[Islandcanine]

I never leave my Yorkies Top Knot in at night. Instead I just take her lock and tie it up for bed time.
I find that if I leave her top knot in for too long, the hairs matt around the band. I cut the band but still, the hairs are knotted, thus loosing precious hairs.
My Yorkie is not a show dog. She is an rugged country pup. She is well cared for but she loves to be outside. The Spring and Summer her favorite is to roll in the grass which also causes problems to her top knot.
I have little tiny clips that I use on occasion which gives her relief from the bands but if she rolls in the grass, she often looses them. We deal with it by taking an extra pair on outtings.
The top knot bands that I use are top knot bands that I got from the divadogbowtique online. I don't use anything else.
What I did start doing was using a piece of perming tissue and wrapped her hair first before applying the first band. For the bow, I eliminated the second band wrap and just put both bow bands around the first band, over the wrap. This helps, a lot, even though it is not traditionally correct.

What do experienced Yorkie Groomers think of this idea?

Are there any other suggestions as to how I can put top knots in without it matting around the band after four to five hours?
I cut the band (without a wrap) after taking the bow out but I still loose hair.
How do I avoid this? Please.

Also, if the bands are ever too tight or a piece of hair is pulling, anywhere, she will naturally rub her head on the floor. A sure sign the knot is uncomfortable. What I do is use the tail of the comb to losen the whole top knot before letting her off the grooming table. The result is no more rubbing.

I noticed too, that when she is wearing a top knot, she will still rub her head (like she does even without a top knot) when she is making her bed before she settles in for one of her several naps she goes for per day or when she rolls in the grass, that this must be breaking her hair because after several months I notice that she has less hair and short ones above, between her ears and eyes. I think the rolling and rubbing is causing breakage.

Since she is a dog and rolls in the grass and likes to rub her face on her blanky before settling down for a nap or a nice long belly rub, she is going to do it and I son't feel it is fair to stop her because she seems to enjoy it.

This past winter, I just cut her hair above her eyes so she has bangs.
She obviously approved of it as she suddenly seemed much happier.

I have since been growing it out, getting ready for summertime which is her time for photo shoots etc.

I use flax seed gel to keep her hair back out of her eyes as it grows out. Soon it is going to be long enough again to start tying it back.
Thus asking for suggestions here if anyone has ideas.

Reading this thread, I am amazed at how some can keep the top knot in for a whole week! Do no hairs ever break? Are there absolutely no hairs lost? Even after a whole day?

There must be some other way to secure our babies hairs at night for their bed time. I know my girl prefers to wear her hair out during sleep but it gets way too long and don't want it falling into her mouth so is why I ties it up at night, loosely.

It seems so much easier to just let her have bangs. Thus continue to have a full head of hair rather than breakage that seems to get worse over time. Roxy is so cute with her bows and top knots.

Tightness I do not believe is the issue. When I first started, I think it was and learned quickly simply by reading my dogs disapproval and made her knots a bit looser so she would be happier when I let her down, after grooming.

Any and all feedback is hugely appreciated. Thanking in advance!