# How do you fluff up the tail for pom-pom?



## Vita (Sep 23, 2017)

I cut off all of Bella's fur except on her ears and tail three months ago; it had become unmanageable and tangled within hours of combing them out.

At 10 months now, her hair has grown back beautifully. Lovely, soft, silky, loose curls that are tangle-free after bath and air-drying. Not as straight as many prefer, but I love it at this length and the look.

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However her tail hair, which I _didn't_ clip, still has a feathery, kind of stringy quality, but it doesn't tangle. She went thru a puppy phase a few months ago when she'd chase her tail and grab it, which I guess took out a little fur, but I haven't seen her do that in a long time. 

As you see, no pom-pom whatsoever. Is there some kind of holding spray to stiffen the fur or some product to give her an Afro pom-pom on her tail?

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## Mysticrealm (Jan 31, 2016)

Mostly it's because she doesn't have great hair. Poodle hair should not be soft silky or loose curls and her tail got the worst of it. Especially just letting it air dry it's not going to ever be fluffy.
If it was stretch dried, and if you truly desire with some mousse put in, you'd see what you actually had to work with.
You could also use shampoos to try to crisp up her coat which would help it to stand up a little, but again, not with air drying.


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## Click-N-Treat (Nov 9, 2015)

She still has some stringy puppy hair on her tail. That will turn into a nice pompom later when her adult hair comes in. Sometimes, you just have to be patient and wait. I'd get a clipper and take the tail hair off the same length as her body, since it's so many different lengths right now. In about eh, two months, start shaving only the bottom portion with a 10 blade. She has a short tail, so only shave a quarter of it with a 10 blade to make room for a pompom.

There's an easy way to make a pompom on the tail and hard way. The easy way is to use a clipper with a metal comb and go all the way around the tail. The hard way is to hand scissor. To learn to hand scissor your poodle's tail, assume you are going to use a clipper blade and practice, then shave off your mistakes.


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## Countryboy (May 16, 2011)

To recover Tonka's 'fluff', I use a Mat Rake. Separate the hairs, and it all fluffs back up. 

I never comb or brush him... the Mat Rake works just fine.


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## Viking Queen (Nov 12, 2014)

Her coat change is likely not complete yet, leaving her with some puppy coat still. Poppy started her coat change at about eight months and finished the bulk of it about fourteen months. Parts of her body still were not very curly, however her coat is extremely dense. 

Then at about twenty months Poppy began getting extremely tight curls around her shoulders and hips, gradually covering her torso. She also began getting more white hair in her black......I suspect she will be blue eventually.

You may still have more coat change to come.

An excellent crisping shampoo, as was suggested by Mysticrealm, is one which I have used on my girls form many years. It is Natures Specialties Almond Crisp. Just order a little sample sized bottle on Amazon to see if it helps add body to her coat. For a little bitty person, like Bella, the small bottle, which you dilute heavily, will last a long time.

She is beautiful and has such a pretty face. Do not dispair over her tail issue as it may still resolve in time. Poppy is now nearly two and a half and her coat continues to change.


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## lily cd re (Jul 23, 2012)

First, I think you need to remember that poodles have hair coats, not fur coats. They don't shed like other dogs and combing/brushing needs to be handled in that context. 



I agree with Mysticrealm about the quality of her coat not being great. Lily has a not great coat and would tend to have loose curls if air dried. For what it is worth she has a black sire and white dam (and some people think white coats tend to not be as good as blacks). Her tail tends to want to go towards dreads more than a nicely fluffable pom. I either keep it short or let it go towards its dreads (without mats of course though). At ten months old you should be starting to see the adult coat, especially since you clipped her short and what is filling in is likely to be more adult quality. That coat texture that Bella seems to have now is what Javelin's was like as a pup. His adult coat is very tightly curled (both of his parents are black). His tail is a very plush fluff.


She is cute no matter what.


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## twyla (Apr 28, 2010)

My Pia, who is 3 1/2 years old has soft silky puppy type hair, so I trim and flag her tail. Basically trim it all the hair on her one length to "Flag" it.


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## zooeysmom (Jan 3, 2014)

I think I agree with Twyla to trim it to one length to make it look better. Maybe there's still time for her coat to crisp up, maybe not? 

I love the new profile pic of her, Vita! She has a beautiful face


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## Vita (Sep 23, 2017)

Thank you everyone. I'll trim it back some from where she used to chew on it while chasing it, and see if it grows back evenly, then wait and see if she has a coat change. She's such a little girl in my eyes, I love her so much.

Viking Queen - I just ordered the Nature's Specialties Almond Crisp Pet Shampoo, Trial Size, and the Nature's Specialties Hair Raiser Texturing Spray, 4-Ounce. I'll post a pic after I get and try the products.

Twyla - Leonard and Pia have such pretty fluffy tails.


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## Skylar (Jul 29, 2016)

Vita, Bella has such a cute face with incredibly expressive eyes.

I don't know if this is her adult tail hair or still partly or wholly puppy hair - but I would just trim those longer hairs off, making it approximately the length of the rest of her coat. Time will tell if she has the texture for a pompom or not.

Where I live, and I think in many places, the trend is not for a pompom but what I've heard people call a "bottle tail" - there is a narrow band that is trimmed close near the back for sanitary reasons, then the rest of the tail hair is longer and shaped like a tube. not a pompom. After a few months you'll be able to judge if you can grow the tail into a pompom. The bottle tail is modern and maybe more forgiving if the coat isn't as wiry.


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## twyla (Apr 28, 2010)

Vita said:


> Twyla - Leonard and Pia have such pretty fluffy tails.


Thanks Vita, Leonard has a properly docked long tail so easy to groom, Pia however does not, she has a nubby tail and has two or more inches of fluff it took me a while and some experimenting to make it look nice.


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## Raven's Mom (Mar 18, 2014)

*Vita* my Raven has a sparse flimsy tail even now at 4. I wrote to this group about the same thing when she was younger and got the consensus that by her age it is what it is. I have to mousse it when grooming to make it fluff enough to scissors evenly but in no time it's hanging again and not a true poof. The rest of her body is very tightly curled with a harsher texture but the tail is just not ideal. I have come to terms with it at this point. I do find keeping it trimmed a little shorter helps not to weigh it down too much.


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## Vita (Sep 23, 2017)

I trimmed the hair at the lower end of her tail and took off a little off the side and top. Bella is a child, now chasing and nibbling on it (the hair) again like it's a new toy! Thank God I have a sense of humor about it.

Amazon is supposed to deliver the fritzy products tomorrow. Boy do I look forward to that.


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