Today’s presentation will focus on a dryer type that when used appropriately will create not only the highest monetary rewards but also provide the surest customer loyalty for your grooming business.

It goes without saying the most complicated coats to dry evenly at the same moment are the prime target for this overachieving necessity. The finish dryer was developed for the top groomers to compete in grooming competitions as well as the top sanctioned, animal venues worldwide. Top show results cannot be achieved without the coat preparation necessary for styling with scissors, combo combs, and/or specialty brushes needed to compete for the top awards.

What is the key factor that separates finish dryers from force and cage dryers, making them the true “moneymaker” of drying in the professional grooming world?

That factor would have to be “versatility,” for no type dryer controls air speed, air volume, and air temperature while offering groomers to be hands-free and effectively dry, fluff, and set up the animal coat for the final grooming step.

At this time, it’s important to correct a term commonly-used for this dryer which simply equates “finish dryer” with a dryer, most often a force dryer, placed on a mobile device and referred to as a “stand dryer” with the presumption that both operate as one and the same. However, in our review of force dryers we identified this unit’s forte as a purely speed or velocity of air performer where its effectiveness on the animal coat in drying is when the coat is at its wettest state. The force unit, however, does not offer high levels of air volume needed for deep coat penetration, nor does it generally come equipped with heat control, ranging from room temperature and up.

The manufacturers of cage dryers would never make this bold claim as it is recognized in its supporting role on the drying stage as a prepper of denser coats to a less wet state and setting the stage where the finish dryer and the groomer together will become the one final drying team.

The use of finish dryers makes groomer and salon output far superior in its finished product walking out the door. How to utilize the “moneymaker” is more an art and not a science. Groomers, knowing they have this professional instrument, must learn only though continual use on many different coat types and variable animal behavior challenges that they will face and then learn how to manipulate and control air volume, air speed, and air temperature while using both hands and various grooming tools that will produce a coat that is set up and evenly dried for the finish styling to follow and worthy of that “best-in-show” look.

To this day, there are commercial grooming establishments that only provide force dryers for their personnel. I have been in the animal care and grooming industry for well over 50 years and the idea of a single dryer type being the only required unit for a professional groomer keeps popping up like a bad penny that has unfortunately been perpetuated by most who have done little to nothing as far as providing grooming services or earning themselves a living wage in the grooming industry.

It has been my pleasure and privilege to spend many hours with working groomers, learning their likes and dislikes, their trials and tribulations, as well as what their needs and hopes are for now and in the future. Anybody out there who believes that the right equipment that is offered by salon management is not paramount to a groomer’s individual and the salon’s overall success would be sorely mistaken.

Just last week, I ventured into a bright, beautifully-laid-out grooming salon next to a restaurant I frequented. Only one of the three stations were occupied and it was by an obviously highly-skilled groomer. A few friendly words and a chat while she continued working indicated only force units were provided by the owner in this salon. It was obvious she was struggling somewhat in her attempt to do her best with a coat not really ready for the finish groom. I commented that a finish dryer sure would be handy. Her response was fast and concise: “I wish the owner thought so too!!!”

This type of reaction is not only with the experienced, working professional groomer, but it’s becoming more of an issue with the new and novice groomers lucky enough to have been trained by a top-notch groomer or even some grooming school that provides detailed training with all types of dryer use included.

A memory of a grooming show, long ago, in Florida with a nearby grooming school in the vicinity which had sent their students over to view and expand their individual knowledge of the grooming industry and the products on display flashed through my mind. At the time I was affiliated with a dryer manufacturer who had developed an extraordinary new type finish dryer and I was demoing it out of a distributer’s booth at this grooming show a few months before same this grooming school had been shipped this new finish model. Student after student filed past, and each one wanted to know more about the features, while enthusiastically commenting on how much they liked the dryer. They would then ask me to sell their school more such dryers since they were continually fighting over the new dryer and were reluctant to use any other finish dryer the school had available.

The original reason this grooming school had purchased this new model was that their older units were being discontinued by a worldwide manufacturer and were exiting the drying portion of the grooming market. That company could no longer compete with the performance available in finish dryers and the new technologies being brought to the market.

These changes in drying equipment are producing far better results in less time while contributing to a far safer, healthier work environment while also creating a far more efficient and profitable business model for grooming professionals.

There are many detailed aspects to be weighted in selecting the right type or model of drying equipment just right for your grooming operation. I will cover the optimum specifications and characteristics to consider in a “SEES” recommendation. The three type dryers that make up the “three pillars of drying” all have specific individual purposes and must be considered as to how all three work to support the complete drying process.

Till next time,
The Professor