# Straightening Poodle Hair



## jak

If you are using a regular hair dryer, you need to brush the hair as you dry it, with a slicker brush, you need to also make sure there is some heat coming out of the dryer too


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## fjm

I spent ages trying to dry Poppy's hair reasonably straight - her top knot was OK, but the rest of her seemed to fall back into curls within minutes. There is obvioulsy a knack to this!


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## partial2poodles

I think there are several reasons why my dogs at home are straighter than a few of my clients.....I REGULARLY keep them pretty straightened. I don't let humidity, rain and other stuff kink them back to original curliness. If they do get rained on, they get a bath within 24 hours and I RE-straighten it. If I were really lax, their coats would be kinked and would eventually pelt and that is what leads to shave-downs.

Clients who come every 6 weeks are bushy,frizzy and kinky. I have to work a little harder on those legs and topknots but having super duper products and heavy duty dryers, Les Pooch brushes and mat splitters,.....I get them really fluffy and straight BEFORE I attempt to cut the hair. 

I don't know how they are bathed by the owners....probably in the laundry tub and briskly rubbed with a towel (huge no-no ) and then ever so SLOOOOOOWLY dried with a regular hair dryer. The slow air and warm temperatures cause the hair to dry in position...meaning the curly position. 

I begin drying fast and furiously so the kinks have no time to "set". Once they set, you have to RE-WET and start over. A proper blowout immediately blows the water off the ends of the hair shafts, creating mist in the air. Then you go over the dog in smaller sections and work from the roots out toward the ends. A lot of product produces slickness, which retains moisture, buying you a little more time to work toward the goal of straightness. So if you are a slow-poke, use detangling sprays. If you are a purist and like a coarser coat, NO products at all but you have to go very very fast.


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## fjm

Thanks for that - my neighbours have a blaster they use on their gorgeous Newfie, but I fear it would blow my tiny Poppy right across the room! Can you recommend a drying method for toys? She never mats (I keep her short and comb her through daily), but I wonder if the Les Pooch brush and a detangling spray might help? Or could I just mist with water?


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## partial2poodles

Ask your neighbors if you could borrow their blaster for a test drive.
I use the same one for newfies and small yorkies with very thin legs and sparse hair. Bathe, light conditioner, towel, finishing spray on a damp coat and begin blowing. One thing I forgot to mention, if the dog is not secured to a table with a noose and also a strap under their bellies, they WILL run away. They wont blow away, but they will run for the nearest hurricane shelter. If you can overcome the sound, and eventually we all do (even the most nervous dogs) you too will have straight fluffed hair.


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## Aidan

If it helps...

When I was much slower at fluff drying poodles I used to take a really wet towel and wrap the part of the dog I wasn't drying yet..usually just for standards.. but it helped keep the coat wet enough..and also kept the dryer from hitting that part of the dog until I was ready to work on that area.

It helped me get dogs really fluffy when I was much slower at drying. It doesn't take me near the same amount of time as it did then, so practice helps.


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