West Highland White Terrier

MAC | HEAD STUDY

A Westie head shouldn’t look too polished. In this focused head study, Nicky shows how to build the round, rough-and-ready shape while keeping the techniques achievable for everyday pet grooming.

Nicky begins with the ears, clipping only the top section and using the ear itself as a guide. Around the eyes she chooses a #10 rather than taking them extremely tight, retaining the slightly scruffy expression that belongs on a Westie.

From there, the head is built as a circle flowing up into the ears. Nicky layers with thinning scissors to remove weight and encourage Jock’s softer coat to stand rather than collapse.

A useful finishing lesson here is simply to stop and look. Check the head front-on, compare both sides and assess the balance before taking off more coat. With a Westie head, taking too much away is much harder to fix than leaving a little extra.