Six haircuts cover almost every Maltese in America, and picking the wrong one costs you twenty minutes of brushing a day.
The most popular Maltese haircut styles are the puppy cut, teddy bear cut, show coat, lion cut, Maltese bob, and short summer cut. Each differs in body length, face shape, and maintenance level.
The breed’s single coat has no undercoat and grows continuously, which is why coat type decides the style before preference does.
This guide gives you exact numbers for each cut:
- Body length and clipper blade size
- Face, ear, and topknot shaping
- Regroom interval in weeks
- Real grooming cost ranges
What Determines the Best Haircut for a Maltese?
The best Maltese haircut depends on four things: coat texture, matting tendency, your climate, and the brushing minutes you will realistically commit to each week. The breed’s silky, straight, single coat mats at the surface rather than deep at the skin, which changes how short you need to go.
The AKC breed standard describes the coat as single, without undercoat, hanging long and flat and silky almost to the ground. Any kinky, curly, or woolly texture counts as a fault.
That standard matters even for pet cuts. A single coat means no seasonal blow-out, no de-shedding treatment, and no undercoat rake.
Coat facts that shape every cut:
- No undercoat: mats form on the outer layer, so a slicker brush plus a metal comb clears most tangles
- Continuous growth: hair keeps growing, so a Maltese needs trimming, not shedding management
- Mat hotspots: behind the ears, armpits, the groin, and the back of the legs
- Pure white: tear stains around the muzzle show more than on any other toy breed
The breed sat at No. 37 in the AKC’s 2024 registration rankings, so most groomers have handled the coat plenty of times.
Compare that to a Shih Tzu and its double coat, where the undercoat is the part that mats and the clipper strategy shifts completely.
| Your situation | Body length to ask for | Direction |
|---|---|---|
| Under 10 min brushing per week | 1/8 to 1/4 inch | Summer cut or lion cut |
| 15 to 20 min per week | 1/2 to 1 inch | Teddy bear or bob |
| 30 min per week | 1 to 2 inches | Puppy cut |
| Daily brushing, wrapping | Floor length | Show coat |
The 6 Most Popular Maltese Haircut Styles
Six styles cover almost every request a groomer gets for this breed.
- Puppy Cut: uniform 1 to 2 inches all over, rounded face, topknot optional
- Teddy Bear Cut: 1/2 inch body, head rounded into a ball
- Show Cut: floor-length coat, center part, single or double topknot
- Lion Cut: shaved body, long mane at head and chest, tail pom
- Maltese Bob: short body, long ears and tail, blunt face line
- Summer Cut: 1/8 inch everywhere, lowest maintenance option
| Style | Body length | Regroom | Maintenance |
|---|---|---|---|
| Puppy Cut | 1 to 2 in | 6 to 8 weeks | Low |
| Teddy Bear Cut | 1/2 in | 4 to 6 weeks | Medium |
| Show Cut | Floor length | 6 to 8 weeks (ends) | High |
| Lion Cut | 1/8 in body | 5 to 7 weeks | Low |
| Maltese Bob | 1/4 to 1/2 in | 6 to 8 weeks | Low to medium |
| Summer Cut | 1/8 in | 8 to 10 weeks | Low |
The Puppy Cut
The Puppy Cut is a Maltese cut that keeps the body coat at a uniform 1 to 2 inches and rounds the face into a soft, youthful shape. It suits silky single coats and owners who want low maintenance, and it works well year round in temperate climates.
The name comes from the look of a young Maltese whose coat has not reached full length yet.
At a glance
- Body length: 1 to 2 inches, usually a 1 inch or 1 1/2 inch guard comb over a #10 blade
- Face and head: rounded, forehead blended to body length, topknot optional on adults
- Ears: trimmed to jawline or left slightly longer
- Legs and feet: even with the body, feet scissored round
- Tail: left full
- Maintenance: Low, about 5 minutes brushing three times a week
- Regroom every: 6 to 8 weeks
- Best for: first-time owners, active dogs, families with kids
Who it suits: Owners who want the breed to still look like a Maltese without daily coat work. It also handles regrowth gracefully, which is why so many groomers default to it.
Watch out for: Going under 1 inch on a Maltese starts to expose pink skin, and this breed burns.
The Teddy Bear Cut
The Teddy Bear Cut clips the body to roughly 1/2 inch and shapes the head into a rounded ball, ears blended into the skull line. Groomers commonly take the back and sides down to about 1/4 inch and leave the rest near 1/2 inch or slightly longer.
The face is what defines it. Cheeks, forehead, and muzzle get scissored into a continuous circle rather than a tapered wedge.
At a glance
- Body length: 1/4 inch back and sides, 1/2 inch elsewhere
- Face and head: full round, short muzzle hair, no visible stop
- Ears: rounded and blended, not left as long fringe
- Legs: cylindrical, slightly fuller than the body
- Tail: full, left as a plume
- Maintenance: Medium, slicker brush two to three times a week
- Regroom every: 4 to 6 weeks
- Best for: owners who want the photogenic look, indoor dogs
Who it suits: People who care about the face more than the body. The round head reads well in photos and softens a narrow muzzle.
Watch out for: The shape collapses fast. Miss the 6 week mark and the face grows into an unbalanced oval, which is the single most common complaint groomers hear about this style.
The Show Cut (Full Coat)
The Show Cut keeps the coat at floor length with a straight center part running the length of the spine, and the head hair tied into a single or double topknot. It is the only style written into the breed standard, and it suits owners treating grooming as a daily commitment.
The UKC standard allows the long head hair to be tied in a single or double topknot, or left hanging.
Coat requirements:
- Daily brushing with a pin brush, then a greyhound comb to the skin
- Bathing every 7 to 14 days to keep the white bright
- Wrapping or banding the coat between shows to prevent breakage
- Trimming only the ends and the sanitary area
Exhibitors at the Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show present the breed in this coat, and the daily upkeep is closer to 20 or 30 minutes than to 5.
Who it suits: Conformation exhibitors and a small group of pet owners who treat coat care as a hobby.
Watch out for: A full coat drags through grass, urine, and street grit. Most pet owners abandon it within a year, and there is no shame in that.
The Lion Cut
The Lion Cut shaves the body from behind the shoulders down, leaves the head, neck, and chest long as a mane, and finishes the tail with a pom. It suits hot climates and dogs recovering from heavy matting, and it drops brushing time close to zero.
At a glance
- Body length: 1/8 inch (#7F blade) or 1/16 inch (#10 blade)
- Head and mane: left at full length from the skull through the chest
- Ears: left long, blended into the mane
- Legs: shaved with bracelets left at the ankles
- Tail: shaved shaft with a full pom at the tip
- Maintenance: Low, brush the mane twice a week
- Regroom every: 5 to 7 weeks
- Best for: summer, senior dogs, post-dematting recovery
The breed’s old nickname, the Maltese Lion Dog, is where the name comes from.
Who it suits: Owners in hot regions who still want visible coat somewhere. The mane keeps the dog looking like a Maltese instead of a shaved rat.
Watch out for: The shaved body offers no sun protection at all on white skin. This cut fits June through September, not January.
The Maltese Bob Cut
The Maltese Bob clips the body short at 1/4 to 1/2 inch while leaving the ears and tail long, with the face hair cut in a blunt line at jaw level. It borrows the shape directly from the human bob haircut.
Ear fringe is the whole point of this style. Clip those and it becomes a puppy cut.
Style breakdown
- Body: clipped short and even
- Ears: left long, feathered, hanging past the jaw
- Face: blunt horizontal line, not rounded
- Tail: left full
- Regroom: 6 to 8 weeks
Who it suits: Owners who want low body maintenance but hate the shaved look. It also flatters dogs with well-set ears.
Watch out for: Long ear fringe mats behind the ear leather where you cannot see it. Comb that spot twice a week or the cut fails at the one place it is supposed to shine.
The Summer Cut (Kennel Cut)
The Summer Cut clips the entire dog to a uniform 1/8 inch with a short, tapered face. It suits hot climates, senior dogs, and severe matting, and it is the lowest maintenance option available for the breed.
At a glance
- Body length: 1/8 inch (#7F blade), sometimes 1/16 inch (#10) after dematting
- Face and head: short and tapered, no topknot
- Ears: trimmed to jawline
- Legs and feet: same length as body, feet cleaned out
- Tail: short with a small pom
- Maintenance: Low, brush once a week
- Regroom every: 8 to 10 weeks
- Best for: heat, seniors, dogs with skin conditions
Who it suits: Owners in Phoenix, Houston, or anywhere the pavement bakes. Also the honest answer when a coat is matted to the skin and dematting would hurt.
Watch out for: Short body cuts remove the coat’s insulation, so this cut fits warm months, not cold ones. Sunscreen made for dogs is worth it on white skin.
How to Choose the Right Maltese Haircut
Work through five decisions in order.
- Match the length to your actual brushing time, not your intended brushing time.
- Factor in your season. Anything under 1/4 inch belongs to summer.
- Check the mat hotspots first. Heavy matting behind the ears forces a shorter cut regardless of preference.
- Consider age and mobility. Senior dogs tolerate 45 minutes on the table, not 3 hours.
- Decide on the topknot before you sit down, because that hair takes months to grow back.
| Style | Maintenance | Best season |
|---|---|---|
| Puppy Cut | Low | Year-round |
| Teddy Bear Cut | Medium | Spring, fall |
| Show Cut | High | Year-round, indoor |
| Lion Cut | Low | Summer |
| Summer Cut | Low | Summer |
One tangent worth mentioning: silky single coats behave similarly across breeds, so the same logic applies to Yorkshire Terrier grooming styles. Curly-coated breeds like the Toy Poodle and its clip options follow different rules entirely.
How Often Should a Maltese Be Groomed?
A Maltese needs a full professional groom every 4 to 8 weeks, with 4 to 6 weeks being the standard interval for a teddy bear or all-over cut. Short summer cuts stretch to 8 or 10 weeks.
Brushing sits separately from that schedule. Three to four sessions a week for clipped cuts, daily for anything over 2 inches.
What shifts the interval:
- Coat length: longer styles need shorter gaps between visits
- Face shape: rounded faces lose definition faster than tapered ones
- Activity: dogs that run through grass and dirt mat quicker
- Age: senior coats often get finer and tangle more easily
- Humidity: damp climates accelerate matting on fine hair
Bathing runs every 2 to 3 weeks for most pet cuts. Weekly for show coats.
Between appointments, handle the small stuff yourself: sanitary trim, paw pad clearing, eye-area tidying with rounded-tip scissors. Cleaning the ears with a proper wipe also keeps the fringe from souring.
Maltese Haircut Grooming Cost and What to Tell Your Groomer
A full Maltese groom costs $45 to $70 in most of the US, which works out to roughly $540 to $910 per year on a 4 to 6 week schedule. National small-dog full-groom pricing runs $40 to $75 according to Bestie Paws Hospital.
Location moves that number hard. Major metros (New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Boston, Chicago) add 20 to 40 percent, while rural areas run 15 to 25 percent below the national average.
Grooming prices have climbed roughly 40 to 50 percent since 2019, driven by a labor gap: only 150,000 to 180,000 professional groomers serve the entire US dog population.
| Service | Typical add-on cost |
|---|---|
| Light matting | +$15 to $25 |
| Moderate matting | +$30 to $50 |
| Severe matting (shave-down) | +$50 to $100+ |
| Tear stain treatment | +$10 to $15 |
| Mobile groomer premium | +$15 to $25 |
Thumbtack puts the broader national range at $79 to $136 per session across all breed sizes, so a Maltese sits at the cheap end of that spread.
What to say at the salon
Name the style, then give a number. Groomers hear “just a trim” forty times a week and it means nothing.
- Body: “Half inch guard comb on the body” or “one inch comb, scissor finish”
- Face: “Round teddy bear face” or “tapered, muzzle short”
- Ears: “Leave the ears long past the jaw” or “trim ears to the jawline”
- Topknot: “Leave the topknot, I band it at home”
- Tail: “Leave the tail full”
- Feet: “Round the feet, clear the pads”
Bring a photo. Two if the face matters to you.
Checking the groomer
Certification through the National Dog Groomers Association of America is not required to operate, but it signals training beyond on-the-job learning.
Ask whether the salon charges a de-matting fee before the dog goes on the table, not after.
Home tools worth owning
A slicker brush, a metal greyhound comb, and a detangling spray cover almost everything between visits. The comb is the one that finds mats the slicker skims over.
For anyone still deciding on the breed, the wider Maltese breed profile covers temperament and health alongside coat care.
FAQ on Maltese Haircut Styles
What is the most popular Maltese haircut?
The puppy cut ranks first among pet Maltese owners. It keeps the body at a uniform 1 to 2 inches, rounds the face, and needs only three short brushing sessions a week to stay tangle free.
What is the difference between a puppy cut and a teddy bear cut?
Body length and face shape. A puppy cut leaves 1 to 2 inches all over with a softly rounded head, while a teddy bear cut drops the body to roughly 1/2 inch and scissors the face into a full circle.
How short can you cut a Maltese?
A #10 blade takes the coat to 1/16 inch, which is as short as groomers go. Anything under 1/4 inch exposes pale skin, so reserve that length for summer or severe matting.
How often does a Maltese need a haircut?
Every 4 to 8 weeks. Teddy bear and all-over cuts hold shape for about 4 to 6 weeks, while a short summer cut stretches to 8 or 10 before regrowth changes the outline.
Can I cut my Maltese’s hair at home?
Yes for maintenance work: sanitary trim, paw pads, and the eye area with rounded-tip scissors. Full body clipping takes practice, and face shaping on a wriggling toy dog is where most home attempts go sideways.
What clipper blade size is best for a Maltese?
A #10 blade paired with a guard comb gives the most control. Comb sizes from 1/2 inch to 1 inch produce puppy and teddy bear lengths, while a #7F blade alone leaves about 1/8 inch for summer trims.
Does a shorter haircut stop matting?
It slows matting, not stops it. The single coat still tangles behind the ears, in the armpits, and around the groin, so a metal comb through those spots twice a week stays necessary at any length.
How much does a Maltese haircut cost?
Expect $45 to $70 per full groom in most of the US, or about $540 to $910 a year. Major metros add 20 to 40 percent, and de-matting fees start around $15.
Should male and female Maltese get different haircuts?
No. Styling comes down to coat condition and owner preference, not sex. The only real adjustment is a slightly wider sanitary trim on males to keep the belly area clean.
Will shaving a Maltese ruin the coat?
No. Single-coated breeds regrow evenly because there is no undercoat to grow back patchy, unlike double-coated dogs. Regrowth takes roughly 4 to 6 months to reach full pet length again.
Conclusion
Choosing among Maltese haircut styles comes down to one honest question: how many minutes a week will you actually spend with a slicker brush?
Answer that first, then pick the length. A one inch guard comb and a rounded face suit most households.
Scissoring, topknot decisions, and ear fringe all follow from that single number.
Keep the regroom interval tight. Four to six weeks holds shape on a teddy bear trim, and a metal comb through the armpits twice a week prevents the de-matting fee nobody enjoys paying.
Watch the tear stains around the muzzle. White coats show everything.
Bring a photo to the salon, name the blade number, and you will leave with the cut you pictured.
