It’s the time of the year again to book CNY 2024 grooming slots for your fur baby! So here’s what we’re going to do for the upcoming peak season for grooming.
Appointment booking will be on a first come first serve basis.
Please let us know at least 48 hours before your appointment for cancellation or rescheduling.
Rescheduled appointments will be after our CNY break.
The surcharge for CNY 2024 is as follows:
15 to 28 Jan – $10 surcharge per appointment 29 Jan to 8 Feb – $15 surcharge per appointment
Every Tues & Thurs, grooming will be done at our humble abode. Two-way transport available at an additional $25. Pickup will be around 11 am and drop off around 7 pm. Timing is based on estimation and subject to traffic conditions. For pickup before 11 am, depending on your location, ERP fees will be charged.
After our Andis 5-speed clipper retired during our CNY busy period, we started to research various brands of clippers. We do know of groomers, especially in the western countries have been raving about this brand called Heiniger. It’s relatively still new in Singapore and not many local reviews yet. So we can only base on reviews from groomers from the west.
Like Andis, it does come with a few cordless models and a corded one. With all the options available, we couldn’t decide which to get and decided to head down to the store to better understand the products.
The Purchase & Unboxing
We bought ours at Kwong Chow Kee, located in Chinatown’s Fook Hai Building. After checking the availability with the shop, we decided to head our way down during one of our off days.
When we were there, we got the lady to introduce us to Heiniger and we get to hold it to see which model is comfortable for us. The corded clipper, Saphir Cord, speed is much better than the cordless clipper, Saphir Basic.
There are 3 cordless models, Saphir Basic, Saphir Style, and Opal. Both Saphir Basic and Saphir Style is only one speed, while Opal is two speed. We ended up getting Saphir Basic as firstly, it’s within our budget. Secondly, we love its plain-looking. Thirdly, the weight is just right. There’s an option to purchase an additional cord that connects to the clipper to use a corded clipper. It is good for mobile groomers who might forget to charge the battery or experience low battery while on the go. But we didn’t purchase it as we would like to see how long the battery can last us on a single charge.
The entire set that we bought comes with: Clipper Lithium-Ion battery Heiniger #10 blade Charger Care Kit
Personal Experience
Finally got to use it after the first full charge. We were impressed at how well the pre-shave was. Despite being one speed, we would say the first pre-shave was amazingly near clean and even. We were further impressed and amazed after the final shave.
Weight-wise, it’s slightly heavier than our old Andis 5-speed. But definitely lighter than Andis 2-speed. It’s not taxing on our wrist when we use it from appointment to appointment. The only downside is there’s no indicator when the battery gets low. We were told it will get slower before it totally stops. Maybe it’s us, we couldn’t tell if it’s getting slower. We had to use our shears twice to finish the grooming session when the battery died on us. We are still learning how to notice when the battery needs to be charged.
It’s our very first cordless and we’re impressed at how we managed to shave at an angle we couldn’t do with a corded clipper. Best of all, no more tripping over the wire! Yes, sometimes we do trip over the wire and it gets annoying. Now that we’re using a cordless clipper, such a thing is of the past.
Andis vs Heiniger (Personal Opinion)
After a few days of using Heiniger, we’ve realised that we missed out a lot! In our opinion, Heiniger seems to work much better for us.
We’ve been using Andis for years, ever since we started as a student and an apprentice. From Andis 2 speed to 5 speed, the cords have been giving us issues. Though we love how light Andis 5 speed was nothing can be compared to a cordless one.
In terms of weight for cordless clippers that we’ve tried, Andis cordless clipper is heavier for us. The detachable battery itself weighs a lot, especially when in use, it’s very taxing on our wrist which made it difficult to manoeuvre during grooming. Whereas the Heiniger, we’ve tried all cordless series at the store before purchase, they’re much lighter compared to Andis cordless clippers. It’s easier to manoeuvre and less stress on the wrist.
Shaving-wise, Heiniger gives a much cleaner cut on pre-shave and is much quieter. The blades don’t get hot fast compared to when we were using Andis where we had to take a break to let the blades cool down before we continue.
It’s the best buy ever in our grooming career. We didn’t regret switching over to Heiniger. Totally recommend this to fellow groomers out there who are looking to purchase a new clipper.
After we settled our supawvisors and pawcation fur kids, we head out to pick Jeremy up for his week-long stay with us. Once arrived, he didn’t hesitate to hop into our little hatchback to begin his adventure with us. We were told he loves car rides.
During the journey back to our humble abode, Jeremy kept looking out the windows which we lowered a little for him to enjoy the wind blowing against his face or to take in the smell along the way back.
Once home, Jeremy mingled with our supawvisors and pawcation fur kids. And we got to know, he can get angry from the persistent dog(s) that kept annoying him. We had to separate him and Ruffles before a fight broke out. Thankfully we do have a playpen for such a scenario and it does come in handy in times like this.
Christmas Gathering – 27 December
As we had a Christmas gathering planned with our friend, we seek Jeremy’s pawrents for permission to bring him along. Thankfully, they gave the green light and so we took him along. Together with our supawvisors, we head out for a Christmas party.
Our friend stayed in landed property with a garden big enough for them to run or explore. Jeremy enjoyed himself while he explore this new place. At first, he wasn’t happy with our friend’s Lhasa apso for smelling his butt. But after a while of understanding and leaving one another alone, peace was restored.
We had BBQ for dinner and Jeremy was always loitering around us hoping to have some food. Though we were told he can eat anything except kangaroo, but we refrained from giving him anything as the meats were all marinated which wasn’t suitable to feed the fur kids. And so he just had to take in the aroma of our dinner instead.
The next day, Jeremy and our supawvisors looked so exhausted that none of them were willing to wake up for breakfast. It’s like they partied hard the day before and had some hungover the next day.
Rainy Days
It’s monsoon season and it’s been raining for days. Sometimes it was just passing rain clouds, sometimes it could rain the entire day. It was a little difficult to bring the fur kids out for walks or excursions. And it was much more when Jeremy is outdoor trained. He needs his potty breaks. But we were told he would use the pee pads if the circumstances aren’t to his favor for outdoor potty breaks.
We do bring him out for a quick potty break before the next rain comes. Albeit short outdoor moment, it was the best we could give in such bad weather. However, we did a short walk at the park connector on a good day which Jeremy and our supawvisors enjoyed. We didn’t walk far as we’re afraid of a change of weather without any warning. Walking near home makes it easier to rush home if the weather were to turn bad.
Grooming Day
Jeremy’s pawrents requested a grooming session during his pawcation with us. And we scheduled it nearer to the date before his stay with us ends. We offered to do a video about his grooming session as they were keen to know if he behaved well.
We were told he had never been out for professional grooming before and they were a little worried he might be difficult to handle. They adopted him and had traveled to a few countries before coming to Singapore. Was told the grooming fees overseas were crazily expensive and thus they’ve always groomed him themselves at home. So it’s an honor for us to give him nice professional grooming and we’re glad that the pawrents love it.
Attached is the video on this entry, so do watch it if you’re keen.
Home Sweet Home
It was time for Jeremy to head home. We enjoyed our time spent with him and definitely will miss him. He enjoyed his car ride home and was pretty excited to head home upon seeing his pawrent. Hope we get to see him again and share another adventure together.
