As in all hairless breeds, special attention must be paid to the Chinese Crested’s skin. Maybe say it’s too difficult to take care of it, and yes, one must be constant with its care, but it’s not really difficult unless they have a really sensitive skin. Taking care of a Crested’s skin is the same as taking care of your own or, more precisely, a baby’s.
You must put some body lotion or baby oil on their skin daily. Since Crested’s skin can easily get acne, it’s best to use non-greasy products. About baths… many breeders have different opinions: some bathe them daily, some weekly, some monthly. I bathe them weekly to keep their hair healthy but without making them loose their natural oils, which could happen if you bathe them daily. It is also good to exfoliate their skin, I do it gently by rubbing it with an exfoliant sponge.
Chinese Crested quickly adapt to different climates, whether it is extremely cold or extremely hot. But even if they do, we must not forget that they don’t have the protection of hair; they can easily get a flu when it’s cold or a sunburn or dehydration if it’s too hot. Just like a human skin, their skin gets tanned if they spend some time in the sun. Dark spots we didn’t eve knew they had can also appear on Crested’s skin when they get tanned if they have light skin, and dark skinned dogs may get freckles when tanned.
In rainy days or moist climates, if our Crested leaves the inside of the house, it’s important to perfectly dry them (as you would do after a bath), because their skin could get some type of fungus due to moisture.
Next, an article written by 2 friends, "Care and mantainance".
The Chinese Crested
By Ezequiel Mazzetti (Lisbury’s) and Giovanna Suedan (Atle Tzontli)
Care and Mantainance
The most important part of the body to take care of is the skin. To tell the truth, it's not difficult at all if we give them constant manteinance.
We must bath our cresteds weekly, with a dog shampoo formulated with a balanced pH in hair zones and with some exfoliant soap the hairless zones.
During the bath we can rub our dog's skin with a fiber sponge (never a hard one). This will help remove dead cells and dirt that could cause acne if it gets inside an open pore.
After the bath we must apply body lotion, especially if it is of vegetal origin, animal origin ones contain very heavy minerals difficult to absorb, which would cause acne.
Sometimes black heads appear in skin. They can be removed using an exfoliant after the bath, when pores are open and it's easier to get the black head out.
To make your Chinese Crested look more beautiful and shows, the muzzle is shaved, so is any hair they might have in their body (except for the head, feet and tail). When body hair is minimum, it's common to use depilatory machines; cresteds get used to them and don't feel pain, and less hair comes out after some time. If we use this, it's convenient to afterwards put on a piece of fabric with cold water so pores get closed quicker and avoid infections. Another option is hair removal creams, but we must be careful not to leave them on too long since they could cause allergies. It's better to do a test on a little piece of skin and see if they get any unwanted reaction.
With Powderpuffs, we should pay the most attention to the hair.
We must brush them daily to avoid knots from getting bigger and more difficult to undo, and bath them weekly. Shampoo must be the same as for hairless. We must never use humans' shampoo, they have a 5.5 pH, which is a little too acid for our dog's skin and hair, their pH is around 7.0 and 7.4.
Monthly, after the bath, we could apply some oil over the hair, like almond or coconut oil, mixed with hot water to help brightness and avoid hair knots.
As with the hairless, we should shave their muzzle and their neck in a "V" form.
Hairless Chinese Cresteds love to get sun baths, but we must be careful and put some sunblock on them to avoid burnings.
Even though they easily adapt to any climate, they must never be in outside kennels nor in the garden or any open area. People usually dress their cresteds when it's winter or cold, but we must choose the right fabric. Some, like wool could cause allergies.
