Teach Soap

Hi soapers - I am a newbie to this site (and also have only been working on soap for a few months), but I really love how natural soaps make my skin feel, and I love the creative expressions I'm able to get with the limited batches I've made so far! Luckily, my honey is putting up with this new obsession of mine (at least for now - we'll see what happens when I completely take over the kitchen, tee hee!)

I've been reading about shampoo bars, and I've wanted to make my dogs a soap I can use to clean them. They're 2 little yorkies, and they hate baths. I thought about trying to make a soap to use for them, but I have a few questions...

1) Is it possible to make a formula that won't burn their eyes? If not, I won't even try to make a soap for them.
2) I read that you cannot use human shampoo on dogs, because of the different ph of their skin. Is it possible to adjust soap formulas so it's not too drying (or leaves too much residue) on their hair / skin?
3) Does anyone have a basic recipe for soap for dog hair that I could play around with? I know the one I use now from some doggy Big Box uses tea tree oil and some other good dog-deodorizing scents.

I've enjoyed lurking on the forums so far, and I appreciate anyone's thoughts on this!

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Chrissy

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If you get any kind of shampoo/soap in their eyes, it's going to burn.

You can't really adjust the ph of CP soap too much without it failing and turning into a liquidy mess. A surfactant based shampoo bar would have a lower ph, but I'm not sure if it would be acceptable for dogs skin.

I wouldn't personally use EO's on a dog, especially smaller breeds. There noses & skin are incredibly sensitive to the smallest smells.

We always get so many compliments about our dogs shiney healthy coat and how he smells so good. Then people look at us all crazy when we tell them, yep it's because he only gets a bath once a year and the occasional spray down with plain water. In 13 1/2 yrs he's never had fleas or any skin conditions. He's a short haired dachshund though, so they don't need many baths.

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Genny

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Irena
Closed minds are like faulty parachutes; they refuse to open.

All the literature that I have seen indicates that a dog's skin is roughly 0.75 of a pH point less acidic than human skin, and so a dog shampoo should have a pH of between 6.5 and 7 typically. There's no way I would use any kind of natural soap on a dog. I do make a shampoo for my dog because the commercial ones are full of SLS, but it is only for him; it is a simple sulphate-free shampoo with no colouring and no fragrance at all.

I read it from somewhere by a groomer and dog show person that acidic shampoo won't work on dog, actually alkaline cleaner is better. I used to use store bought dog shampoo to clean my dog and her fur would be clean but coarse and not shinny at all. Then I started using my natural liquid shampoo I made from scratch on her and gosh what a difference it makes! Her hair is like cloud soft and everyone compliment on her. The best thing is she doesn't stink as much because I used a tiny amount of tea tree and lavender essential oil in the soap.

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Shieh Design Studio
https://www.facebook.com/ShiehDesignStudio
http://soapandrestless.blogspot.com

Thanks, everyone!

I don't feel advanced enough to attempt a liquid soap yet, so I will continue to purchase the "totally natural pet shampoo" that I have now. The ingredients list: water, natural cleansers, aloe vera, xanthan gum, tea tree oil, olive oil squalene. I believe that in time (and with some ph testers so I can make sure I'm getting the ph balance right), I might attempt a liquid soap for my doggers sometime in the future. It makes their hair pretty shiny, and they don't seem to itch or scratch, but I agree that if I tried it, I'd use very little or no fragrance or essential oils.

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Chrissy

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