Cleaning your dog’s grooming clippers is essential for both the lifespan of your tools and the comfort of your furry friend. Regular maintenance and proper care can save you money on replacements and ensure a smooth, painless grooming experience. This guide will walk you through everything you need to know about keeping your clippers in top condition, from oiling the blades to safe storage and hygiene practices. Whether you are a seasoned groomer or a beginner, understanding how to care for your clippers will make grooming sessions easier and more efficient.

How to Clean Dog Clipper Blades

Maintaining the cleanliness of your entire dog clipper unit is as important as cleaning the blades. Hair and debris can accumulate in the clipper body, affecting its performance and lifespan. Here’s how to clean your dog clippers:

1. Turn Off and Unplug: Always disconnect the clippers from the power source before cleaning.
2. Remove Detachable Parts: If your clippers have detachable combs or guards, remove them. These should be cleaned separately with warm, soapy water and a small brush to remove trapped hair and product. Rinse thoroughly and allow to air dry completely.
3. Brush Away Loose Hair: Use the cleaning brush that came with your clippers (or a soft toothbrush) to brush away any loose hair from the clipper body, paying attention to seams and crevices where hair can get trapped.
4. Wipe Down the Exterior: Use a slightly damp cloth to wipe down the exterior of the clipper body. Avoid getting excessive moisture inside the unit, especially around the motor and electrical components. You can use a mild, pet-safe disinfectant wipe if desired.
5. Clean Air Vents: Many clippers have air vents to prevent overheating. Use compressed air to blow out any hair or debris that may be lodged in these vents. This helps ensure proper airflow and prevents the motor from overheating.
6. Reassemble and Store Properly: Once all parts are clean and dry, reassemble the clipper. Store it in a clean, dry place, ideally in its original case or a protective pouch, to prevent dust and damage.

Regularly cleaning your entire dog clipper unit, in addition to the blades, will contribute to its longevity, optimal performance, and the overall hygiene of your grooming process. 

How To Maintain Dog Clippers

1. Oil your Blades

One very important step in extending the life of your clippers is to make sure you always oil your blades and keep them lubricated before and after every use. This will keep the blades running smoothly while you’re clipping and is especially important when you’re using them in sensitive areas, like the paws, ears, and other small areas. Trimming the hair in these areas on any animals can quickly lead to nicks and the noise can make your pet react negatively.

That’s why oil is so important when you groom and it’s something you want to stay on top of. It’s best to oil your blades before every use so the blades don’t get stuck and pull on your pet’s hair, rather than cutting it like scissors. Blade oil is easy to find and you can shop for accessories online and get them shipped right to your door for much less than the cost of a veterinarian groomer.

2. Keep Blades Free of Hair

Keeping your blades free of hair is just as important as oiling them and combs are the best tools to make sure you’re cleaning the inside areas, including the shorter lengths of cut hair that can easily be overlooked. The more hair builds up in your blades, the more difficult it becomes for them to move, it builds up heat that can shorten the life of your clippers, as well as harm your pet. Using combs on your blades should be a part of the cleanup process, just like when you vacuum the fur where you’ve done your grooming.

Grip your clippers and use your wrist to get into the crevices with your combs. A snap motion will allow you to flick out the hard-to-reach hair and ensure that you fully clean it out. This will keep your blades and your clippers durable for many years, no matter which dog or cat breed the hairs are coming from.

3. Store your Clippers Safely

One often overlooked aspect of extending the life of your clippers is the way you store them and where you keep them when you’re not using them. It’s easy to read reviews from people who improperly store their tools and end up with broken clippers that rolled off a surface or fell out of a cabinet. It’s always a very good idea to store your clippers on a tool mat to keep them from skidding off the surface and landing on the floor, getting broken or cracked in the process.

It will also do you a lot of good to keep your clippers away from a spot where they can easily get hit when your dog wags her tail or jumps up onto the table to see what’s going on. The more thought you put into where your tool should go, the safer it will be and the longer will last you. Plan out your grooming space and make sure you have the proper storage to keep your investment safe when it’s away and you’re not thinking about it.

4. Use Cleaning Solution to Prevent Buildup

Just as cleaning the hair out of your clippers is important to their performance, keeping them hygienic will stop build-up from slowing them down and creating heat and tension in the motor. After cleaning out the hair, coat your clippers with a cleaning solution to kill any bacteria and wash away any oils from your pet’s fur. The longer you go without this step, the more it will build up and negatively affect the performance of your clippers.

This step is even more important if you have multiple dogs that you’re grooming regularly. Cleaning away any bacteria from one pet will keep it from transferring over to the other and will keep them all healthy and happy with the grooming process. It’s something that all pet parents should be doing and both your dogs and your clippers will thank you in the end.

5. Blade Sharpening

Blade sharpening is an important part of the maintenance of your clippers and should be carried out by a professional unless you have experience with it. Professionals who use their clippers on multiple breeds every day, all day, have to get their blades sharpened every four to six months. Most pet parents don’t use their clippers anywhere near as often, so it’s very easy to go a full year before you need to get them sharpened.

Sharpening your blades will make it easier to use your clippers and cut through the fur on your pets. Remember that dull blades are going to pull and tear the hair out, rather than cutting it like scissors and that’s going to cause a lot of pain to your dogs and cats. When you keep your blades sharp, you’re keeping your pets safe, saving them unnecessary pain, and making the entire grooming process faster and easier on yourself.

6. Use Clipper Cases

Another overlooked aspect of clipper care is the case that you use when you put it away and store it in between your pet grooming sessions. The case you use for your clippers is no time to cut back on quality because it’s the last line of defense that you have to keep your tool safe and secure. Using soft cases to store them can easily lead to damage to your tool, especially if you drop it or it falls to the floor.

No matter what kind of clipper tool you buy, you always want to keep them in a hard case to give them every chance of surviving a fall and to keep the blades safe from being hit by other items. The higher the quality of your hard case, the better off your clipper tool will be and you won’t have to worry about your investment getting damaged while you have it stored. It’s always important to leave as little to chance as possible, and a hard case is going to offer you a lot of protection for not a lot of money.

7. Buy Blade Protectors

Whenever you buy blades for your dog clipper, it will come with a plastic protector to keep it safe during shipping, and it’s something that you should hang onto and use whenever you put your tool away. It’s extremely easy to dull the blades on your clippers and it’s the biggest reason that pet parents lose efficiency in their clippers. The worst thing you can do after cleaning, oiling, and disinfecting your blades is to simply put them away without any protection to keep them sharp.

The cutting edge on any blade is always its weakest point and it doesn’t take much pressure to damage it and make the grooming process more difficult than it has to be. Using a simple plastic cover will keep the edges safe and is an important thing to remember whenever you put your clipper tool away. It only takes a second but will add months and years to the life of your blade.

Save Money with Proper Care for Your Dog Clippers

When you put the time into maintaining your dog clipper and its accessories, you’ll always end up saving money on costly replacements. Keep maintenance on your mind whenever you groom your pets and your clippers will last you a very long time and serve you well.

From high-quality dog clippers to essential accessories, find everything you need to keep your furry friend looking and feeling their best.