By Kathy Rose
Poodles are arguably one of the most versatile breeds with regard to trim styles. Many of these styles are adaptations of show trims that retain the “Poodly” look without the high maintenance of a long coat.
One such trim is the “Bikini” Trim, also referred to as the “Miami”, “Clown”, or “Summer Cut”. This trim style is a short all over trim, with pompoms left on the lower legs, tail and topknot.
Fig.1) Shave the Feet using blade length suitable to the dog’s skin sensitivity. Grasp the bottom of the leg while pushing the coat downward toward the toes. Use a #40 blade to trim the excess coat, creating a cuff.
Fig.2) Shave the face and throat using a blade length suitable to the dog’s skin sensitivity. Clip against coat growth direction, creating an inverted “V” at the stop. Trim down the top and sides of the muzzle. Clip under the eyes and from the outside corner of the eye to the ear.
Fig.3) Clip the necklace. The “U” in the necklace should be placed downward from the under jaw, the approximate length of the muzzle or slightly longer.
Fig.4) Stretch the flews (lips) back and then clip against coat growth direction, using caution to avoid cutting the flew bumps.
Fig.5) Clip the tail band in the shape of an inverted “V”. The tail set will determine the placement of the “V”. To help improve a low tail set, place the “V” further up on the croup.
Fig.6) Clip the upper inside of the thigh muscle and the sanitary area.
Fig.7) Use a snap on comb to clip the body and leg coat. Start clipping several inches behind the occiput, creating a “V” shape on the back of the topknot. Follow coat growth direction.
Fig.8) Clip the front legs following coat growth direction down to a little below mid point from the elbow to the foot. Then change direction and clip upward, against coat growth direction, for a short distance to “set” the bracelet pattern. For the rear legs, set the bracelet approximately 1 to 2 inches above the point of hock. To improve the balance of a long bodied dog, create slightly larger bracelets, with the top of the bracelet placed higher on the leg.
Fig.9) Use super blenders to tighten up the shoulder and tidy up stray hairs on the legs.
Fig.10) Tidy the undercarriage following the natural underline of the dog.
Fig.11) Shape the legs by removing excess coat using blenders to form parallel lines.
Fig.12) Create a “bevel” at the “V” on the tail band using blenders.
Fig.13) Comb the bracelet coat downward and then use long curved shears to shape the bottom of the cuff.
Fig.14) Comb the bracelet coat upward and then shape the top of the bracelet.
Fig.15) Comb the bracelet coat outward and shape the bracelet into an elongated ball.
Fig.16) Comb the tail pompom toward the tip of the tail and then scissor the end. The length of the tailbone determines the length of the tail pompom. The longer the bone the shorter the end is trimmed. Shortly docked tails will have more coat length than long tailbones.
Fig.17) Hold the tail up by the tip and comb the coat downward toward the base. Use curved shears to trim the cuff and then scissor into the shape of a ball.
Fig.18) Comb the throat coat over the necklace and trim to create a beveled edge.
Fig.19) Use long straight shears, held at a 45° angle, to trim across the foreface. Holding the shears at an outward angle will help to create a shelf for the topknot and eliminate the “surprise” look.
Trim from the outside eye corner straight back over the ear holding the scissors at a 45° angle. Continue the line over the ear, culminating in a point at the back of the neck. Use long curved shears to shape the coat over the eyes and blend into the topknot.
Blend the sides of the topknot with long curved shears creating a round shape.
The “Bikini” trim is a fast and easy Bread & Butter trim for the client that desires a little bit of style on a low maintenance haircut. The blade length used will depend upon client preference. For this model, a #1 snap on comb was used to leave a short blanket of coat all over with scissored pompoms (bracelets), topknot and tail.