How to Do a Palm Springs on a Poodle

The Palm Springs haircut, also commonly called the Bikini cut, is a common clip for poodles, especially those who live in warmer climates. This style involves shaving most of your poodle's body and leaving some palm-shaped poms on the head, tail, and right above the feet. This stylish look is a popular choice for show poodles as well as pets.

Method 1

Method 1 of 4:

Getting Ready for the Cut

1
Prepare the area. Grooming your poodle can create quite a mess, even if you are relatively careful during the process. You'll want to bathe and groom your poodle somewhere that is easy to clean up – like the bathroom, in the garage, or outside (weather permitting).
- Choose an area that works for you and get it ready with the towels, hair dryer, clippers, scissors, and anything else you may need.
2
Brush your poodle. Brush and comb your dog's coat out to where there are no mats. Washing a matted poodle is much harder to do. Use a dog brush to gently comb out your poodle's hair and work on getting out all of the matted tangles.
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How.com.vn English: Do a Palm Springs on a Poodle Step 2

1
- You should brush your poodle regularly (at least once a week) to keep its hair from getting matted between baths.
2
Bathe your poodle. Give your dog a bath in the bathtub. Be sure to use a nonslip surface in the bathtub, like a bath mat, to help your dog avoid slipping in the tub. Use shampoo made for dogs and gently lather and rinse it all throughout your poodle's coat.^{[1]XResearch source}
- Never use human shampoo on a dog. You need to buy shampoo that is specially formulated for canines.
- To help your poodle's coat remain extra soft, you may want to consider using conditioner on your poodle after shampooing. Simply apply and rinse the conditioner in the same way you use the shampoo.
3
Dry your poodle's hair. Squeeze out some of the excess water with your hands and then use a clean towel to towel dry the rest of the excess water. You can also let your poodle shake to get rid of some of the extra moisture. After this, use a hair blow dryer on the lowest setting to dry your poodle's hair the rest of the way.^{[2]XResearch source}
- A high velocity dryer is preferred for poodles.
- Letting your poodle air dry is another possible option, but this will lead to curly ringlets rather than smooth, fluffy hair. To get the fluffy look, you must blow dry your poodle's hair.
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Method 2

Method 2 of 4:

Shaving Your Poodle

1
Lay out the plan for the grooming pattern. Look at some pictures of this particular cut and familiarize yourself with the pattern. Start shaving the most important areas. Begin shaving the whole body at the hind end and work your way up to the front of the dog. Shave the chest and up under the dog and the belly.^{[3]XResearch source}
- Make sure to shave down the legs all the way down the hocks to the joint were the foot bends, and then stop shaving. You need to leave this hair to shape later.
2
Shave the poodle's back. Use a dog clipper with a ten blade to do this haircut. To start this haircut, start at the back of the neck and shave down the back to the base of the tail. Move the clippers in a slow motion in the direction that the hair grows.^{[4]XResearch source}
- If the hair seems too thick, you can use a comb and scissors to clip the hair shorter so you can go back over it with the clippers. Simply comb out the hair and use the scissors to cut the hair above the line of the comb.
- Shave a 1 inch (2.5 cm) ring around the tail and leave a ball of hair at the end to shape later.
3
Shave your poodle's face. To do the face, shave down the nose, go down the muzzle to the nose, and under the jaw. Next, go back up under the eye to the corner of the eye. From there, go straight to the outer ear and shave it clean.
- Make sure the lips are shaved clean. There should be no little stray hairs remaining.
- Be very cautious when shaving your poodle's face. Move the clippers very slowly and be careful not to touch them to your dog's eyes or push too hard and irritate the sensitive skin on your dog's face.
4
Start to clip the hair on the feet. Take the paw and hold it in your hand and shave it clean, including the under pad, until you clip up to the big joint on the foot. By this time the legs will have shaggy hair, and the body will have short, shaved hair.
- Be careful not to nick the webbing between the toes as this is very delicate skin.
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Method 3

Method 3 of 4:

Shaping the Palm-Shaped Poms

1
Work on the top knot. To shape the top knot (the hair on the head), comb the hair down over the eyes and take your curved scissor and cut the hair until you see the eyes. Then from the corner of the eye to outer ear cut the hanging hair off and blend it into the top of the ear. Shape the hair to round it off and blend it into the back of the neck.^{[5]XResearch source}
- Use the rounded scissors to shape the top pom into the desired height, length, and overall look.
- This style is difficult to achieve, even for professional groomers. It may take time to learn, so don't get discouraged if it doesn't look right at first.
2
Shape the foot poms. Each foot will have hair on its top at the big joint were the dog would bend its foot. Shave the hair off the foot to where the foot is clean.^{[6]XResearch source}
- To start the poms, you want to comb the hair down and make your first cut at the top of the shaved foot. Use your curved scissors and cut the pom from the front to the back so the hair doesn't lay on the ground. Do the same on the top of the pom. Repeat for each foot.
- Now you should have four round balls of hair just above your dog's paws. On a standard poodle, the poms should be the size of a grapefruit. The pom would be smaller depending on the dog.
3
Finish grooming the tail. For the Palm Springs cut, the poodle's tail should have a pom on it, though its size can vary. Use the clippers to shave up from the base of the tail where you already shaved. The pom should get bigger at the tip of the tail and be shaved closer toward the base.
- Be sure to use the clippers to taper the hair so that the pom gets slightly larger at the end of the tail.
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Method 4

Method 4 of 4:

Managing Any Challenges

1
Avoid nicking sensitive areas. Just like humans, dogs have certain areas that are more delicate and sensitive than others. When grooming your poodle, be extra careful around these specific areas to avoid hurting the dog and making it bleed.^{[7]XResearch source}
- These sensitive spots include the eyes, nipples, lips, ears, feet, and groin.
2
Keep an eye on the clipper blade. Clipper blades can heat up fairly quickly while being used. If you aren't careful, it's possible that you could burn your poodle's skin with the metal blades. While using the clippers, pause every couple of minutes to turn the clippers off so you can safely check the temperature of the blades. If it feels hot to the touch, you should wait a few minutes until the blades cool down before continuing.^{[8]XResearch source}
- Don't try to feel the blades while the clippers are in use as this could cause you to cut yourself.
- You can find commercial products for cooling, lubricating, and cleaning clippers.
3
Monitor your dog's demeanor. You don't want your dog to be scared or nervous during the grooming process, so make sure you talk to the dog and pet it to keep the dog calm while you're grooming it. Always use strong positive reinforcement like praise and small treats while grooming your dog. Watch for signs of nervousness like whimpering, jerking away, darting eyes, and crouching down. If your dog does any of these things, take a moment to comfort it and reassure the dog nothing bad will happen.
- Create a stress-free environment while you groom the dog. You want your dog to view it as a pleasant experience that comes with lots of pets, attention, and treats.
- If your dog is squirming too much, you may want to help it expel some energy before you begin grooming. Take your dog for a walk or run around with it in the backyard.
- To make sure your dog is as comfortable as possible during the grooming experience, be sure to let it outside to go to the bathroom before you start. Grooming can take a while and you don't want your dog to be uncomfortable because it needs to go outside.
4
Allow for errors. If you make a mistake while grooming, try to even it out on the other side. For example, if you cut the hair shorter than you intended to on one pom, try to even it out on the other side if there is a corresponding one. If you make a mistake in a more noticeable place, like the top knot, just go with the flow and let your dog's top knot be a bit smaller this time. It will grow back out soon and you'll be able to fix it.
- If you can't even it out, then just get it as close as possible and give the hair some time to grow back out. No matter how big the mistake may seem to you, don't stress about it because it'll just be a week or two before the hair will be long enough again to fix the problem.
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Tips

If your dog isn't used to grooming, start small so that it has time to acclimate to the process. Do one grooming task each day, giving your dog lots of praise and treats. As your dog becomes more comfortable, increase the amount of grooming that you do at one time until your dog is able to sit for the entire grooming process at once.
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Make sure your dog is brushed out and combed in order to get a better finish.
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One thing you never do is cut a poodle's ears unless you are asked to do so. Most poodle owners do not like the hair to be cut on the ears.
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