Maltese Haircuts: 8 Beautiful Styles for the White Silky Coat

The Maltese coat is closer to human hair than to most dog fur: a single layer of straight white silk with no undercoat, growing continuously toward the floor. That single coat is why Maltese styles look the way they do — the hair drapes and swings instead of standing off the body — and why the same haircut names mean something different here than on a Poodle mix. This guide covers the 8 best Maltese haircuts, from the show ring's floor-length mantle to the Korean-style face trim taking over pet salons, plus the honest realities of keeping white coat white. For frequency, costs, and tools, see our full Maltese grooming guide.

Maltese Haircut Styles at a Glance

Style	Body length	Home effort	Best for
Puppy cut	½–¾ in	2–3 brushings / week	The everyday default
Teddy bear cut	¾–1 in, round face	3–4 brushings / week	Soft, plush look
Bob cut	1–1½ in, blunt edge	3–4 brushings / week	Sleek, tailored silhouette
Korean-style face	Any body + rounded face	Daily face wipe	Big-eyed, youthful look
Summer cut	⅜–½ in	1–2 brushings / week	Heat, minimal upkeep
Topknot styles	Long crown, banded	Daily re-banding	Classic Maltese charm
Stain-aware face	Short eye corners	Daily wipe	Heavy tear-stainers
Show coat	Floor length, center part	Daily, extensive	Exhibitors and devotees

1. The Show Coat — Floor Length with a Center Part

The breed standard look: a single sheet of white silk parted precisely down the spine from nose to tail, hanging to the ground on both sides so the dog appears to glide. The head coat is divided into one or two banded topknots, and nothing is clipped — the coat is grown, protected, and trimmed only at floor level.

What that takes: daily line combing with a metal comb after misting with conditioner (dry-brushing silk snaps it), food-safe protection at mealtimes, banding or wrapping the coat sections for dogs actively being shown, and a bath-and-blowout weekly. Silk this fine breaks under a slicker used carelessly, so show homes work mostly with pin brushes and combs. It is glorious, and it is a part-time job — which is exactly why the rest of this list exists.

2. The Puppy Cut — the Everyday Default

An even ½ to ¾ inch over body and legs, usually off a snap-on comb over a #30 blade, with the face left slightly fuller and natural. On Maltese silk this length lies flatter and sleeker than the same cut on a curly breed — expect shine, not fluff.

It is the cut groomers steer most pet Maltese toward, for good reasons: it brushes out in minutes, dries fast (critical for a dog that needs frequent baths to stay white), and regrows evenly. If your Maltese is actually a Maltese mix, the coat may behave differently — our Morkie haircut guide covers how Yorkie texture changes the game.

3. The Teddy Bear Cut

Same family as the puppy cut but styled rounder and fuller: ¾ to 1 inch on the body and a face scissored into a circle with curved shears — full cheeks, rounded crown, ears blended into the head shape. Because Maltese coat is straight rather than curly, the round face needs product-free precision scissoring to hold its shape; it will never be as naturally poufy as a Bichon or Maltipoo face.

Maintenance sits a notch above the puppy cut: the fuller face collects food and tears, and the longer body wants brushing every other day. The technique behind the head shape is the same across breeds — our teddy bear cut walkthrough shows how it is built.

4. The Bob Cut

A style that only works on drape-y coats like this one: the body is left at 1 to 1½ inches and finished with a blunt, even bottom line all the way around — like a human bob haircut wrapped around a dog. The legs are trimmed into neat straight columns, the ears often cut to one clean length with the face, and the overall effect is tailored and expensive-looking.

The blunt edge is the maintenance catch: it only reads "bob" while the line is crisp, so this style grows out of shape in about 3 weeks and rewards clients who keep a tight rebooking cadence. Brushing needs are moderate — the hanging coat tangles at friction points (collar, armpits, ears) before anywhere else.

5. The Korean-Style Face Trim

The most-requested Maltese face of the past few years, imported from Korean pet salons and all over social media. The recipe: muzzle and cheek coat scissored short and rounded so it hugs the face instead of hanging, crown trimmed into a soft short cap (no topknot, no band), ears typically shortened to frame the cheeks, and everything shaped to make the eyes read enormous. The dog looks like a plush toy version of its own puppyhood.

Practical notes from the grooming side: this face is kinder to stain-prone dogs than a traditional bearded face, because the short rounded muzzle keeps hair out of the tear film and away from the mouth. It also needs re-shaping every 3–4 weeks — the roundness is pure scissor geometry, and a month of growth turns "youthful" into "shaggy." It pairs beautifully with a ½ inch puppy-cut body.

6. The Summer Cut

A ⅜ to ½ inch all-over trim, usually keeping the tail plume and a bit of ear fringe so the silhouette still says Maltese. Since the breed carries no undercoat, there is no "coat function" argument against cutting short — this is the easiest version of the dog to keep clean, and for a breed that shows every speck of dirt, that matters more than heat.

Keep two cautions in mind: never clip a Maltese to the skin (white-coated dogs are sunburn-prone, and clipper irritation shows vividly on pink skin), and remember short coat still stains — the mouth and feet need the same wiping routine at any length.

7. Topknot Styles

The classic Maltese crown: hair on the top of the head grown long and gathered into a single band above the eyes (the pet standard), a double topknot with a center part (the show standard), or a short sprout with a small bow for the full vintage look. A topknot keeps hair out of the eyes without cutting it, preserves the option of growing coat later, and is, frankly, adorable.

The commitment is real though: bands must come out and be re-set daily — left in, they mat at the base and can snap the coat or rub sores. Use proper latex grooming bands, never office elastics, and never band so tight the skin tents. Households that won't re-band daily should choose a trimmed crown or visor instead; a grown-out topknot flopping into the eyes causes more irritation than it prevents.

8. Tear-Stain-Aware Face Options

Rust-colored tear staining is the number one Maltese face complaint, and haircut choices genuinely change it. The stain is porphyrin — an iron-containing pigment in tears and saliva — oxidizing red-brown in the coat, and it wicks along hair like ink along a paper towel. Face options that fight it:

• Short inner corners: the hair at the inner eye corner kept to ⅛ inch so there is less wick. The single highest-impact request you can make.
• Angled cheek lines: cheek coat scissored to fall away from the eye rather than across the tear path.
• Korean-style round face: as above — short muzzle coat keeps both tears and saliva staining contained.
• Clean face: the whole muzzle taken short with a #10; the most stain-resistant and least traditional option.

Pair the cut with daily warm-water wiping and thorough drying (damp stain hair breeds yeast, which adds brown to the red). Chronic heavy tearing deserves a vet look — ducts, lashes, and dental crowding are common culprits — before any cosmetic fix.

The White-Coat Reality: Whitening and Staining

A word of honesty about "keeping them white." Maltese coat discolors from four sources: tears (face), saliva (feet and forelegs from licking), urine (rear), and plain environment (everywhere). Whitening shampoos — bluing or enzymatic — brighten genuinely, but they work on fresh discoloration, not set stain; oxidized porphyrin is effectively dyed into the hair shaft and only grows out with trims. That is the practical case for the 3–4 week groom cycle: frequent baths plus regular trimming of stained ends is the entire secret behind every gleaming white Maltese you have ever met. Bleach, peroxide, and whitening pastes near the eyes are not worth the risk, and most groomers will refuse them.

Which Maltese Haircut Should You Choose?

• Simplest life, brightest white: puppy cut or summer cut on a 3–4 week cycle.
• Maximum cute, moderate effort: teddy bear body with a Korean-style face.
• Tailored and distinctive: bob cut, if you will keep the rebooking tight.
• Heavy tear-stainer: any body length with short eye corners and a rounded or clean face.
• Grooming is your hobby: the long coat with a banded topknot — go gradually, and keep a comb in every room.

To see how these choices compare across other small breeds and coat types, our complete dog grooming styles guide puts the whole style vocabulary in one place.

For Groomers: Consistency Is the Whole Product

Maltese owners are among the most detail-attentive clients in the book — they will notice a face rounder than last time, an eye corner left long, a bob line that sits half an inch lower. GroomBoard keeps every dog's exact recipe in its pet profile — body comb, face style, eye-corner length, topknot or trimmed crown, staining notes — so the trim is repeatable no matter who is on the table that day, and automated SMS reminders hold clients to the 3–4 week cadence that white coats demand. Start your free 14-day trial →