Delight Your Clients with a Creative Color Belt

Elevate Your Grooming

Delight Your Clients with A Creative Color Belt

by Blake Hernandez

s groomers, we are advocates for the health and comfort of the dogs first. But after those two important factors, we like to establish our own styles either for our salons or for each individual dog.

The following shows the transformation of a Maltese that went from a scruffy shelter dog that a young family saved to a clean and colorful pet ready for his fun and active new home.

Fig. 1) Before the bath I like to trim down the excess coat, but still keep the length slightly longer than my desired end result. This will allow for some wiggle room with the dye job later.

small white dog after grooming session with pink fur and green color belt

Fig. 1) Before the bath I like to trim down the excess coat, but still keep the length slightly longer than my desired end result. This will allow for some wiggle room with the dye job later.

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groomer's hand using comb to create part line in fur

Fig. 2) Using the dog’s tuck-up as a guide, create a part line that goes from one side to the other, both in front of and behind the tuck-up to create a belt-type area of untouched coat.

Fig. 3) The coat needs to be parted cleanly enough to be able to lay down some sort of a barrier to keep your dye from bleeding.

hand holding clippers to trim fur behind part line

Fig. 4) I find that behind the belt area it is best to go a bit shorter, as it keeps the rear end more sanitary.

top view of the white Maltese with two belts of bright green masking tape wrapped around its midsection

the Maltese's separated midsection area is saturated in dark dye and covered with cling wrap

Fig. 5) With some masking tape placed on either side of the belt area, you can now apply whichever dye color you would like.

Fig. 6) Once the area is fully saturated with dye, cover it with cellophane or cling wrap to keep dye from getting somewhere you don’t want it. Once the dye is set, thoroughly wash it out.

I also washed this dog in a color-depositing shampoo to add some more color, and ended up with a cotton candy look!

Fig. 5) With some masking tape placed on either side of the belt area, you can now apply whichever dye color you would like.

Fig. 6) Once the area is fully saturated with dye, cover it with cellophane or cling wrap to keep dye from getting somewhere you don’t want it. Once the dye is set, thoroughly wash it out.

I also washed this dog in a color-depositing shampoo to add some more color, and ended up with a cotton candy look!

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Fig. 7) Once the dog is clean and dry, finish the fundamentals of your groom, like tidying the feet and re-clipping the body for a better finish.

scissors trimming fur around pink dog's face

Fig. 8) Clearly this dog had experienced some abstract grooming skills on his face in the past, so I just used thinners to clean up the length and to try and blend away the sharp scissor marks that were already there.

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hand holding dog's face while scissors carefully trim fur around dog's eye

Fig. 9) The outside corner of the eye being nice and tight will keep the eyes open and clear for the longest amount of time. This will also keep the owners from lopping off hair between the eyes!

the Maltese's green belt is formed using hairspray and a comb

Fig. 10) A comb to sort through the layers and a light coating of hairspray will allow you to form the belt with your hands, and then trim neatly with a curved scissor.

I have been using this cute little creative belt add-on quite a bit lately. I think it adds flare without increasing the dog’s need for grooming or leading to any excessive matting, and the area is simple for owners to access for at-home brushing as well. It is also really easy to do on curly coats or drop coats. Feel free to give this a try with a color palette of your choice!

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