need dog soap recipe,

[c0ntrite]

Hello Guys,

I need a simple dog soap recipe preferably made from Palm Oil, Coconut Oil and Olive Oil since those oils are the only common ones that I like to use here in the Philippines. I have a site that caters dogs for sale in the Philippines and would like to sell dog soaps on that site.

People are looking for dog soaps for sensitive skin. no fragrance please and tested already Please keep in mind that their pH is of between 6.2 and 7.4 thanks!

 

[maya]

What have you tried so far? Are you looking for liquid or bar? I assume cold process and not melt and pour.

 

[Susie]

You are not going to be able to make a soap with a pH between 6.2 and 7.4. To get it that low, you need to look to synthetic detergents(syndets). There are many people who make dog soaps that are higher pH than that, but you need to understand that you will not be able to make a soap that low.

 

[Dorymae]

Ditto what Susie said. Real soap simply can not be that low of a PH - that is just the nature of soap.

Also most people will not give away their tested recipes. You may be able to find some on the web somewhere but I doubt highly that they will be tested. People who take the time to fully test usually do so because they sell themselves and so are not keen on giving away something they worked hard to create.

 

[Susie]

Ditto what Dorymae said. I could not think of a polite way to say that, so I am glad she did. If you want to know what has been discussed on the subject, just scroll to the bottom of the page and there are several links. Or you can use the search box at the top to search for dog soap.

 

[The Efficacious Gentleman]

Ditto what Susie said. Real soap simply can not be that low of a PH - that is just the nature of soap.

Also most people will not give away their tested recipes. You may be able to find some on the web somewhere but I doubt highly that they will be tested. People who take the time to fully test usually do so because they sell themselves and so are not keen on giving away something they worked hard to create.

Especially when someone wants to then go on to sell it :eh:

To the OP, at the bottom of the page are links to other posts about dog soaps. There is also a post in this section about 3 or 4 posts down where someone was asking about dog shampoo - what did you think of the information that was in there regarding formulating a recipe?

 

[c0ntrite]

Thanks guys for the response. I'm currently testing just a plain recipe using Palm, Coconut Oil and Olive Oil. No fragrance. This is using cold process. Also thank you for the reminder regarding the nature of soaps and it can't have any lower pH than usual. I haven't tested it out on dogs but I've been using them on myself. I don't like the smell, could it be because I didn't put it through gel phase?

 

[Susie]

Gel phase won't affect the smell. Lack of EOs or FOs will. If you are willing to add some EOs, then you can add(for the dogs) cedarwood, neem, tea tree...small amounts so as not to irritate, but it does not take much to add a faint scent and enormous label appeal.

Since your join date was 2010, I assumed you have been making soap that long. Am I correct? Or is it at least over a year or more?

 

[Bubli]

I use the 100% coconut oil soap with the 20% super fat. That's it! Seriously! I had originally made it for me but it was still too drying on my skin so I use it on my mini snow white poodle. And I honestly can say that the coconut oil soap is the only natural thing that has eliminated the staining on his fur. And for what ever crazy reason, it kills fleas not just temporarily knocks them out and it eliminates doggie odor in the fur.I also use it for dishes and and laundry stain stick. I like it for dog soap because it lathers A LOT and super fast.who has time to fight a freezes out dog while trying to work up a lather?Not me!

 

[shunt2011]

I would not use 100% CO on my dog regardless of superfat. Their skin is so very sensitive. No way no how.

 

[BugSoap]

I may have to give the Coconut oil soap a try for my dog.
We get allot of ticks and fleas around here, be good to kill the fleas without nasty store bought stuff, wonder if it works on ticks too?

How does it work? Does it just kill the fleas at bath time, or does it keep killing for awhile like days or weeks?
Does it do anything to keep the fleas chased away from the dog?

I been looking at EO FO wondering if any really chase away fleas/ticks or kills them for a period of time, yet still safe for dogs!

 

[BubblesnBears]

Although testing on yourself first is fine - and I'd certainly recommend it before you test on your own or anybody else's pooch - if you intend selling a dog soap/shampoo you need to test it thoroughly (through family and friends is probably your best bet) BEFORE you sell to the general public. Although it's essentially the same structure, dogs do have different skin/hair properties to us - especially dogs with sensitive/itchy skin, which is often due to some degree of failure in the protective skin "barrier" (if you're trying to formulate for sensitive dogs, you may want to do some research on canine atopy/atopic dermatitis first...Am not working in that area any longer due to injury & chronic health health issued, but I was a vet in a "past life"

I would also be careful with EOs ... Although many do have good insect repelling properties, some that are relatively safe for us can be quite toxic to pets (especially for example if the animal manages to ingest some of the lather).

 

[Dahila]

100% CO will strip the hair from the natural oil, which add to problems with dog's skin. I had judged and breed dogs for half of my life and would never use soap. It is to harsh for dogs. Just remember dogs fur is a protection against the cold, the heat, the humidity. It seems to work on white poodle, but wait till the time the dog gets skin infection due the drying. It will cost thousand and not always it is curable. People should treat dogs fur like babies skin, so they would avoid a lot of troubles. In addition, dogs have 100 better sense of smell than people, and what is ok for us and lightly scented, it is a suffering for dogs
They hate our perfumes, creams and they lick our hands to get rid of scent
I do mean no disrespect but I am dog crazy

 

[BubblesnBears]

Agree on the CO & EOs Dahlia.

I do make a dog soap bar (developed it initially - and have used it with good success on my bullmastiff x who has severe allergies) - has also been tested by a good number of others with all sorts of and even some of my vet friends at our local clinic have been using little else on their dogs & love it ... am currently looking at a deal with the owner to get some on his shelves for sale ... But it was well over a year of work & testing before I even thought about selling. But it's als probably my most expensive bar to make (or close to it) due to the oils I use as I aim for high conditioning/low cleansing - and my personal choice is to use herbal extracts over EOs - which of course also adds to $$

 

[Dahila]

I do agree that you can develop gentle soap, what about Ph? Are u lowering it somehow?
I do not have dog right now, but if I had I would make a shampoo with surfacants, genle ones. They are probably cheaper than expensive oil. I am not selling I make soap for myself, and my family. Maybe one day when i have as much expierence with soap as I have with dogs, I will open the busyness) Use calendula infusion it is very gentle for skin, somehow that tough herb survives a bit in soap

I use shampoo bar for myself and my hair stopped falling out, I believe due the lack of harsh chemicals.....
I was breeding German boxers, I love bullmastiffs )

 

[BubblesnBears]

I don't do anything to alter the soap pH... Bearing in mind I'm just using strips, and obviously water interferes with the reading too - the soap once lathered with water has a pH of approx 7. Which I figure works quite well as the normal dog pH skin range is usually regarded as something like 6.2-7.4 (much higher than ours!)

Liquid shampoo is the next step...I have a few natural surfactants and other goodies that I've been using to play around with a human recipe, but I've completely run out of storage room (is the trouble with too many crafts!)

 

[shunt2011]

I don't do anything to alter the soap pH... Bearing in mind I'm just using strips, and obviously water interferes with the reading too - the soap once lathered with water has a pH of approx 7. Which I figure works quite well as the normal dog pH skin range is usually regarded as something like 6.2-7.4 (much higher than ours!)

Liquid shampoo is the next step...I have a few natural surfactants and other goodies that I've been using to play around with a human recipe, but I've completely run out of storage room (is the trouble with too many crafts!)

The normal ph of handmade soap is 8-12 or higher. My vet was very firm about not using handmade soaps on my dogs. State the ph is way too high for most dogs. So, with that I will not ever use handmade soap for them. All the conditioning in the world won't drop the ph which will strip natural oils that dogs skin and fur needs.

If you are comfortable doing it that's fine but I personally wouldn't risk it.

 

[BubblesnBears]

The normal ph of handmade soap is 8-12 or higher. My vet was very firm about not using handmade soaps on my dogs. State the ph is way too high for most dogs. So, with that I will not ever use handmade soap for them. All the conditioning in the world won't drop the ph which will strip natural oils that dogs skin and fur needs.

If you are comfortable doing it that's fine but I personally wouldn't risk it.

That's fair enough... But having said that, I am a qualified vet (am not working in practice as I developed a neurological disease several years ago and then as a "bonus" fractured my spine three years ago but I still maintain close links with a good number of former teachers, mentors and colleagues) - have consulted other vets (including asking them to test for me) and in development & testing have spoken several times with a specialist dematologist I know.

And yes...would agree that if you were slopping something with a pH of a soap bar (as in - the substance of the actual bar....not entirely sure that makes sense, but I can't think of how better to word it and hopefully you'll get where I'm coming from!) all over a dog's coat, you might be asking for trouble...I say "might" - but in reality unless you've got a super sensitive dog, or you're constantly bathing him/her - pH really isn't (in my opinion and research) quite as crucial as it's made out to be.

I instruct (or at least suggest! to my customers) that they thoroughly wet their dog's coat first - and then apply pre lathered ... Is more educated guesswork and observation than quantitative measurement, but for my large dogs, I'd use about 3L of water to wet their coats first - and with lathering up the bar before applying I'd use perhaps 100ml of lather for the whole dog. My calculations are never going to be exactly on the mark as I'm making a few assumptions regarding water pH, behaviour of the soap lather in solution and such (it's not going to behave quite as a true aqueous solution I'd guess, and being only a weak base complicates things too) - but for the purpose I need and given the wide range of variation in dog skin, I'm happy enough using it. And with that, using the soap in this manner & those approximate concentrations does effectively lower the pH to somewhere in the range of doggy skin levels and still gives a good clean and condition. (The pH of the soap straight up is higher - e.g. the drop of water on a pH strip test comes out at around 8.5-9)

Added: Hmm...reading that back perhaps isn't the clearest what I'm trying to say about my pH (is late afternoon here and it's been a long day after a long night...!) The pH of these bars IS around 8.5-9. The pH of my diluted lather (both with pH strip, and calculated based on bar pH & approximate dilution factors) comes in between 6.9 & 7.2

Hope that clarifies a bit - and also why I'm entirely comfortable with it being used on my own - and other peoples' - dogs?

 

[shunt2011]

That's fair enough... But having said that, I am a qualified vet (am not working in practice as I developed a neurological disease several years ago and then as a "bonus" fractured my spine three years ago but I still maintain close links with a good number of former teachers, mentors and colleagues) - have consulted other vets (including asking them to test for me) and in development & testing have spoken several times with a specialist dematologist I know.

And yes...would agree that if you were slopping something with a pH of a soap bar (as in - the substance of the actual bar....not entirely sure that makes sense, but I can't think of how better to word it and hopefully you'll get where I'm coming from!) all over a dog's coat, you might be asking for trouble...I say "might" - but in reality unless you've got a super sensitive dog, or you're constantly bathing him/her - pH really isn't (in my opinion and research) quite as crucial as it's made out to be.

I instruct (or at least suggest! to my customers) that they thoroughly wet their dog's coat first - and then apply pre lathered ... Is more educated guesswork and observation than quantitative measurement, but for my large dogs, I'd use about 3L of water to wet their coats first - and with lathering up the bar before applying I'd use perhaps 100ml of lather for the whole dog. My calculations are never going to be exactly on the mark as I'm making a few assumptions regarding water pH, behaviour of the soap lather in solution and such (it's not going to behave quite as a true aqueous solution I'd guess, and being only a weak base complicates things too) - but for the purpose I need and given the wide range of variation in dog skin, I'm happy enough using it. And with that, using the soap in this manner & those approximate concentrations does effectively lower the pH to somewhere in the range of doggy skin levels and still gives a good clean and condition. (The pH of the soap straight up is higher - e.g. the drop of water on a pH strip test comes out at around 8.5-9)

Added: Hmm...reading that back perhaps isn't the clearest what I'm trying to say about my pH (is late afternoon here and it's been a long day after a long night...!) The pH of these bars IS around 8.5-9. The pH of my diluted lather (both with pH strip, and calculated based on bar pH & approximate dilution factors) comes in between 6.9 & 7.2

Hope that clarifies a bit - and also why I'm entirely comfortable with it being used on my own - and other peoples' - dogs?

That's perfectly fine if you are comfortable with it. I still won't. Thank for the info though.

 

[The Efficacious Gentleman]

That's fair enough... But having said that, I am a qualified vet (am not working in practice as I developed a neurological disease several years ago and then as a "bonus" fractured my spine three years ago but I still maintain close links with a good number of former teachers, mentors and colleagues) - have consulted other vets (including asking them to test for me) and in development & testing have spoken several times with a specialist dematologist I know.

And yes...would agree that if you were slopping something with a pH of a soap bar (as in - the substance of the actual bar....not entirely sure that makes sense, but I can't think of how better to word it and hopefully you'll get where I'm coming from!) all over a dog's coat, you might be asking for trouble...I say "might" - but in reality unless you've got a super sensitive dog, or you're constantly bathing him/her - pH really isn't (in my opinion and research) quite as crucial as it's made out to be.

I instruct (or at least suggest! to my customers) that they thoroughly wet their dog's coat first - and then apply pre lathered ... Is more educated guesswork and observation than quantitative measurement, but for my large dogs, I'd use about 3L of water to wet their coats first - and with lathering up the bar before applying I'd use perhaps 100ml of lather for the whole dog. My calculations are never going to be exactly on the mark as I'm making a few assumptions regarding water pH, behaviour of the soap lather in solution and such (it's not going to behave quite as a true aqueous solution I'd guess, and being only a weak base complicates things too) - but for the purpose I need and given the wide range of variation in dog skin, I'm happy enough using it. And with that, using the soap in this manner & those approximate concentrations does effectively lower the pH to somewhere in the range of doggy skin levels and still gives a good clean and condition. (The pH of the soap straight up is higher - e.g. the drop of water on a pH strip test comes out at around 8.5-9)

Added: Hmm...reading that back perhaps isn't the clearest what I'm trying to say about my pH (is late afternoon here and it's been a long day after a long night...!) The pH of these bars IS around 8.5-9. The pH of my diluted lather (both with pH strip, and calculated based on bar pH & approximate dilution factors) comes in between 6.9 & 7.2

Hope that clarifies a bit - and also why I'm entirely comfortable with it being used on my own - and other peoples' - dogs?

This is because the actual pH measurement of soap needs to be at a 1:99 ratio with water. So when you are using yours and using more water than that, the reading will be not to compare to the 1:99 reading, nor does it work testing directly on the bar.

Which is why pH testing is pretty much worthless, as unless EVERYONE does it correctly, the numbers mean nothing.