Our lhasa-poodle mix had hairy ears, and our vet showed us the same as yours did, to hand-pull the hair. You're doing this the right way, a little at a time, and touching ears on other days. It's best for all involved to do a little at a time rather than a lot when it becomes a problem. It's a lot less painful to pull a few than a lot, and if your dog ever gets inflamed/infected ears, it'll be terribly painful to pull a lot of hair. Prevention is the name of the game here. DH would pull her hair while watching tv, just a couple quick tugs then a treat or some love/attention. She was generally good about it, as she got elderly it wasn't as easy. We also used forceps/clamps occasionally, it was easy to set the clamp on some hair, give it a twist and yank. It hurt her more though, as we usually pulled more at once that way. You can also get deeper in the canal with forceps (gotta be very careful you can also pinch the tender flesh in the ear, don't ask why I know this). It's a good habit to get in, hairy ears can have problems.

My DIL wore them for years,as she had brain cancer and where they cut her hair off,it never returned because of the scar,and what hair did come in on the rest of her head was sparse..This past year she has gone to full wigs though. kathi

I've no idea whether has to do with tipping, just my subjective spontaneous thoughts I was cleaning houses too in my youth(interesting how all these random jobs enrich one's experience), I know what a hard labor it is, and I forgive my cleaning lady driving me nuts with coming whenever she pleases, etc, because she's a nice person and a good cleaning lady and we grew attached. And of course I give her/her helpers Christmas gift and Easter gift yet a great stylist-it's a level or artistry there. it's rarer. I embarrassed myself once by kissing a hand of my previous hair stylist in NYC(the one who recommended the current salon)...I don't know what I was thinking, I was just so happy and grateful to him I took his hand and kissed it. He looked very touched but very overwhelmed. The public was slightly puzzled)) I like my cleaning lady but I'm not kissing her hand when overcame by emotion)) Her hands have less of this magic power of transformation. I had several great stylists in my life-I lost them only when either they moved or I moved away, and life taught me to ask for their reference on the next stylist wherever I go, in within their powers of course to give me that info. In NYC I had to take a train and then subway to get to my stylist Here, it's an hour drive without traffic and minimum two hours with. It's very tiresome to even to go there, to that salon of theirs. Yet I go(much rarer than I should, because far away, and to save money), and I tip, and as you already know- I sometimes do silly things like kissing a stylist's hand in public)) It's not like I'm crazy to tip, of course, it's a lot of money. And they're much more affluent folks, these salon owners, than I could ever be. Like, they don't need this tip to survive. At all. Not on this top of the mountain they were able to get to. But they're special kind of artists. That's how it is. Great stylist-whole different level. It's a very hard and often ungrateful job that takes years and passion to master and there's huge talent involved, in their case, a talent I was lucky to meet and am not about to loose until it depends on me It's customarily to tip here-okay then I'll tip It's not customarily to kiss one's hand)) especially-not for a woman to kiss a man's hand. In public. lol. I'm just chanelling my appreciation in a culture-appropriate way)))

Thank you, again everyone. alwaysonestep, I will look into at home touch ups with semi-permanent color for sure. What you describe about the white showing two days later is exactly what I fear. lobby68, yup, I've been spoiled all these years. I'll be making up for it with monthly salon visits now. 4kids, it sounds like you have a great plan for keeping your hair looking good. It's great to have thick hair. tina, thank you for the tip about the glaze and getting various shades of highlights, that makes a lot of sense. And yes, I think it may be difficult to give me lowlights ;-) patl8, anything is better than having to sit in a salon chair more than once a month. I simply don't have the patience for that anymore. Thank you for the touch-up tips. lukkiirish, I really appreciate the pictures and the explanation about how the highlights/lowlights work. My hair gets red highlights naturally, so I imagine that is what will work best. whatsayyou, I am intrigued at the thought of DIY hair because I am traveling a lot these days for various crazy reasons, so that is one of the things worrying me about needing to be in a salon so often. You sound like you are a talented colorist though. ks92, this color WOW sounds awesome. So glad to know about it. ratherbesewing, I will check out WOW selection in person. Thank you so much for all the help. I feel much better having discussed this with everyone, truly.