How to Groom the Top of a Poodle's Head

Poodles are known for their long, curly hair, which is often shaped into elaborate haircuts. An essential part of most poodle show cuts is the hair on the head, which is cut into a shape known as a topknot. You can shape your poodle's topknot to fit your own style, but it's best to know the basics before you get creative. Here is a simple, basic way to groom and trim the top of a poodle's head.

Things You'll Need

Fine-toothed comb
Straight grooming shears
Curved grooming shears

Instructions

- 1
  Give your poodle a bath before you start so the hair is clean and easy to work with. Depending on your preference, you can blow the hair out straight or leave it curly.
- 2
  Turn one of the dog's ears back so you can see the pink inside. Use the straight grooming shears to cut a horizontal line from the outside corner of the poodle's eye to the front edge of the ear. Turn the ear back down, then extend the same line across the top of the ear.
- 3
  Use your curved grooming shears to extend the line further, from the back of the ear to the middle of the back of the poodle's head. Cut off small snippets, not large sections.
- 4
  Use a fine-toothed comb to smooth the rest of the poodle's head hair over the section you just cut. Next, trim up the side of the hair so that the topknot rises up from the ear at a curved angle.
- 5
  Repeat the same cut on the other side of the poodle's head, checking as you go to make sure that it matches up evenly with the first side. Comb the hair out. Now you can work on the top of the poodle's head.
- 6
  Use the straight scissors to cut the hair on the top of the head to the shape you want. The most basic, common topknot has a rounded appearance, as if there were a globe of hair on top of the poodle's head.
- 7
  Trim the hair in front of the eyes last. The topknot should come out over the eyes in a sort of bang, but it shouldn't be so long that the dog can't see past it easily.