<\/p>We hear this question all the time\u2013 \u201cwhat\u2019s the difference between my shampoo and my dog\u2019s shampoo?\u201d\n

You may be surprised to learn that a lot is different. Of course, if you run out of Fido\u2019s shampoo and you use your own to wash your dog a couple of times, nothing will happen. Your dog\u2019s hair won\u2019t fall out and life will probably go on as normal.<\/p>\n

But there are areas in which human and dog shampoos differ. You may not notice the ill effects of human shampoo if used only a couple of times, but after repeated use, you\u2019ll start to see.<\/p>\n

1. Ingredients.<\/strong> Dog\u2019s have different problems that humans do. We usually don\u2019t sit around and scratch our heads as much as dogs scratch. This is because dog\u2019s eliminate toxins differently than we do. We can sweat them out. Since dogs really don\u2019t sweat, their toxins are eliminated through their kidneys and bowels. Try an all natural herbal detoxifier<\/a> that you add to your dog\u2019s food. As a topical solution to relieve itchy skin and soothe skin inflammations try products with colloidal oatmeal , boswellia, burdock and comfrey. The best shampoo to help relieve itchy skin is Comfy Dog<\/a> Oatmeal Shampoo for Dry & Itchy Skin.<\/p>\n

2. Ph Balance.<\/strong> A dog\u2019s skin is about 7.5 while human skin is about 5.5 (to put it in perspective, water is about 7.0). Therefore, a dog\u2019s skin is more alkaline so ideally a dog\u2019s shampoo should be between 6.5-7.5 or it could be irritating to the skin. Highly acidic shampoos may also diminish the hair\u2019s protective qualities, removing valuable oil from the coat and skin. the result is dry, irritated skin and a dull coat. Of course it\u2019s a vicious cycle because the dog will scratch which only makes the problem worse.<\/p>\n

3. Dog\u2019s have sensitive skin<\/strong>\u2013 A dog only has about 3-5 cell-layers thick while we have about 10-15 layers thick. So, harsh shampoos with lots of chemicals and those that aren\u2019t PH balanced will be irritating.<\/p>\n

The case for conditioners<\/strong> \u2013 Shampoos by design are used for cleaning- removing unwanted grime from the skin and coat. But shampooing, without sealing the coat afterwords, leaves the hair shaft open\u2013 at that point residue can enter and oils and hydration escapes.<\/p>\n

What you can do is use a conditioner after shampooing<\/a> to close the hair cuticle and restore hydration, moisture and elasticity.<\/p>\n

Conditioners also fill in the damaged hair that drying, brushing, dematting and rubbing causes. Just normal wear and tear chips away at the hair cuticle. Conditioners can help to remove the cuticle to a smooth state and one that gives a more lustrous appearance and feel.<\/p>\n

The best deep conditioner I\u2019ve used is Fur Butter<\/a> (or Fur Worse). It\u2019s an oatmeal based ultra rich conditioning treatment for dry, damaged and long coats. It\u2019s the richest conditioner I\u2019ve used and leaves the dog very soft & silky.<\/p>\n

So now you know the difference\u2013 there really is one!<\/p>\n

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We hear this question all the time\u2013 \u201cwhat\u2019s the difference between my shampoo and my dog\u2019s shampoo?\u201d You may be surprised to learn that a lot is different. Of course, if you run out of Fido\u2019s shampoo and you use your own to wash your dog a couple of times, nothing will happen. Your dog\u2019s […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[158,159,144],"tags":[157,160,161,145],"class_list":["post-109","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-dog-conditioner","category-grooming","category-shampoo","tag-conditioner","tag-oatmeal","tag-shampoo","tag-spa"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.itchydogsolutions.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/109","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.itchydogsolutions.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.itchydogsolutions.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.itchydogsolutions.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.itchydogsolutions.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=109"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.itchydogsolutions.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/109\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.itchydogsolutions.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=109"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.itchydogsolutions.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=109"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.itchydogsolutions.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=109"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}