Wahl Pro Small Slicker Brush

A mat is not brushed out, it is cut out. Once a coat has felted down against the skin the kind option and the quick option turn out to be the same one, and it involves scissors or somebody else's table. All of the value in a brush therefore sits in the weeks before that point, spent on a coat that currently looks perfectly fine.

Wahl's case for this one is the pins. They are firm stainless steel, set to reach down through a thick coat and separate hair that has begun to knit together, with fine stainless steel bristles to lift out loose hair and debris on the way past. The handle is an ergonomic gel one with a non-slip grip, which is the part that starts to matter when a session runs longer than anybody planned. Wahl list it for double coated, long coated and some short coated pets, and this is the small head in their Pro range.

• The small head size in Wahl's Pro range
• Firm stainless steel pins, to reach through a thick coat
• Fine stainless steel bristles, to lift loose hair and debris
• Non-slip ergonomic gel handle
• Listed for double coated, long coated and some short coated pets
• Wahl recommend daily brushing to keep mats from forming

"Small" describes the brush, not the dog. A small head is the right tool for a face, feet, legs and armpits, and on a small dog it is the whole job — but taken to a big long-coated dog it is a long evening, because the same area gets covered a few square inches at a time. Wahl publish no pin length, no head measurement and no guidance on pressure to us, and pin length is the figure that decides whether a slicker reaches the undercoat or simply combs the top of it. A slicker leaned on is also unkind to skin, so a light hand matters more here than the brush does.

Who it's for: owners of a small double-coated or long-coated dog, and anyone with a bigger dog who already has a full-size brush and needs something that fits the awkward places.