Hand-Stripping

The 4 Stages of Hair Growth

A dog’s hair follicle is made up of a thick guard hair and soft undercoat. The cycle of growth for hard, wiry coats has 4 stages:  

Anagen: Hair grows to the length determined by the dog genetics.

Catagen: The hair stops growing and the outer root sheath attaches to the hair.

Telogen: Hair growth stops but hair does not shed.

Exogen: Hair falls out and new hair grows.

 

​The dog’s coat will grow and only sheds when it reaches the maximum length. Hand-stripping therefore naturally works alongside this cycle to remove the loose hair making room for the new coat to grow. The Resting Phase is when hand-stripping is best carried out as the hair is easier to remove from the follicle at this stage without causing pain to the dog. 

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Hand-stripping is ideal for:

• unneutered wiry coated dogs

• unneutered silky coated dogs

• dogs that have never been clipped

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Please walk your dogs prior to drop off so they have successfully toileted. Appointment slots are approximately 3 hours unless stated otherwise, you will be contacted upon completion.