Just Got Thinning Shears, Now How To Do It?

[Camilla and Darwin]

I just purchased thinning shears, now I'm wondering what to do with them. I apologize if this question has already been asked, but I have searched the internet and nobody seems to answer exactly what I'm wondering. 

 

Can you use thinning shears alone to trim your dogs coat? Say, from 4" down to 2"? Or do you have to use regular scissors, then blend with thinning shears? Do you only use thinning shears on the face or all over the body? 

 

When you are cutting your dog, how do you section the hair? Do you just grab clumps and trim to desired length, or is there some kind of dividing method I'm unaware of? HELP would be appreciated. :-)

[Nancie & Gracie Doodle]

Hi Camilla...I am not sure about using them alone to trim your Doodle.  I use mine around the face, ears and any place where I want to remove bulk.  One thing you do NOT want to do is to cut across the hair.  That will leave a funny line.  Always use them cutting down the side of the hair.  They also are great to use to blend in a divot in the hair.  As Gracie's shaved leg where there had been an IV grew out, I would start to blend it in so it wasn't so noticeable.  The shears are really great for blending in mistakes you make while grooming or if you had to cut a giant mat out you can sort of blend the area.  Also, advice from my hairdresser...she says only one snip, comb out, snip comb out.  Do not snip, snip, snip and then comb.  Depending on how many teeth you have on your shears will also determine how much hair is removed per snip.  I also think if you go to YouTube and start looking around in the grooming videos you will find one.  I sort of remember seeing one.  You just have to come up with the right combination of words to find it.  I believe they were doing it on a Poodle but that doesn't matter.  Good Luck!

[Sue, Murphy and Bella ()*o*()]

Camilla, I use the thinning shears mostly around the face and eyes where I don't want a blunt chopped look. I will use them to thin out their snout area without taking any length off, just to do exactly what they are meant to do, thin hair. You can trim around the face with them and it will give you a nice blended feathery kind of look. As for the whole body. That would be VERY time consuming as it takes several repetitions of the shears to fully take  enough hair off to cut it down to 2 inches.

I will use the thinning shears to blend areas that I may have gotten to blunt a look or a ledge after cutting with the shears, but that would be the most you would use them on the body.

As for sectioning. I comb up a section, and whatever comes up in the comb, I place my pointer and middle finger underneath the comb as I am holding the hair up between my fingers with one hand, remove the comb and cut the desired length. and then move along to the next little section nearby and try to be as consistant with the length as I move around. You can do a scissor over comb technique as well and just use the comb to hold and measure the hair and cut right againt the top of the comb. I find this very slow as well tho but it might give you some idea of how the cut while you are holding the hair evenly. I don't recomment grabbing clumps or poor darwin will look like he was run over by a lawn mower, or worse.

 

[F, Calla & Luca]

I think it would be impossible to do a whole dog and reduce the length as you suggest. I don't use thinning shears on Luca at all. But Calla really needs them around her face or she looks choppy. Thinning shears really make the cut look wispier and not as blunt. But the real cutting you have to do with regular shears. Try the thinning shears. You'll see. Just be careful getting the hairs out of the teeth. It's very easy to cut your fingers.

[Camilla and Darwin]

So when you scissor cut your dogs, how do you get them to look so good? I have cut Darwin with scissors and every single cut looks very blunt. I would have to fix all over his entire body with the blending shears to get it to look right. Is that what you do? Or do you have some kind of method when you trim your dogs, with regular shears?

[F, Calla & Luca]

Thanks for saying they look good. I just hold up bunches of hair with my  left fingers and cut with my right. I try to eventually get all of the cuts even. Luca is easy because of his wave. I try to get most of it in one session but I'm beginning to realize this is too much with Calla so I do parts over a few days. Then I chase them around for a few more days when I see patches I missed: ) I never use the thinning shears on the body. I think it would be very time consuming although I see others here are saying that's not so. My thinning shears have about 40 teeth and they cut very little hair on one go. Mainly just Calla's face. The rest of their coats eventually just blend in on their own. Here's Calla without thinning shears, see how choppy

And with

[Camilla and Darwin]

Thanks F, I think I'm going to do this soon, and I will update when I do.

[F, Calla & Luca]

Good : )

[Kathy, Harley & Roxie]

Camilla, I"m so glad to see this post.  Trying to figure this one out myself. Do you mind if I ask, which thinning shears you got.  I purchase some at petco and they feel like I'm chopping the hair, maybe that is what they should feel like.   @Nancy, when you say "cut down the side of the hair" do you mean the angle the hair grows and at a slight angle?

[Camilla and Darwin]

They are 40 dollar thinning shears for humans, from sally beauty supply...

[J and Riley (and Luna)]

Instead of a blunt cut in a single stroke it takes several cuts to get all the hairs, so I don't think you'd have much luck using it over the whole body - it would take forever!  From my understanding they are best used for smaller patches and for thinning.

 

I use them on Luna's incredibly fluffy bum - and I use them regularly (every few weeks) now that I have it short to maintain it.

[Kathy Hoppe]

I didn't think using a thinning/blending scissors to cut down a doddle was possible either. Until I talked with my groomer and she told me what she uses.https://www.petedge.com/product/Grooming/Clippers-Blades/Oster-Shea...

She swears by these thinners and how they cut down on her grooming time in 1/2... So I purchased one and got one free. Now I see their not on sale. I've use mine for 2 groomings and for sure they cut down allot on my time. After her bath and blow dry I thin/blend her whole body, legs included and then go over her with a regular scissors to tighten everything up. I can take off any lenth of hair I want. I feel like I also have more control with these thinners. If I goof up it's not a big deal to go back and correct it.  I also have the Ausie blending/thinning ones but those I use only for her face (just by her eyes)... Kathy & Lauscha

 

Here are more of the details on this blender scissors.

Can be used as both a scissor, and as the perfect finishing tool to soften the coat. Covered by a lifetime warranty against manufacturing defects.

[J and Riley (and Luna)]

Those look a lot like mine (but mine are a cheaper version, not as much play with the toothed part) - I guess it depends on how you set them.  If you set them with a lot of overlap, they probably work just like scissors.  I have mine set so they barely overlap so they are definitely more for thinning the way they are now.

 

I think they're these ones ($15)

Top Paw Thinning Scissors