Seven Shampoos Every Grooming Shop Should Have
07/15/2014
As a professional pet groomer, you never know what challenges you’ll face on a daily basis. While it may not be possible (or practical) to keep a shampoo on hand for every possible skin or coat condition, our staff groomers have found that these seven shampoos are handy to have in the shop at all times.
A general purpose shampoo is the everyday shampoo that you use when you just need to get the dog clean and there are no skin or coat issues that need to be addressed.
For most groomers, their general purpose shampoo is generally a low-sudsing, high concentrate formula that gives you good bang for your buck. (See our Top Performance 64-1 High Concentrate Shampoos and Top Performance CitriLux Shampoos for flea and tick issues, for example).
Oatmeal shampoos are formulated with colloidal oatmeal, a finely ground mixture of the oatmeal kernel and husk. This finely ground mixture stays suspended in water (rather than settling at the bottom), and when shampooed into the coat, acts as a mild abrasive to loosen dead skin cells and relieve itching and flaking.
Medicated shampoos contain ingredients that are designed to target some or most of the causes of skin and coat conditions. There are general medicated shampoos like Fresh 'n Clean Medi-Cleen Medicated Shampoos that are formulated to treat a variety of skin and coat problems, or highly specialized shampoos like Davis 2% Miconazole Shampoos (which is designed to relieve fungal infections).
Shampoos that are designed as "hypoallergenic" are generally free of ingredients that have been commonly found to cause allergic reactions in dogs.
These allergens are usually chemical fragrances, dyes and colors.
Some hypoallergenic shampoos (like our Top Performance Soothing Suds Shampoo) are completely free of these allergens.
But a shampoo can still be considered hypoallergenic even if it is formulated with fragrances, dyes and colors, so long as the ingredients have not been found to trigger an allergic reaction in dogs.
A good flea and tick shampoo is crucial for any grooming shop. Flea and tick shampoos generally fall into two categories—those that work with chemical pesticides such as pyrethrin, and those that use natural pesticides like clove, cedar and peppermint oils.
An example of a chemical pyrethrin-based shampoo would be PPP's Flea and Tick Shampoo. Our Top Performance Natural Flea and Tick Shampoo, on the other hand, is formulated with natural pesticides like peppermint oil, cedar oil, rosemary oil, and cinnamon oil, among others.
Whitening shampoos generally fall into two different categories—optical enhancers and strippers. Optical enhancers include ingredients that encourage pet hair to lay down flat, which improves the reflection of light and enhances the overall appearance of the coat.
Strippers will strip away at the outer layers of the dog’s coat to allow the true pigment to show through. Our Top Performance Bright Magic Shampoo is an example of an optical enhancer, while the #1 All Systems Pure White Lightning Shampoo would be considered a stripper.
Degreasing shampoos can be used with pets that have excess oil in their coats. There are shampoos that are specifically formulated to remove grease from the coat, like our Top Performance Liquid Degreaser.
Your Turn?
What shampoo types are on your must-have list? What did we miss? Skunk odor shampoos? Color-enhancing shampoos? Conditioning shampoos?
Let us know by posting a comment on this blog, or leaving a message on our Facebook wall.
As always, you can shop from hundreds of pet shampoos online 24/7 at PetEdge.com, where you can get FREE shipping on qualified orders of $150+. Visit www.petedge.com for more details.
Thanks and happy grooming :)
