Dog soap for shiny coat

[maria_merry]

I made dog shampoo soap (cold proccess), and after trying the results were a bit different from what's expected: during washing you feel that the hair is getting very dull/dry touch, and after washing the coat looked rather dull and dry and matted. It seemed the soap took out all the natural protection of the dogs fur.

I used olive oil, palm oil, coconut oil, castor oil, neem oil, pepermint oil and rice bran oil, with 2% superfat. Any advice on how can I get the coat to look shiny, healthy and not matted after washing?

 

[BattleGnome]

Making soap for pets tends to be a controversial topic on the forum, more so than shampoo bars/soap (since you’re basically washing hair). There are a bunch of threads if you want to do the search but I’ll mention that many of them end up in debates rather than helpful ideas. That said, the general consciences is that you should not use a lye base soap on your pets.

A dog’s hair/skin is very sensitive to changes in pH, from what I understand. A lye based soap has a high pH, at least 9, and that’s just the science behind it. If you try to lower the pH to something milder (usually a 7) the product you end up with is legally and scientifically not soap (I see you’re not from the US but you may have seen marketing for “beauty bars” vs soap). The only way to get a milder soap like product is to use synthetic detergents (syndets) to make a shampoo bar (or similar).

If you were making a shampoo bar for your own hair the suggestions would be either to use an apple cider vinegar rinse after washing or to not use one at all (lots of shampoo debates if you want to look them up). I have never had a dog, so my direct advice is probably useless.

It is my understanding that a dog’s skin is more sensitive than a human’s scalp, I’d imagine hair following along with similar sensitivity. By using a proper soap you stripped out all the natural protections keeping your dog’s skin and hair looking nice. Without a full recipe I cannot point to any one tweak but I can say palm and coconut do tend to be harsh in larger quantities.

 

[shunt2011]

As BattleGnome stated you'll get mixed reviews. My vet said not to use soap. So, I don't. There are many who say it works just fine.

 

[gloopygloop]

I completely agree with the other two posters, BattleGnome was spot on. I would advise you to not go the soap rout for any hair human or animal, there is nothing wrong with a nicely made shampoo, liquid or bar. As BattleGkome stated dogs skin pH is higher than human and around the 7....ish mark therefore if you were formulation a surfactant shampoo you should take that into account, for human hair and scalp we would pH at around 5....ish.

 

[jcandleattic]

For a shinier coat, look into their diet and consult a vet. Some dogs will just not have a shiny coat...

 

[Arimara]

I'm going to say this for a little added perspective: a dog's skin is more sensitive than that of a baby. Many, if not most, people would not use a handmade soap on a baby as often times, a baby's skin is too sensitive for it. That said, if it's too harsh for a baby, you probaby might want to rethink using it for a pet.

I agree with jcandleattic- look into your pet's diet and consult a vet. The easiest change you can make is to add flax or salmon oil to you dog's food. however, they type and brand of food would also matter. I know many would be leery of this but consider some premium food for your dog. They don't have to cost an arm and a leg (like Origen- good gravy) but they should, at the least, be free of corn, wheat and soy.

 

[CatahoulaBubble]

If you wash your dog with a lye based soap you will need to apply a conditioner. The soap strips all of the natural oils out of their fur. I've made a super conditioning bar for my dogs that is akin to Dove cleansing bar but I don't use it very often. I found human shampoo just works better. The only time I want to strip oils is if they get sprayed by skunks or roll in dead things in which case Blue Dawn and Tomato juice can't be beat. There's just not a very friendly recipe that works for dogs very well in Lye based soaps.