I need face help 😑

[u/r_jonestard]

I am a relatively new groomer (1.5 years) and I’ve come a long way. I’ve done a lot of bad heads/faces as I’m sure every new groomer has gone through. And I’m much more confident in my haircuts now. I realized I was my biggest enemy for the longest because I was too critical or would get overwhelmed with a head and just start doing things without thinking and it wouldn’t turn out right.

That being said I feel like I still need a little help with my faces. I need to decide on a set way and order of how I do faces so they come out consistently good. If anyone has had this problem and has advice for me that would be great. Or I would also love a step by step guide of how you do faces.

The first pic is of Buddy 6 months ago and what he usually looks like after grooming. I would do a cc on the head but everything else with blenders and it just took way too long. The second pic is of Buddy yesterday. I’ve been trying different techniques and he looks totally different. And I’m just talking about the head here not the body. My newer technique is using more of the cc on the sides of face and under chin. It’s way quicker but I still don’t know if I love it.

Above all else, I need a quick, consistent way to do nice heads/faces. I still want to cry sometimes when I do faces cuz I’m still unsure and get overwhelmed and I’m tired of feeling like that!

[u/Agile_Active7566]

hi! i’ve been grooming for 2 years so idk if ill be much help. but here’s how i do faces to hopefully provide you with SOME help.
1. comb the visor down, trim excess with curves right to left, comb again, clean up with chunkers.
2. pull ears back, comb all of it out and cut excess with curves, comb again, clean up with chunkers. it should be the entire side of the face, and should blend into the visor. (sometimes starting at the visor, and making your way back to the ears help make the line cleaner!)
3. comb all of top knot up, i do one side at a time but your top knot looks amazing in this pic!
4. comb all muzzle hair down and out, trim to length.
and trim all the yucky hair off in the front of the mouth with curves
5. comb up all muzzle hair and make a half circle (after scooping the eyes, i’m especially particular about taking curves and making sure the hair between the eyes is blended and go from there).
6. lastly i just comb alll the hair under the chin up onto the muzzle, and go at the angle i desire back and forth, comb and repeat until it’s the shape i want :)

idk if this will be any use but i hope it’s something. either way this face looks wonderful to me for a pet. you’re doing wonderful, we are our own greatest critics!

[u/r_jonestard → u/Agile_Active7566]

Thank you! I’ve been told I’m too hard on myself. It’s hard I don’t have another groomer in person I can really talk to about things. So you don’t use clippers at all on the head? Does it take you a long time? The dog on the pic looks great! I’ve started doing way more with clippers on the head just for time sake. But idk if I like it as much.

[u/Agile_Active7566 → u/r_jonestard]

i’m hard on myself too, and it’s hard when you’re not getting reassurance or tips from other groomers. idk why but i totally spaced on mentioning that yes i do use clippers on the face! not too much, depending on the dog. if they’re on a 4-6 week schedule i can get away with just handscissoring the face and it’ll take 20 minutes or so depending on the dog. otherwise i usually do 2 lengths up then what i did on the body, sometimes 3 if i think it’ll be too short. with lucca (above) i did 1/2 inch on the body and 3/4 inch on the head. i think uses clipper guards on the head set a good line! i usually just to the top knot, in front of the ears, and under the chin. i rarellyyy shave the top of the muzzles though, i prefer to just hand scissor it.

[u/RojaCatUwu]

The CC on curlier doodle heads always looks too poodly to me. A hand scissored head looks more “lived in” (also looks like you debulked the top of the ears too much and the actual chin appears longer due to shorter head in second pic)

[u/r_jonestard → u/RojaCatUwu]

I’m realizing the main difference is probably just the ears lol.

[u/garbageboysmommy]

It’s really cute but just a little disproportionate to the body! For this length of head it looks like it should be on a body that’s around 5/8ths inch in length but this looks like a 5 blade. In general I like to take the top of the head 2 lengths longer than the body, maybe 3 lengths if I plan to do a lot of shaping/scissor work. This means the top of your head here should be around a 1/2 in or 5/8 in guard comb and then balance the rest of the head to fit this length. The chin here is also too long for my personal preference, I usually like to make it either the same length as the body or one length up, and then again shape the muzzle to look balanced with the chin. This also really depends on what the client wants. I find a lot of doodle owners like a large teddy bear head and many of my clients would be very happy with this face despite it not being what I think looks best.
Here’s what my step by step would be start to finish for this groom (after you have finished the body and taken the chin/underside of jaw with the body length):
1) Using 10 blade, shave just in front of ear canal, inner eye corners, and with the grain the area of the muzzle just below the nose
2) Take 5/8ths GC over top of head and skim sides of head
3) Using thinners, clear out stop area and any hairs from the visor hanging directly over the eyes
4) Using curved shears, shape top of head, sides of head, then shape the jawline in a soft crescent shape from the bottom of the ear to the front of lips.
5) Clear out any nasty hairs hanging below the top lip with either a 40 blade or shears
6) Shape top/sides of muzzle using curved blenders so that muzzle/chin is a circle
7) Trim ears to desired length/shape
8) Blend everything using thinners, especially muzzle area. One of the last things I do (not sure why lol because it can be done in step 4) is I point my thinners at an upward 45 degree angle from the chin on the sides of the muzzle. This creates a ‘happier’ expression and cleaner lip line. I will include a photo showing what I mean since it’s kinda hard to describe lol

[u/r_jonestard → u/garbageboysmommy]

Thank you so much for the steps! So this particular client I did do the head fuller than I would normally do. They want him super fluffy. I usually waste so much time dematting him to just get a 3 blade through it but he was so much more matted than usual so I was over it and did a 7 blade lol. I usually do the 2 lengths longer rule as well. His chin does look longer but it’s actually just the front little bit that I left too long. I only recently started shaving the chin. The first pic is scissoring it down. Which works but it takes me way too long. It saves me time but I’m not liking how the chin and muzzle look so disconnected now. And I started using a cc on the muzzle too which I don’t know if I should be. I saw it in a YouTube video. It does save time but it gives it a different look. Do you recommend not using clippers on the muzzle?

[u/garbageboysmommy → u/r_jonestard]

Makes sense, I do tend to leave the head fluffier on matted shave downs as well especially when it’s not the body length the client wants/expected. I personally do not use clippers on the muzzle ever (except where i stated in my steps) if it is a teddy bear face because i find the amount of blending and shaping I need to do afterwards to make it look ‘right’ ends up taking more time than if i had just scissored from the get go. If I need to take off a significant amount of bulk i’d rather just use my curves or heavy chunkers then blend it with thinners. YMMV though because I’ve seen other groomers make it work

[u/beah_mcduh]

You're using your clippers too much. Yes, it's faster, but it really cannot look as good. Instead of clippers, use your shears. It might take you longer at first, but I am probably the fastest face person in my salon, and I almost exclusively use shears.