what is hand stripping
Hand stripping is a grooming process that involves removing dead hairs from the coat by hand instead of clipping.
there are around 7 to 15 hairs in every follicle including a guard hair which helps to protect the dog and keep them waterproof.
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Every breeds DNA tells the dog how long each hair needs to be and this becomes a cycle
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Anagen stage - new hair forming in the base of the follicle.
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Catogen stage - the hair stops growing and follicle shortens
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Telogen stage - the resting stage were the hair sits in the follicle before shedding and the Anagen stage then starts again for pushing the hair up ready to be released.
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A dog's body will grow hair to thickness depending on whether the dog is hot or cold so losing their coat can vary depending on the dog's temperature and the weather.
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However, light is another reason a dog's coat grows more people think it grows longer quicker in the winter because they are cold this is incorrect, and the reason is we put the lights on longer during the winter than the summer and it causes a dogs coat to grow.
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True hand stripping is precisely that – the groomer plucks the outer guard hairs from the coat entirely by hand when the coat is blown. It is common practise however to use tools such as stripping knives and stones to help with the process.
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Stripping the hair out keeps texture to the dog's coat, holds its colour better and also moves sebum from the follicle around the dogs coat. sebum is a natural oil held in a dogs coat keeping the coat shiny and waterproof.
Coat funk - clipping alopecia
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This can happen in double coated breeds, stripping and sleigh dog types.
This is where the coat is clipped, and the hair gets stuck in the follicle and blocks and can no longer grow try to avoid clipping any double coated breeds or border terrier types were possible.
However, alopecia in dogs may not always be due to this and could be signs of other issues such as Thyroid, Allergies, Cushions disease and other health problems, please do not diagnose dogs and send them to a vet we are not vets.
Common Breeds that require hand stripping
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West Highland terrier (westie)
Schnauzer
Boarder Terrier
Patterdale
giant schnauzer
Welsh Terrier
Airedale terrier
parson Terrier
Norwich Terrier
Norfolk Terrier
Show Cocker Spaniel
Scottish Terrier
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Equipment
Hand stripping requires minimal equipment as it is based on stripping with your fingers, however there is equipment that we can use to help us on a silk coat like a cocker spaniel or west highland spaniel you can use finger Doms or a stripping stone.
for a terrier you would use stripping knives.
These can vary from each set but usually you have super fine, fine, medium, course, extra course.
for a coat that is completely blown you would use a medium knife for a coat that is on a rolling coat you would use the course, extra course however it would al depend on the dog that you are doing.
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How to strip
always strip from the ends of the hair and never from the body, always pull the hair in the direction of the hair growth and always check the breed standard trim as even though most of the dogs you do will be pets customers usually like them in a pet breed standard trim.
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The videos below show me stripping a coat and the correct way to do this using finger Doms and using a knife I also show in the video how to card a coat which is about the removal of under coat, the end result is to remove all the dead hair and to get the coat to lay flat. stripping is usually done before the dog is bathed.
