helly,can you describe or show a pic of the fu man chu style you do on shis

[rainingcats&dogs]

i saw in another thread you prefer the fu man chu on shi,instead of round heads,i know what a fu man chu mustache looks like,but i do soooo many shis and get tired of doing the same boring thing maybe i can try the fu man chu,can you desbribe or show a pic,please
thanks
trish

[Helly]

I don't have a pic at this point in time, but I'll try to describe how I do it, and hope you can picture it in your mind.

I use the same blade on the top of the head as I did on the body, blending it into the ears. I scissor a visor over the eyes, and use thinners on the tips to soften the look. Then I use a 7 or 10, depending on how short the top of the head is, to go down the cheeks and clip a narrow band under the jaw, leaving the chin hair long. I clip the stop with a 5/8 toe blade. Then I comb the beard and moustache down and trim it so that it's tidy and in balance with the rest of the dog. The ears may be left long, trimmed to about the same level as the beard, or clipped, depending on owner preference.

It's sort of like doing a sweetheart moustache on a poodle, only longer, and no top knot.

[PoodlePal]

I can't visualize what you do. Sometimes I struggle with the Shih Tzu's faces. I, too, would love to see a picture.

[SpikeyTheYorkie]

I can't visualize what you do. Sometimes I struggle with the Shih Tzu's faces. I, too, would love to see a picture.

Poodle pal, I wish I could show you, because it made perfect sense to me. For a regular, plain ol' round shih tzu face (which I really like), I learned it this way:

Imagine the eyes and nose are the CENTER of an imaginary circle. After trimming the "bangs", you want to trim from the chin, up to the side of the ear, just taking some length off (one side at a time). Then you take your greyhound comb, and you comb, say, from the bottom of the chin up the right side of the face, and up to the side of the head. Remember that imaginary circle? Any hair sticking OUT of that circle gets scissored off. Watch the angle of your scissors or they'll take chop marks. After you do this comb-up business a couple of times, JUST taking the edges off each time, then you smooth it out by taking off any hard corners/edges, etc...by using shears or thinning shears. Then do the same thing on the other side.

I showed this technique to my apprentice the other day, who'd never scissored a dog in any way. This dog was soooo messed up by the owner's chop job that nothing she could do could screw it up more so I let her go to town. I left the room, took care of some phone calls to clients, took a finished groom dog out to its owner, etc...I come back in and she's made a PERFECT circle!!!!!!!!!!! Holy moly---either I'm a good teacher, or she's a natural! Dang, I was almost jealous, because it took me AGES to learn that! LOL

Tammy in Utah

[neanea]

Would it be similar to this?

[CountryCanines]

I just got a new client and they already had this pattern set on the head, so I followed it and loved it. I did the mustache w/ a 4 and scissored it up, the cheeks w/ a 7f. (as was the body) It looked so cute. They just get a mild fu-man-chu lol

[Pixie]

I was going to ask the same question when I got on today and it looks like someone else got the job done first.

Wish you had a picture of it Helly, been much easier for me to grasp. I'll make a copy of what you wrote and try my hand with it Monday on Toby. I knew there was a reason I adopted that little dog. LOL He has a really short face right now so it is going to be a very short fu man chu.

[Helly]

Would it be similar to this?

Yes indeed it is. Sometimes I angle the beard into more of a point on the bottom, sometimes trim it straight across, depending on the dog and the expression I'm trying to create. Sometimes it's longer or shorter, depending on what the client wants. But that's it.

I did one today, took pictures, then forgot to bring my camera home. Oh well. Pics coming soon.

[rainingcats&dogs]

thanks helly
im more of a visual person,but if it looks like the the dog nea nea groomed,then i do get the idea,very cut groom by the way(NEANEA)just getting my clients to gop for it,they insist on the round face,but maybe if i showed a pic might change there mind,thank you for all the info you give to us
trish