Blending shears making a coat curly?

[tia2370]

When I first started grooming last year, one of my co-workers saw me handscissoring a Yorkie with a pair of blending shears. She told me she NEVER uses blending shears to handscissor a dog because she was told at a grooming expo in Chicago that it could cause a curly coat. She said she had a Yorkie she used to handscissor with blending shears turn curly after a while and she was convinced that it was the shears that did it.

I've tried researching this and I cannot find any information stating that blending or thinning shears might make a coat curly. I suppose if you grip the hair and pull it with the blending or thinning shears, it might act like ribbon and curl. I haven't notice any of my handscissor coats becoming curly, but I thought I'd ask the experts about this and settle it. CAN blenders or thinners make a coat curly with normal use?

Thanks in advance!

[Particentral]

Ummmm that would be news to me and my MANY scissored and thinned yorkies, maltese, shihtus, cockers.....and if it WERE true we would have a MILLION curly coated Wheatens, as that is what show wheatens are thinned with. I would be interested in who said that at the show.

[OntheBRINKofDisaster]

Same here, I use thinners and blenders on everybody. Now, if she were bulk thinning sometimes the hair that grows back in can stick up depending on how much/where it was cut, but it won't grow in curly. Did a vendor or speaker say that? Not true.

[nuk]

yeah all my yorkies and schs would have curly skirts and all my shihs would have curly heads! And I do pull on the hair a little bit as I blend, kind of using the thinners as a comb while I cut.

[tia2370]

She very conveniently cannot remember who said it. It was the only expo she had gone to and it has been a few years. She also came back waving "super fancy" thinning shears, which she insists on calling blenders. She claims they are very hard to find because so few shear makers make "blending" shears. I got some from Roseline last month. Ticked her off. I wouldn't be surprised if she was blowing smoke about the shears making coats curly.

I figured there's so much information here and so many experienced groomers that I could set this one to rest once and for all.

[Poodleluv]

Yup! Put it to rest, and go on your own journey! The only thing that makes a coat go curly is not drying it properly in my experience LOL I sometimes use 2 or 3 different thinners,and a chunker shear as well on my yorkie grooms, no worries.

[Doubledogdare]

Curly hair is genetic, not the result of the scissors used to cut it.

I should know - I have naturally curly hair, courtesy of my old man.

[tia2370]

I'm glad to hear it doesn't make the coat curly. I LOVE to leave longer coats on Yorkies and I prefer to use my blenders to scissor them. I also have quite a few clients who like their dogs left longer and I depend on my blenders and thinners for them as well.

Just a thought, perhaps she was jealous and made it up? I've developed quite a following of clients that favor me because I am willing to do longer clips instead of shavedowns all the time. Maybe she was trying to slow me down and make it so I'd have to learn a new way to finish the longer do's?

[mylady]

Blending shears are what most of us actually call thinning shears. In reality, they are blenders. The skip teeth on one side and solid teeth on the other. True thinning shears have the skipped teeth on both sides. Hope that clears it up a bit.

[tia2370]

I've been trying to correct her for a while. I understand that blending shears have teeth on one side and a blade on the other. Of course, I know nothing since I'm a new groomer and she's been grooming for 4 years. I'm sure I'm supposed to be impressed. I'll keep calling them their correct name and let her do her own thing.

[Poodlestar]

one more grooming myth

hehe. We'll add that one to the groomer myth library.

[Poodleluv]

Blending shears are what most of us actually call thinning shears. In reality, they are blenders. The skip teeth on one side and solid teeth on the other. True thinning shears have the skipped teeth on both sides. Hope that clears it up a bit.

Well now I learned something new too! Maybe someone can tell me if the correct term for "chunkers" is Motion scissors or chunkers?

[Arrooh]

I've read this here too

Blending shears are what most of us actually call thinning shears. In reality, they are blenders. The skip teeth on one side and solid teeth on the other. True thinning shears have the skipped teeth on both sides. Hope that clears it up a bit.

but a well known guru in the subject said it like I think it. They all thin out coat so they all can be called thinning shears. I liked that idea a lot. Imagine telling a client I'm going to use blending shears. Huh? they'd say. Besides it's easier and how many people even use what is noted as real thinning shears per that "rule". I'm going to go along with her thinking and say thinners and not sweat the small stuff.

[mylady]

Yes, even the catalogues label them "thinning shears" when they are actually blending shears. I think it has simply become an accepted label.

Perhaps whoever she listened to was talking about coats that had a natural curl to them and that thinning them out and taking the weight that helped the coat stay straighter would then make some of the coat curl? I have a Yorkie that grown out she has a wave to her coat, but when i cut her shorter it was a more pronounced curl. I think it had nothing to do with what tool I used, simply how her coat was naturally. that is the only thing I can think of that makes any sense.

[tia2370]

Mylady, that does make a lot of sense. The weight of the hair pulls the hair down and keeps it from curling as much. I've noticed that in human hair as well.

I have another question maybe you guys could set to rest as well. For poodle clean feet, I've heard you shave to the first knuckle. It seems like the people in my salon are shaving them higher than that. I'm hesitant to go feeling around on their dogs' feet to check how it's set. Does anyone have any clear, crisp, close pictures they could post that show the CORRECT way a poodle foot should look?