No Buts About It! Comparing Skin Product Application Methods for Smoother Chinese Crested Dog
The Chinese Crested was thought to be originated in Mexico and the shipping trade brought them to China. This is where the main attribute of the breed was sought after-an absence of body hair, or fur. They were a bonus to sailors as with a lack of hair you could see fleas and keep the spread of the bubonic plague at bay.
Some stray hairs are common as genetically a dog that has natural hair growth on strategic points of its body: the head, ears, neck, feet and tail, will reflect the abundance with more body hair. In competition, the dogs that display a genetic tendency for fuller hair in the mane and tail and big “pom poms” on its feet are flashier and rewarded in wins more, as its more attractive and Presentation is one of the 7 criteria a judge uses. The hairier dogs win more often and are therefore used to breed to produce a more competitive dog; with this comes more body hair and the need to remove it to the smooth, unmarred skin of the true hairless of which the Standard was set on.
When grooming before a show for presentation, we at Sakkarra Afghan Hound and Chinese Cresteds think Nair Men Speed Cream Hair Removal for Men is the best product on the market for this use as it works fast, leaves no chemical burns, and usually works in one application.
Shave the Wheals
One older way to achieve a smooth finish on your dog was a basic “wet shave,” the razor and shaving cream combination that most people associate with shaving body or leg hair. This method is not always conducive for a small dog as the fixed position of the razor’s straight edge does not fit well into nooks and crannies. If any bumps, warts or moles are present, it will cut off the top layer and make a bloody spot with a resulting scab. Not very attractive or healthy to have a dog with open sores, plus they can scar and attract a host of health problems for the dog with constant exposure.
The Speed Hair cream is layer of foam that sits on top of the skin when you place it, so you have more control and ability to reach the parts a razor cannot get too or would nick, such as under arm pits or rounded elbows. It only affects the hair and therefore no damage to the skin growths and no resulting sores.
Wax On, Wax Off
Hot wax creams or hot wax such as Nads is another hair removal method. They consists of laying a molten cream wax or actual honey paraffin wax on the top layer of skin, laying a cloth strip on that, and when it cools into the cloth, literally ripping off the cloth and the attached hairs. This method is good for small smooth places such as eyebrows or upper lip hair on women. It is a molten material and large patches can cause damage from reddening of the skin to actual burns and it is hard to control where it goes as it spreads and has uneven edges. The Speed Cream does not move from where you place it and you can get a defined edge in the hairline. It takes years to get a long mane on a Crested, so when using products on the neck you want control and no mistakes as it’s a pretty small margin for error there. With a cream that can be warmed or kept cool, it is soothing and no painful ripping the hair by the roots!
Cream Your Crop!
There are many creams on the market from various manufacturers, the most popular being Veet. Veet is a heavy cream that needs to be left on for up to 15 minutes and simply melts the fine hair leaving any thicker bristly hair or whiskers. In the past, Veet used to be combined with wet shaving to make a smooth finish on your dog.
Due to pigmentation determining the melanin and thickness of skins, black skinned dogs have a heavier thicker skin thank pink skinned dogs. Pink skin sunburns easier and needs sun block after 15 minutes of sun exposure compared to a black dog can go about 90 minutes before sunburn, and pink skin is more sensitive to products. For sensitive skinned dogs like the pink skinned ones, Veet makes them bright pink to red much like sunburn. The practice was to do the dilapitory creams the day before, then wet shave right before ring time.
That does leave a lot of room for error, and when you train and condition for months to show, you do not want a few nicks or a simple grooming session to take you out of competition for the weekend. The grooming is the last thing to be done before going into the ring, so I would rather use Speed Cream as it’s consistent and only takes 3 minutes compared to an hour or over!
Speed Cream dissolves black off black heads and good for a finish smooth. The earlier cresteds had a thickly smooth, almost tacky, feel so 3 minutes with Speed Cream as it has skin conditioners you get that moist tackiness you want. Speed Cream does cost a bit more at $8 dollars rather than $3, or pennies for a razor, so many argue that it isn’t cost affective and a cream is cheating as wispies and stray hairs happen naturally.
The American Kennel Club standard says trimming and tidying up is accepted. This is a known problem and a scruffy appearance or unkempt look can be natural, but can count against you in competition. On that matter, dogs that are meant to hunt for their food and have the conditioning and physiology to support their function or die off are the only true natural “look.”
Man has domesticated the dog, fed him select foods, medicated every malady and disease that would make him selectively kept of the breeding pool while choosing his partners for him and using methods like artificial insemination using fresh or frozen sperm, surgical implants of semen directly onto the egg, to create what we each individually value as the perfect “specimen.”
As with many things, there are no domesticated animal breeds that are “natural” anymore; as nature does not decide when it comes to a look, or an idea of a winner, when man is judging.