Groom Professional Curved Firm Slicker Brush - S

The Groom Professional Curved Firm Slicker Brush is the one for a coat that is shedding -- firm pins that reach down through a thick double coat and pull the dead undercoat out.

Key Features

• Firm pins: Stiff enough to strip dead coat rather than just tidy the top
• Reaches deep: Built for thick double coats where a soft brush never gets to the skin
• Curved head: Sits against the body shape, so you cover more with each stroke
• For heavy shedders: Most useful on spitz types, retrievers and anything that moults in handfuls
• Three sizes: Small, medium and large
• Head size: The medium measures around 12 x 5 x 25cm

How To Use A Slicker

• Work in small sections and in the direction the coat grows. Line brushing -- lifting a layer and brushing from the skin outwards -- is how a groomer gets all the way down.
• Let the weight of the brush do it. Pressing harder does not get deeper, it just scrapes the skin.
• Follow with a metal comb. If the comb goes through cleanly the coat is actually brushed; if it snags, the slicker has only skimmed the top.
• Clean the pad out as you go. A slicker packed with hair stops gripping.

Slicker Burn Is Real

A firm slicker used too hard, or used over and over on the same patch, leaves a red grazed area that groomers call slicker burn. It is most likely on the belly, the armpits, the hocks and anywhere the skin is thin. If the dog flinches or the skin goes pink, stop and switch to a softer brush or a comb.

Who Makes It

Groom Professional launched in 2009 on the Causeway Coast in Northern Ireland and is sold through the grooming trade supplier Christies Direct. The range was built for working salons rather than for the bathroom cupboard, which is why so much of it comes as a concentrate and in four-litre sizes. Groom Professional say the products are manufactured in the UK.

Good To Know

• This one is out of stock at the moment, so the page is here for reference while we wait on the next delivery.
• This is the firm one. On a fine, thin or short coat use the Curved Soft Slicker instead -- firm pins on thin skin is exactly how slicker burn happens.
• Not for a dog with sore, broken or freshly clipped skin.
• Not a toy. Keep it out of reach of pets and children when you are not using it.
• Check the pins or teeth now and again -- a bent pin or a missing tip scratches skin.