Haircut Notes That Actually Get Used: What to Record After Every Groom

Ten visits and nothing to go on

A groomer starts at a busy, established salon. In her first week she is bitten twice, by two different dogs. Both had more than ten visits on file, and neither file said a word about biting.

On one dog, the notes read “same as last time” all the way back to the first visit. Another says “about half off.” A third just says “use caution,” which drew the reply every groomer was thinking: okay, when?

Notes aren’t just convenient, they’re safety. They’re also why a client gets the same haircut whether you’re in or not. The haircut consultation script covers turning “a light trim” into lengths at the desk. This post covers what to write after the groom, so the next person, or you in eight weeks, can groom from it without guessing.

Why most grooming notes are useless

Bad notes are usually written by busy groomers, at the end of the day, from memory. Three patterns come up again and again.

The chain of “same as last time.” It works the first time, while the original note is still there. By the fourth copy nobody remembers what the original said, and if the original was never written down, the chain points at nothing.

Words that only mean something to the writer. “About half off,” “short,” “tidy” and “the usual” are all clear in the head of the groomer who wrote them. To anyone else they’re a guess. They’re the same vague words clients use at the desk, now written by staff.

Warnings with no detail. “Use caution” tells you there’s a problem and nothing about what it is. Is it the nails? The face? The dryer? The first five minutes, or the last? A warning that doesn’t say when and why only makes the groomer nervous; it doesn’t keep anyone safe.

There’s also a quieter problem: clients assume you have the notes. Clients from a salon that closed often arrive expecting the haircut to be “on file” somewhere. A good note lets you meet that expectation for your own clients, whoever is on the table.

What to record after every groom

A useful haircut note has four parts: the cut, the coat, the owner’s reaction and a pointer to behavior. Each one should be specific enough that a groomer who has never met the dog could repeat the groom.

1. The cut, by zone

Write down the blade or comb for each part of the dog, not one number for the whole groom. Owners forgive a slightly short body, but they rarely forgive a short head.

• Body: blade or guard comb, and whether you went with or against the coat. “#4 with” and “#4 against” are different haircuts.
• Legs: same as the body, longer, or scissored? Note if the legs were left fuller than the body.
• Head and face: the style in plain words (round, teddy, breed head, short and tidy), plus the length. If it’s scissored, say how long, such as “round head, about 1 inch, eyes cleared.”
• Ears: left long, shortened, blended into the head or taken off. Name the blade for the ear leather if you clipped it.
• Tail: tidied, same as the body, plumed, or shaved.
• Feet and sanitary: round feet or poodle feet, and the blade for the pads and sanitary area.

Also write “tight” or “light.” Two groomers can use the same comb and get different results depending on how close they work, and the next person needs to know which way to lean.

2. The coat and anything unusual

Note what the coat was like on arrival: clean, a bit tangled, matted behind the ears, matted to the skin. This explains the haircut. If the dog came in matted and you had to go short, the note should say so, or the next groomer will think the short cut was what the owner asked for.

Write down odd anatomy as well: a skin tag on the left flank, a lump on the shoulder, a scar, a dewclaw that’s grown in, a sensitive patch from last time. These are what clippers catch, and they’re the details owners ask about later.

3. What the owner said at pickup

This is the line most notes leave out, and it’s the most useful one. Write down what the owner liked and what they didn’t, in their own words where you can:

• “Loved the head, wants body a bit longer next time.”
• “Said ears too short. Leave longer.”
• “Happy. Same again.”

“Same again,” written under a full set of numbers, is a real instruction. It’s the only kind of “same as last time” that works.

If you agreed a change for next time, such as “go a size longer on the body for winter,” put it at the top of the note so it’s the first thing the next groomer sees.

4. Behavior: one line, then link out

Handling notes need their own detail: what sets the dog off, when, how, and what helped. That deserves its own discipline, and we’ve covered it in how top groomers track pet behaviour notes that actually get used. In the haircut note, keep one line that points to it, such as “Muzzle for back feet, see behavior note.” If a dog needs a muzzle for part of the groom, flag it on the pet as well, as covered in how to set a muzzle policy. That way the warning shows up when the dog is booked, not just inside a note someone has to scroll to.

In a salon with more than one groomer, add one more line: whether the dog has to stay with a particular groomer. Some dogs only settle for one person, and that’s worth knowing before the booking is made, not at drop-off.

5. Photos

Take a photo of the finished dog, front and side if you can. A photo of the head settles more arguments than any description. Take a before photo too when the coat came in matted, because it shows what you started with.

The copy-paste haircut note template

Use this at the table, straight after the groom, before the next dog comes up. Filled in, it takes under a minute.

HAIRCUT NOTE: [Dog's name], [date], groomer: [initials]

NEXT TIME:  [any change agreed with the owner, or "same again"]

Body:        [blade/comb], [with/against], [tight/light]
Legs:        [same as body / longer / scissored, length]
Head/face:   [style], [length], [eyes/muzzle details]
Ears:        [long / shortened / blended / off], [blade if clipped]
Tail:        [tidied / same as body / plume / shaved]
Feet:        [round / poodle], pads [blade]
Sanitary:    [blade]

Coat on arrival:   [clean / tangled / matted where]
Anatomy to watch:  [lumps, tags, scars, sensitive spots]

Owner at pickup:   [their words: liked / didn't like]
Handling:          [one line, or "see behavior note"]
Stays with:        [groomer name, if it matters]
Photos:            [after: front + side / before, if matted]

A filled-in example for a regular doodle:

HAIRCUT NOTE: Murphy, 27 Oct, groomer: HK

NEXT TIME:  owner wants body 1 size longer for winter

Body:        #4 with, light
Legs:        3/4" comb, fluffed
Head/face:   round teddy, ~1", eyes cleared, beard short
Ears:        shortened to jaw, scissored
Tail:        plume, tidied
Feet:        round, pads #10
Sanitary:    #10

Coat on arrival:   tangled behind ears and in armpits
Anatomy to watch:  skin tag on left flank, go round it

Owner at pickup:   "Love the face. Bit short on the back."
Handling:          hates the HV dryer on the face, use the stand dryer
Stays with:        n/a
Photos:            after, front + side

Anyone in the salon could groom Murphy from that, including a groomer who started this morning.

Make it a habit, not a chore

A template only helps if it gets filled in. A few rules that make the difference:

Write it at the table, not at closing. Notes written at 6pm are written from memory, and memory is where “about half off” comes from. Thirty seconds while the dog is still on the table, with the blade still on the clipper, beats five minutes later.

Read the last note before the dog arrives. The note only pays off if someone reads it. Make it part of the check-in, alongside the questions to ask before every groom: read the note, then confirm it with the owner at the desk. “Same as last time? That was a #4 on the body and a round head” takes ten seconds and catches most mistakes before they happen.

Keep a backup. Some groomers keep an index card for every dog as well as the app, in case the internet goes down on a full Saturday.

Put the rebooking interval in the same note. If you’re recommending six weeks for this coat, write it down next to the blade numbers so whoever does checkout can rebook the dog before they leave.

Getting a whole team to write notes this way, rather than just the most careful groomer, is a management problem as much as a template one.

Where the note should live

A note on a sheet in a folder, or in a notebook by the till, works until the person who wrote it is off, or the page gets wet, or the client books with someone new. A haircut note has to live on the dog, where anyone who opens the booking will see it.

Packyard keeps notes and before-and-after photos on the pet’s profile, with visit history across every visit, and colour-coded pet codes like “bites” that show wherever the pet does. When a regular books in, “same as last time” means opening the profile and reading what last time actually was: the blades, the head, what the owner said, and the photo. If you’re still grooming from a paper book, moving to online booking is where that starts. For what else belongs in a client record beyond the haircut, see client history tracking for grooming salons.

The test of a good haircut note is simple: could someone who has never met the dog give it the haircut the owner expects? If the answer is yes, the note works. If the note just says “same as last time,” it doesn’t.

• resources
• how tos
• client-management
• grooming

Himani Agarwal Founder, Packyard

Ran two pet shops with grooming salons, sold them in 2026 and now builds Packyard full time. Writes about the parts of running a grooming business nobody taught you.

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