Fall is here and we all want to be stylish while still keeping an easy to maintain coat, so why not add a touch of color to the head piece on your pup? It can be just the right amount of fun without being overdone and in any color, or combination of colors, to suit the family of Fido.
It is important to block the hair you do not want colored and keep it separated from the part you will be working on. I am going to show you an easy, inexpensive and quick way to get this done.
I began with a fairly clean, brushed out Bichon (he had been bathed a couple days before) and sectioned off the hair on his head that I planned to dye. I did this by wrapping a strip of masking tape in a circle all the way around his head and did a second one about an inch back, leaving the hair to be colored sticking out (Fig. 1). This will guide you where to place the color product and hold the surrounding hair in place and out of the way. Masking tape will not pull the hair when you remove it and my dogs always seem very comfortable with the use of it.
Next, I used a piece of foil and taped it to the first tape line at the front of his head, sort of creating a visor (Fig. 2). This blocked the front of his headpiece so that it will remain white when finished.
Now you will want to begin your color. I started by brushing all the exposed hair forward over the foil, towards the front, and then applied color with a tint brush from the second tape line towards the first. The hair should be lying on the foil and not touching the protected hair on his face (Fig. 3).
Add another piece of foil to the back tape line, then use a rat tail comb or the pointy end of the tint brush to separate a layer of hair pulling it towards the back (Fig. 4). This will allow you to fully color the hair on the top of the head without coloring the hair on the back of the neck.
With this done, and all the hair lying in one direction, fold the foil to create a protective headband while the color product is staining the hair (Fig 5).
I wanted to have a multi colored head piece, so next I moved to the ears and placed paper towel under them. I began brushing the next color from the bottom of the ear up in layers, so that the hair would be saturated evenly (Fig. 6).
You could modify this in any combination of colors you like, but always remember that you want to choose colors that will complement each other. After I finished coloring the ear hair, I added some dilution cream to make the dye a lighter shade. I used that to paint the hair between his ears, just behind the foil headband. It was pretty lavender when it was rinsed and dried.
To protect his neck during this process, I tied a bandanna around his neck which he did not mind a bit. After about a 30 minute nap (The dog, not me!), I rinsed the dog then bathed and dried him as normal. I trimmed his head and muzzle area much shorter than the top of his head and ears to create his cute stuffed animal look. This framed his face and ears, leaving his ears and the top about two inches longer than the area above his eyes. Make the sides of his face shorter too so that the ears also have more depth. This will make the design on his head really pop!
Everyone at the salon said he looked like he was wearing ear muffs or headphones. For Halloween you might want to try this with orange and black – that would be an awesome combination and would be more of a treat than a trick!
Making the World more Colorful, one dog at a time…
