Lottie, my just-about-15-month-old Cocker Spaniel/Cavalier King Charles pup is very adorable, and also extremely fond of getting filthy. She is certainly not a prissy dog! She’s got very fluffy paws, and on warmer winter days when melting snow transforms our local dog park into a mud bath, those paws quickly go from blonde to black. It’s rather cute (everything she does is cute…), but it’s not a good look for my floors. Or, perhaps we’re out in the mountains and she’s found a bit of novel elk poop. What better way to become acquainted with it than to roll in it?! She has an uncanny ability to find foul things and wear them; there’s nothing quite like getting back into the car after a dog walk, shutting all the doors, and almost immediately going “what’s that?!” as some foul stench snakes up my nostrils. Delightful. Anywho—this dog shampoo. It removes stench, is wonderfully easy to steer around a wet and uncooperative dog, and works like a charm.
After I did a bunch of research into the pH of human skin and the importance of the pH of our cleansers, that got me wondering about the pH of canine skin. A bit of research quickly turned up that dog skin has a higher pH than human skin. This range seems to be pretty big; the lowest number I found was 5.5 and the highest was 9.1—it turns out there’s just as much variety in dog skin pH as there is in dogs! Most ranges I found were decidedly more basic than human skin, though, and the tended to average around 7. This means shampoos for dogs should have a pH around 7—quite a bit more basic than human shampoos, but much more acidic than soap.
Dog skin is also quite a lot thinner than human skin—our skin is roughly 2–3x thicker than dog skin! For this reason they are even more prone to irritation, making properly formulated skin care products extra important.The surfactant blend is also quite gentle, comprised mostly of Sodium Cocoyl Isethionate (SCI) and Cocamidopropyl Betaine, with some Sodium Coco Sulfate (SCS) for added canine-cleansing. I’ve also included some panthenol (vitamin B5) to help with skin soothing, some BTMS-50 for conditioning, and some emollient cetyl alcohol and tucuma butter.
Something I made a conscious decision not to include was any sort of essential oil or fragrance. A dog’s sense of smell is “tens of thousands of times” more sensitive than yours, and it just seems a bit mean to make them smell like something they usually wouldn’t. In addition, fragrance oils are often a prime culprit for skin irritation, and many popular essential oils (like tea tree) are poisonous to dogs. I know there are certainly many highly fragranced dog products on the market (I knew somebody who liberally applied a dog-specific strawberry kiwi scented dry shampoo to her dog, who smelled like lip gloss most of the time 😝), so it’s likely not the worst thing in the world, but I prefer to leave my dog stuff unscented.
The first time I made this shampoo bar I used a water bath, but found that it took absolutely ages, and the shampoo remained so thick and sticky that it was really hard to work with. I tried some other surfactant projects over direct heat and that worked really well, so this time I oped for using the stovetop over low heat. I found that really sped up the SCI/Cocamidopropyl Betaine melting time and ensured everything melted together quite a lot faster (BTMS and I have a bit of an ongoing why-won’t-you-melt-until-transparent-in-a-waterbath spat). You are certainly welcome to do everything in a water bath instead (especially if they’ve worked well for you in the past), but if you do decide to join me in the world of direct heat please watch it carefully! It’s easy to get a bit slack on the supervision when you’re used to water baths, which are very forgiving. Direct heat is not forgiving, and we are working with small amounts of things, which heat up very quickly. Make sure you have everything measured out before you turn the stove on as things will move much faster than usual, and you don’t want to walk away from your concoction lest you accidentally fry your dog shampoo.
As written in grams, this recipe will make a 50g shampoo bar, which is plenty for Lottie, who is 10.9kg (24lbs). If you have a big fluffy Bernese Mountain Dog or a Great Dane I’d recommend scaling the recipe up to at least 200g, if not more! I’ve included a link to a batch calculator in the substitutions list at the end of the recipe. Ok—lets get our pooches all sudsy and clean!
Lottie’s Dog Shampoo Bar
15g | 30% Sodium Cocoyl Isethionate (SCI) (USA / Canada)
10g | 20% Cocamidopropyl Betaine (USA / Canada)13.5g | 27% Sodium Coco Sulfate (SCS) (USA / Canada)
2.5g | 5% BTMS-50 (USA / Canada)
2.5g | 5% cetyl alcohol (USA / Canada)
5g | 10% tucuma butter
1.25g | 2.5% panthenol powder (vitamin B5) (USA / Canada)1:1 citric acid solution, as needed
0.25g | 0.5% Liquid Germall Plus™ (USA / Canada) (or other broad spectrum preservative of choice at recommended usage rate [why?])
Combine the Sodium Cocoyl Isethionate and Cocamidopropyl Betaine in a small saucepan and place over low heat until smooth and uniform, stirring frequently. Ensure the heat is very low! If you have a pre-prepared 3:2 SCI:Cocamidopropyl Betaine paste, you can skip this step and use 25g of that paste instead.
Add the SCS to the SCI/Cocamidopropyl Betaine mixture over the heat and stir to combine, keeping an eye on the mixture as the SCS begins to break down. Weigh the BTMS-50, cetyl alcohol, tucuma butter, and panthenol into a small dish.
Once the surfactant paste is very soft, add the tucuma butter mixture into the surfactant baste and briskly stir to thoroughly combine, continuing to stir as the solid ingredients melt. Once the solid ingredients have melted completely and have been thoroughly incorporated, it’s time to test and adjust the pH—we want the pH of the finished bar to be between 6.5 and 7.5. My bar tested around 8 at first, and adding two drops of a 1:1 citric acid solution brought it down to between 6 and 7.
To test the pH: (Be sure to check out this great article on the importance of diluting solutions when pH testing them—we’re doing that here!) Prepare at least two small bowls by weighing 4.5g of distilled water into them (you’re going to want a scale that’s accurate to 0.01g for this). To make your citric acid solution, weigh 5g of citric acid into a small beaker and add 5g of distilled water. Stir to combine (I also incorporated a couple quick microwave bursts to speed things along).
To test the pH, add 0.5g of the shampoo paste to one of the bowls containing 4.5g of water to create a 10% dilution, and pH check that. It should be around 7/8. I then added 2 drops of the citric acid solution to the main batch of shampoo, stirred that in, and re-tested it—it was around 6/7.
Keep stirring the mixture as it cools—this bit is a titch tricky. We need the mixture to be cool enough to add the preservative (we need 50°C and below for liquid germall plus), but we also need it to be soft enough to incorporate a liquid surfactant. I used a thermometer to ensure my mash was the correct temperature, but if you don’t, when the outside of your saucepan feels about hot-tub-hot (hot tubs are typically ~40°C), mash in the preservative.
Scrape/squish the shampoo paste into your mould, and then pop your mould in the freezer for about ten minutes. After ten minutes have passed, pull it out, and lay a sheet of cling film over the shampoo. It will now be chilled (and not sticky) enough that you can use the bottom of a glass to press the bar down and get a more uniform surface.
At this point the bar should be hard enough to remove from the mould, but if it’s not, freeze it until it is. Remove it, and wait a day or two before using (if you live somewhere humid, err on the side of longer). Et voila! You just made dog shampoo.
To use: I usually pop Lottie in a bathtub or shower with a moveable shower head, put on clothes I don’t mind getting soaked, and suds her up, using the moveable shower head to rinse her clean. Our dog trainer recommends not washing a dog more than once every month or two.
Substitutions
As always, be aware that making substitutions will change the final product. While these swaps won’t break the recipe, you will get a different final product than I did.
- As I’ve provided this recipe in percentages as well as grams you can easily calculate it to any size using a simple spreadsheet as I’ve explained in this post. As written in grams this recipe will make 50g.
- You can use a different brittle butter (like cocoa—the amount of theobromine in white cocoa butter is extremely low so it isn’t a poisoning risk with dogs, though it should go without saying that you should not let your dog eat this shampoo bar!) instead of tucuma. I don’t recommend using anything softer, like shea or mango.
- You can use BTMS-25 instead of BTMS-50
- You can use stearic acid instead of cetyl alcohol
- If you want to mess with the surfactant blend I’d recommend reading this and this to learn more about how to do that effectively
OMG! That picture of Lottie is priceless! She’s adorable. I’ll have to attempt to make this recipe for my lovable Chocolate Lab, Maggie Mae.
I love that photo—it’s so sassy and sad all at once LOL! I hope Maggie Mae tolerates it… not sure any dog gets psyched for bath time, ha!
Definitely going to make this. I have a Springer spaniel that loooves lying in muddy puddles.
Ha! That definitely sounds like a Springer Spaniel to me 😛
I am so happy I found this article! As a dog groomer and soap maker, I have been combing through web articles trying to find one that explains how to make truly dog-friendly soap and how to lower the pH of soap but still get soap out of the final mixture. I was definitely barking up the wrong tree! I will definitely need to do more research on how to work with surfactants, but this is a wonderful starting point for me to begin learning from.
Danielle, how cool Marie has formulated a dog bar! I did not have all the ingredients and I have spent a bundle on ingredients recently- thankfully she has small batches. I watched Dr. Andrew (vet) from Canada on YouTube- channel is called Veterinary Secrets. He has several free dog shampoo recipes that are liquid. I do not make a bunch- just enough to bathe my little dog once, that way I do not need to add a preservative. Best wishes to find what you are looking for.
this is great marie, thx for sharing. Could you think about making a cp soap for dogs? im interested in making some.
The reason this isn’t a soap is because soap is far more basic that canine skin, and their skin is very delicate; refer to paragraph 2 🙂
Your soap ingredient list sounds awful. A bunch of chemicals. I am a organic soap maker. All plant based cold press oil and food grade ingredients. And my soaps is no where near as toxic as yours. I think you should take this down.
Pierre: Perhaps before you leave such viciously ignorant comments, you should do some research yourself. Try researching the products you can’t pronounce, just because you don’t recognize them, doesn’t make them toxic. BTW: many “organic” products are toxic as you should know.
Thanks, Cynthia!
I would like to know what you consider organic soap? Do you use lye to make your soap?
If you do,then how toxic is lye and it is a toxic chemical!
I am a soap maker and I do use lye and understand the chemical reaction of it to produce cold process soap. I am very comfortable with Maria`s soap recipes and believe that they are more natural and chemical free then mass produced soap. They are even better then what you can but at LUSH!
Rose M
Thanks, Rose!
Lady, truly you can read minds. Really really.
I have been asked about making a dog shampoo a number of times over the past two weeks and I keep trying to explain that there is no way I am going to make stuff for dogs or animals as I’ve spent years learning human skin before I even felt comfortable sharing a lotion or toner. And that’s with my test subjects being able to talk to me!
Thanks for a fantastic recipe!!!!
I can’t wait to test out your bath bomb recipes in a few weeks! Almost all my business stuff will be gone to the new owner, so that means I might actually have free time to play with stuff I am not good at! And bath bombs… I suck at them! Well, my recipe rocks, but I suck at making them into shapes.
I can’t remember exactly what sparked my interest in researching dog skin; I think it was the lovely lady who taught Lottie’s puppy classes. She briefly mentioned that dog skin isn’t human skin (so you shouldn’t use baby shampoo or whatever people often use) and that got me thinking “ooooh reaaaaally”, and the googling began 😛 I looked at a lot of products on the market for dogs, and somewhat concerningly, quite a lot of them are CP based and (predictably) marketed as if that alone makes it a superior product, obviously with no understanding of how canine skin works. I definitely don’t consider myself an expert by any means, but from what I do know this shampoo is a good option for using a few times a year; from what I’ve learned dogs shouldn’t be bathed super-regularly. Most of Lottie’s washes are water-only, just to remove mud and what not. I save the shampoo for when she gets into poo. HURK.
Happy playtime! 😀
Exactly! I’ve been trying to impress upon people about the difference in dog’s skin and how it has different needs and the ph stuff… but very few people actually want to hear that the cp soap that has been “carefully formulated with your dog in mind” may not be the best thing for their four legged friend. I use a special shampoo because my hair is super fine, a shepherd has fur. A poodle has hair. A chihuahua look like a rodent. Each of them have different needs. They don’t seem to get it. Kind of reminds me of the wild west of DIY’ing actually!
Wait till you get your ph meter! I heard two days ago it had arrived at its last destination in America. So soon should be in your neck of the woods!
A local boutique dog shop here proudly sells CP dog shampoo and I so badly want to send them a bunch of articles on it but it seems douchy, haha.
I’ve been waiting for thissss! I’ve always wanted to make something for my dog but i didn’t want to try the dog soap as I’m not comfortable with soap-making in general. Thank you soooo much for this!
Awesome! Happy sudsing—hopefully your dog forgives you 😉
Good call on not using Essential Oils. This past week I’ve read several articles on the dangers of EOs to pets, including one about diffused lavender oil causing seizures to a dog. Scary
Yes, I’ve seen those going around as well—scary stuff! Best save the EOs for us and let our furry friends perfume themselves with all manner of unsavoury things, ha!
Just a note on that “saving them & using them for us” note.
My mom’s dog began developing severe seizures over the last couple of years…it’s been traced back to her use of Rosemary Essential Oil in a diffuser for herself
Yikes!
Hey Marie, just wanted to let you know that I made the dog shampoo bar and gave it to a friend to use on her pooch. (I don’t have a dog now.) Anyway, she let me know they tried it out and they loved it. Well, she did, not sure how Pria felt about her bath.
Thanks for another great recipe!
Kelly
I’m so glad! I’m sure Pria can manage to find some dirt to roll in if she’s really unhappy to be clean LOL—Lottie always does!
Update: My friend just reported back that she took Pria to the vet for a checkup and the vet commented on how soft her fur felt. I told her I’d pass it on the the recipe creator. 🙂
Nice! Thanks for sharing 😀
Lottie’s expression is hilarious and so human! Whenever I bathe my two dogs, they glare at me as if asking “what did I ever do to you?”
I love that photo of her 😀 Lottie’s face is often a combo of “what did I ever do to you?” with a touch of resigned “I deserve this…” if poop was involved. HURK 😛
Marie, do you think it would be okay to double or triple the recipe? I found it to be a bit of a job to get things melted, just wondering if you think doubling it would make it harder?
I guess there’s only one way to find out. 🙂
Yup, definitely! Just use the provided percentages to scale to your heart’s content 🙂
Hi Marie, I am gearing up to make Lottie’s Shampoo. Is Cetearyl Alcohol okay to use instead of Cetyl Alcohol? Thanks!
Should be! It might be a titch firmer but that’s not a bad thing 🙂
I love This. But if I add nettle and rosemary oil. What would me the amount or ratio.
As noted in the recipe, please do not add any essential oils.
For nettle; refer to your supplier’s recommended usage rate, and to your vet to ensure safety.
Happy making!
Is this recipe okay for cats? Lol that look on Lottie’s face
I’m going to refer you to your vet on this one as I know pretty much nothing about cats 🙂
Thank you, thank you, thank you for this recipe. Love it to the moon and back!!! Made 1 bar the other day and my pups seem to have really enjoyed their bath this time. No itchy skin this go around!!! YEA! The only thing I added was a smidgen of Neem powder to the mix. Just got finished making 7 bars a few minutes ago so I can pass out to all my doggie mommies! Thanks again Marie for all you bring to us.
WAHOO! I’m so glad 😀 Happy nice smelling puppies for all!
Hi Marie, I made Lottie’s soap (50 gm bar) and it turned out nice, but a little soft. I then scaled it up to make bars for the big dogs I have. This batch would not firm up and is squishy when taken out of the mold. I then put it in the freezer and put it in a press mold and that didn’t work either. I’m not sure what to do to to make a firmer bar. Thanks!!!
Hmm, sorry about that! I have had great luck in my more recent shampoo bar experiments just letting the bars age/dry out as you would soap—I’ve been making some very wet things and then leaving them to age for 6 weeks and they’re doing great in the shower.
For future batches you could try dropping 5–10% of the CAPB and replacing it with more cetyl alcohol or some stearic acid.
Marie, another wonderful recipe… my dog thanks you for this one, she is a love able Bernese who is so sweet. She has allergies and often has a irritated belly. Will this be ok for her??
From everything I know and have researched it should be, but I can’t make any promises. You may wish to consult your vet 🙂
Hi Marie, my three dogs have never been so clean & soft, all have different hair types. My sister is a board member with the Valley of the Sun Giant Schnauzer Rescue and this bar makes it easy to bathe the giants. My groomer loves this shampoo bar with all that lather and especially because there’s not fragrance or color added. I make an approximately 3″ hexagon bar that comfortably fits in a hand. The groomer asked me if I could make them a bar with oatmeal to test. I’m thinking maybe 1.5% of hydrolyzed oat protein may cover this request?? I love being a Bee (just made the soothing series for my mom!)
Amazing! I am so thrilled to hear it 😀 For including oats for skin soothing I’d recommend 2–3% colloidal oatmeal instead of hydrolyzed oat protein 🙂 Happy making and thanks for “bee”ing a bee 😀
Hi Mary! I’m trying to gathered all of the ingredientes for this formula. Is cocamidopropyl betaine the same as coco betaine?
They’re different—you can learn more here 🙂. Happy making!
Thank you!
I only have access to coco betaine. What percentage of it do you think I should use? Do you think it’s safe for dogs?
I’d probably use the same amount as I would for Cocamidopropyl Betaine, just compare the active surfactant matter and see if they’re at least somewhat close 🙂 I can’t imagine why it wouldn’t be safe for dogs, but I’m no vet. Happy making!
Hi Marie…would you consider this bar a tear free shampoo?
I’m afraid I have no idea, especially for dogs. Happy making!
Hi do you think you could microwave it in 30 second bursts instead of heating on the stove?
My experience with microwaving surfactants has always led to rapidly expanding hot surfactant paste being blasted all over the inside of my microwave… I wouldn’t recommend it LOL.
Hi! I made a tester of this yesterday, only substitution I made was Kukum butter in place of the tamanu. It registered as a 5.8 on the pH meter (I had just calibrated it, too). I did not add any citric acid solution. I would like the pH to be closer to 7, what can I do? Thanks!
I recommend reading this post 🙂 Happy making!
Hello Marie! Fabulous recipe! Have been asked to make a shampoo rather than a bar as its easier for big dogs. Could you please post a recipe for the same? Thanks so much. Love your blog!
Is it possible to add other nourishing oils to your dog shampoo bar. Such as oat oil, hemp oil, rice bran oil and babassu oil? Can ground oatmeal also be added?
Hey Gail! Kind of, BUT I honestly don’t really see the point of adding lovely (and not inexpensive) oils to a rinse-off product like this. All they’ll do is diminish the cleansing ability of the shampoo bar and make it softer. I would save such ingredients for a leave-on product 🙂
Can I use beeswax instead of cacaobutter/tucuma?
Nooooooooo please no—that would make for an utterly awful end product—sticky, too hard, skiddy, and just… yuck 🙁 We need something that is fatty and hard, but not waxy. I find wax doesn’t rinse out/off well in products like this, so it stays on the skin/hair and acts as a dirt magnet.
Hi Marie, love your work and thank you for this doggie recipe. I was especially intrigued by the excel spreadsheet part (yes, I love numbers), but I do have one question relating to active surfactant matter. When I was calculating the ASM, the total value for the 50g bar using SCI, CAPB and SCS came up to 56.85%. The question is, am I calculating this wrong or is a percentage at 56.85% ok?
Thank you.
Thank you for this recipe, it is just what I have been looking for. My only question is how much citric acid solution is needed to bring the whole 50g down to dogs skin PH? Thanks x
You will have to test & adjust yourself—I don’t have any details beyond what is written here. Happy making!
To convert your formula to a liquid shampoo do i just substitute the powdered surfactant for liquid what surfactant would be a good sub keeping in mind the pH level and active matter in the surfactants? You are an amazing person for sharing all your research and free formulas btw!! Thank you!
Hey Marie! This recipe looks great. I would like to try and make this however I don’t have access to the Sodium Coco Sulfate. Do you have any suggestions on what I could use instead? Should I up the % by 27 on one of the other surfactants in the formula & if so which one?
Hi Steph! I’d use this formulation instead these days 🙂
Can I substitute SLSa (sodium lauryl sulfoacetate) for the SLS in this recipe? I’m thinking that its lower pH (5-7.5) would eliminate the necessity of adjusting with the citric acid solution. Plus, I already have some 🙂