2009)

Laurelin said:


> I'm really bad in that generally I let them air dry


This is the second time recently that I've seen someone on DF say it's not good to let a dog air dry. For the life of me I can't figure out why. Someone please explain. Even if she's just swimming in a pond (i.e. dirty water, not a bath), Kit is always super-duper soft after she gets wet and dries.


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## elrohwen (Nov 10, 2011)

GottaLuvMutts said:


> This is the second time recently that I've seen someone on DF say it's not good to let a dog air dry. For the life of me I can't figure out why. Someone please explain. Even if she's just swimming in a pond (i.e. dirty water, not a bath), Kit is always super-duper soft after she gets wet and dries.


I show Watson and have been complimented on his coat and grooming, and he always air dries. I'm lucky that he has a naturally straight coat though. With double coated breeds blow drying can get out tons of undercoat and is useful that way, but otherwise it doesn't matter much. I don't think short haired dogs like Kit are generally blow dried.


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## Laurelin (Nov 2, 2006)

Oh I just meant that I haven't even tried at all to get them to look nice, haha. I just let the hair do whatever it wants.

Do you have a link to one of those spandex things? I've noticed when they wear their jackets a lot that helps some to flatten their hair.


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## elrohwen (Nov 10, 2011)

No, unfortunately. I'll have a look online later. Most people I know just take a towel and pin it under the belly and neck, but I could see Watson totally messing that up.


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## elrohwen (Nov 10, 2011)

Ok, so I found groomingcoat.com and http://savannahsue.com/Coats/coats.html so far. I didn't check the sizing for little dogs, but they seem to be custom made so you could maybe order one to fit


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