Looking for a great Bichon Frise Haircut style for your Bichon? Or maybe dog hairstyles such as Lamb Cut, Show Cut, Utility Cut, and Panda Cut got you curious.
Read on to learn more.
Guess one of the reasons people love the Bichon Frise so much?
It's because you can style your Bichon with so many different types of Bichon Frise haircuts.
But keep in mind most of the Bichon hairstyles out there require heavy maintenance.
If you don’t, she can look ugly really quick. And not only that, but an unmaintained coat can lead to a host of skin conditions.
So, while this breed may look adorable, keep in mind that she doesn’t wake up that way.
You and your groomer have to help her along.
It’s good to know this ahead of time. If her coat is too much work for you, then perhaps the Bichon isn’t the right dog for you.
Types of Bichon Frise Haircut
If you have a Bichon Frise, here are some ideas of the Bichon Frise grooming styles.
They will help your Bichon look perfectly coifed.
Lamb Cut (Lamb Trim or Puppy Cut)
The Bichon Frise lamb cut, aka puppy cut or lamb trim, is a good way to give your Bichon a short haircut.
Many like to employ the lamb cut as a summer haircut to help keep her cool, or to otherwise keep her coat neat and clean.
A lamb cut results in a close-cropped haircut all over the Bichon’s trunk and legs, while keeping the fur on her head and tail long.
The lamb cut is actually the direct opposite of the show cut.
Utility Cut
The utility cut is a simpler cut that keeps your Bichon looking neat but doesn’t require a lot of work to maintain.
For this reason, it is one of, if not the most popular of the Bichon Frise haircut styles out there.
Let’s put it this way – if you give your Bichon a show cut, you would scream to see her playing around in the mud afterward.
The utility cut, however, gives her a little more freedom to play.
You don’t even have to fluff up her coat with a utility cut if you don’t want to. Simply clip her coat close to her skin…and you’re done.
Basically, all you’re really doing is giving her a close shave.
This eliminates the possibility of any problems with mats or tangling, and you can easily maintain her coat with the clippers when it starts to look long.
Show Cut
The Bichon Frise show cut, or Bichon cut, is another popular type of Bichon Frise haircut and is the exact opposite of the lamb cut.
Here, rather than strip the Bichon of most of her fur, the groomer overly works what is there.
The groomer leaves the Bichon’s undercoat thick and puffed-out here, while giving the outer coat a coarse and curly look.
The end result is a Bichon who looks like a puffed-up cotton ball, and it’s truly adorable!
Something else that makes the show cut different from the lamb cut is that the groomer does it entirely with scissors – no buzzer whatsoever.
This is a tough haircut for the Bichon Frise, so you don’t want to visit just any groomer for this.
You’ll also need to take your Bichon to the groomer monthly to keep up this look.
On your end, you’ll have to brush and comb her every day to prevent mats and tangles.
Teddy Bear Cut
The Bichon Frise teddy bear cut, unlike the show cut, requires clippers.
Here, you trim the fur on your Bichon’s side and back to a quarter-inch but leave the rest of her fur longer.
It’s up to you how long you’d like to keep the remainder of her fur, but most people go with about a half-inch all around.
Next, you trim the fur around her face to round it out and help her look more like a teddy bear!
You need to round her fur off at her forehead so that it matches the length of her coat.
Finally, leave enough fur on her head to put it into a top knot – that is, if you like that look.
Panda Cut
The panda cut is a great way to give your Bichon a haircut without spending a lot of time on the process.
The panda cut is essentially a longer version of the puppy cut. Here, you keep the fur on her head, chest, tail, and behind her legs longer for a shaggier look.
Once the haircut is complete, however, you still need to do a bit of work to maintain its beauty, but it doesn’t require as much work as the show cut.
You’ll need to brush her every couple of days to keep her free of mats and tangles.
Best Tools for Grooming the Bichon Frise
To groom your Bichon Frise, you’ll find that some tools out there are more helpful than others.
The best brush for the Bichon Frise, for example, is the pin brush.
You’ll also want to employ a coarse-medium greyhound-type comb and a slicker brush.
Read on for more information on what exactly these tools are and how they help.
Pin Brush
A pin brush is an ideal grooming tool for every dog breed. This is because it quite easily removes the dead hair and debris from the dog’s coat.
Why the pin brush is so good for the Bichon, however, is because you can use it to fluff up her coat. Simply brush her coat against the direction of its growth.
Brushing your Bichon daily helps to redistribute the natural oils of her coat, leaving her looking healthy and shiny.
Greyhound Comb
A medium-coarse tooth Greyhound comb has narrow, long tines that effortlessly dig through even the coarsest of coats.
The Greyhound comb is better than a fine-tooth comb for the Bichon.
Its tines are spaced far enough apart to get through her curls, down to her roots.
Other combs simply push the coat – the Greyhound comb is able to penetrate it.
You always want to brush her coat first before you comb it, then insert the comb into her coat parallel to the skin. This will help you to better pinpoint tangles or mats for easier removal.
Slicker Brush
The slicker brush is perfect for the Bichon Frise because of its ability to hold up against curly-haired dogs.
For dogs like the Bichon who require a more vigorous grooming routine, a slicker brush is ideal.
You’ll know a slicker brush because it is rectangular with fine wire bristles packed together densely.
While it may sound painful to have wire bristles in a brush, each bristle is actually slightly angled so as not to scratch your Bichon’s skin.
Its bristles properly re-distribute oils throughout your Bichon’s coat, and it works great against anything in your Bichon’s hair that shouldn’t be there.
In other words, debris, mats or tangles, and loose hair don’t stand a chance against the slicker brush!
Bichon Frise Grooming – Not for the Faint of Heart!
If you’re not confident you can properly groom your Bichon on your own – You probably shouldn't!
If you really want to give it a go then read our article here on Bichon Frise Grooming.
However, no matter how much you read online. No matter how many good tools you buy.
There are so many things that can go wrong if you’re not careful.
Cutting a dog’s coat the wrong way can cause it to permanently grow back improperly. This is especially true for the Bichon if you shave her double coat too close to the skin.
Not only that, but while you’re clipping, all it takes is for your Bichon to flinch at the wrong time, and you can end up accidentally injuring her.
Especially for a breed as high maintenance as the Bichon, employ a professional groomer’s help whenever possible.
Kailyn has worked as a professional freelance writer since 2012, and during that time she has written about nearly every dog breed imaginable. Her mother loved Collies, and so Kailyn grew up with three of them throughout her childhood – including a blonde one who was half-blind! Now her home belongs to her first official dog, Macho, a Dogo Argentino rescue.