# curly hair growing out question



## kickassmama

Hi guys, Im new to little dog ownership Fidel came to us 1.5 weeks ago, and I have fallen in love. He is 3 yrs old, perfect manners, and wonderful with my children. My question is this: They had neglected him as far as grooming goes, and gave him an at home "butcher" job. Clipped his face short (like a schnoodle) with eyebrows, and took his coat probably 1/4 -1/2 inch close all over. Coat may have been 1" by the time we got him. He still had some pretty thick matts that they missed around his rear, underarms, belly, so i clipped those when he first came home. His coat is fairly curly at the length it is now, but how does a curly coat look/do as it grows? As it gets longer, does it help to pull the curl more wavy? Does a curly coat HAVE to be corded or short? As long as he is brushed and combed daily to scare away matting, he should be okay right? Does it just look curly to me because of the length that it is? Does anyone have pictures of a curly/wavy dog, like a before and after a puppy/short cut to when it grew back out?? Thanks you guys


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## StarrLhasa

Hi, Kickassmama:

My two do not have curly hair, just slightly wavy, but there are a number of curly-haired Havs on the Forum.

Tigers Mama responded to a grooming question about Hairstyles for long-haired furbabies on 5/28/2011 with these comments. I cannot seem to copy and paste the pictures she posted, so you might want to look for her post

"Tiger's coat is so tight curled. I have tried to let his hair grow out but the longer it gets the more it stands out. His hair on his head would never get long enough to part or a put a top not in. His coat is more like a Bichon's coat. We now have the groomer just cut him like a Bichon since it is so much easier to comb. My son calls Tiger a Qtip, especially after he groomed...."

Let me be the first to welcome you to the forum. You might want to start a new thread to introduce your new furbaby in the General Discussion section. Please post photos and/or videos if you can. There is help on the site with re-sizing, if you need that.


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## davetgabby

Welcome Kickass. Love the handle.


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## kickassmama

thanks for the welcome. do i post pics to my thread on general discussions, or do i post them to a profile?


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## LeighaMason

Sugarbaby has curly hair but its different in places. It is kinky on her back, here is a picture of what she looks like before I comb her in the mornings.








This is her wavy hair on her chest. 








And here is how she looks when she has been in the wet grass. 








I brush her every morning being extra careful to get behind her ears and in her arm pits. She has only had one mat so far and that was after she was spayed and had on a onesie for a couple of days. However, I may be over optimistic about how well this is going to work because she is just 7 months old and hasn't blown coat yet! But so far it has been no problem at all.

BTW, I also bathe her once a week, she has less tangles when she is clean.


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## krandall

LeighaMason said:


> Sugarbaby has curly hair but its different in places. It is kinky on her back, here is a picture of what she looks like before I comb her in the mornings.
> 
> I brush her every morning being extra careful to get behind her ears and in her arm pits. She has only had one mat so far and that was after she was spayed and had on a onesie for a couple of days. However, I may be over optimistic about how well this is going to work because she is just 7 months old and hasn't blown coat yet! But so far it has been no problem at all.
> 
> BTW, I also bathe her once a week, she has less tangles when she is clean.


you are doing everything right, but you haven't hit the hard part yet. You may have to up the comb outs to at leafs twice a day for a while, but if you are committed, you'll get Through it!:biggrin1:


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## Kathie

I hope some members with curly-haired havs will respond. From what I've heard it seems that most keep there dogs cut fairly short since it does tend to just stand out and look a little wooly-bully!!! You could try blowing dry while you're brushing after a bath - that does straighten it out but if it is very curly it will probably just curl back up. It's worth a try, though.


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## TilliesMom

I think Tillie is of the more curly variety, the pics of sugarbaby's hair look exactly like Tillie's coat. it IS very wavy and curly... I THOUGHT I could keep up with blowing coat but after 4-5 days of spending 3 hrs a DAY on grooming only to turn around and find yet ANOTHER mat, I gave up and had her shaved down. that was in March and I have been letting her grow out, but am not real sure how long she will get because at nearly 2 inches long her hair is starting to mat frequently again... sigh... maybe IF the curly hair gets long enough it will wiegh it down and seem less curly??


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## Tom King

If that's a Sable puppy coat, the adult coat will be much curlier, by our experience. Our Fifth had a wonderful silky puppy coat, but her adult coat came in almost like a poodle. We kept her to run on for our breeding program before VetGen developed a test for the curly gene. We had her tested before she turned two, and found that she had two copies of curly. We would not breed one before two anyway, so we had her spayed, and found a great pet home for her that already had another one of our puppies.

We found that even having one copy of curly was an influence on curliness of the coat, and have selected it out of our line.

You can see Fifth's puppy coat on the link to her page on our Retired Dogs page.

There are plenty of curly dogs in the Havanese ring, but you may have a hard time telling, since it can be blow dried and brushed out. They are the bushy coated ones typically.

You really do have to stay ahead of it getting matted. The family who got Fifth brushes her every day. We always kept her adult coat in a short puppy cut siince there is no way we can brush all of our dogs every day. Typically, they get groomed once every three or four weeks, and that just wasn't going to work with curly.


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## Missy

Jasper is pretty curly, Cash is more frizzy-- and I have never been able to really grow them out but that is more do to my time thank their coat. the longer they get...the less curly they look...but they are pretty poofy... but I have never got beyond 4 inches I think if I did it would start to lie flatter like their tails and ears. It doesn't hurt to try...you'll see what you can handle and if you like how Fidel looks. not sure which came first the reality or the preference...but I do actually prefer my boys in a puppy cut...but then I see a hav in person in full coat and I want that too.


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## krandall

Missy said:


> Jasper is pretty curly, Cash is more frizzy-- and I have never been able to really grow them out but that is more do to my time thank their coat. the longer they get...the less curly they look...but they are pretty poofy... but I have never got beyond 4 inches I think if I did it would start to lie flatter like their tails and ears. It doesn't hurt to try...you'll see what you can handle and if you like how Fidel looks. not sure which came first the reality or the preference...but I do actually prefer my boys in a puppy cut...but then I see a hav in person in full coat and I want that too.


Maybe just because I've never seen your guys in anything but a puppy cut, I think they look perfect that way. OTOH, I can't imagine Kodi in a puppy cut.


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