As a pet parent, you already know how important it is for you to give your dog a bath from time to time. Bathing your dog keeps their hair clean, ensures they don't ingest dirt or bugs and helps them smell better, too.
However, it’s also important not to bathe your dog too often, as this can scrape away helpful oils or irritate their skin. But what if your dog gets dirty in between baths frequently? In that case, it might be a good idea to use dry shampoo.
Dry shampoo is a novel cleaning product that can help keep your dog’s hair clean in between baths. If you’ve ever used dry shampoo before, you’ve come to the right place.
Read on for a detailed breakdown of dry shampoo, how it works, and why you should consider using it for your pup.
What Is Dry Shampoo for Dogs?
Dry shampoo is a very useful hair care product for canine companions. As its name suggests, dry shampoo can be used while your dog’s hair is still dry. That’s right: You can fully use dry shampoo (also frequently called “rinseless shampoo”) without having to give your dog a bath at the same time.
The immediate benefits are easy to see. With dry shampoo, you can:
- Keep your dog clean between baths
- Go for a longer time between baths
- And more
Keep in mind that dry shampoo isn't exactly the same as traditional shampoo in both formula and effectiveness. Because of this, dry shampoo can't completely replace regular shampoo for most dogs.
How Does Dry Shampoo Work?
In a nutshell, dry shampoo for dogs works similarly to how it works for humans. Dog hair is produced through follicles, which make both individual hair strands and sebum. This is a kind of natural oil that helps give hair its texture and moisturizes it to prevent damage.
However, it’s important to regularly clean hair (or fur, in the case of dogs) to get rid of excess sebum, dead hair and skin cells, and any dirt or debris that can be compacted in their coat over time.
Dry shampoo works by using ingredients, ranging from starch-based active ingredients to alcohols to essential oils and more, to soak up excess sebum and get rid of sweat or other debris. This causes a light cleaning effect that can help your dog's hair look and feel better even if it isn't fully cleaned the same way it would be with a water bath and regular shampoo.
Take Wild One’s Rinseless Shampoo, for example. This hypoallergenic, vegan, and waterless formula uses natural ingredients instead of parabens, sulfates, or other harsh chemicals. More specifically, it uses ingredients like potassium sorbet, glycerin, avocado oil, grape seed oil, and more to clean your dog’s hair and skin and make them look and feel better than before.
In fact, this gentle, cleansing formula is so effective and safe that it’s human-grade. In other words, it would be safe to use for humans as well. Note that this doesn’t usually go both ways. In most cases, human shampoos are not safe for dogs.
Benefits of Dry Shampoo
Dry shampoo can provide your dog (and you, by extension) several major benefits. Keeping your dog clean and healthy is something you should always strive for as a pet parent, after all!
Keeps Dog Clean Between Baths
Firstly, dry shampoo can help you keep your puppy or adult dog clean in between baths. You should not give your dog too many baths in too short a timeframe. If you bathe your dog every day or every few days, their coats could become irritated, dry, or worse. Bathing your dog too often strips away healthy oils and can irritate their skin.
If your dog becomes dirty in between baths frequently, dry shampoo can help. You can use a light sprinkling of dry shampoo to clean your dog’s hair of excess oil and dirt without running the risk of causing skin irritation like you would if you did a full bath.
Increases Time Between Baths
This provides an extra benefit for you, the pet parent. By using dry shampoo, you increase the time between baths for your dog. If your pup is like most and doesn't particularly like being bathed, you know bath time is a big chore that may take you a half-hour to an hour or more.
That’s a big ask, especially if you have a busy schedule juggling work or family responsibilities. You might not have the time to bathe your dog as regularly as you might like.
Dry shampoo lets you quickly clean your dog in between baths. In this way, you might be able to go for several weeks or up to a month between giving your dog a bath (depending on how dirty they regularly get, anyway). That means more time to handle life’s other responsibilities.
Great for Cleaning Mild Dirt Off Your Dog
Lastly, dry shampoo is excellent if your dog gets slightly dirty immediately after a bath or after a hike and you don’t want them to rub all the dirt over your couch, bed, or floors. If your dog rolled around in the grass with other canines they met at the park, give them a spritzing of dry shampoo when they get back.
This way, you can clean away most of the dirt and oil, and they won't make your home as dirty as they would otherwise. Again, this is a great compromise between giving your dog a regular bath (which would take more time and which would also be less pleasant for them).
If your dog has dirt on their paws, use cleaning wipes to get rid of most of the gunk. Dry shampoo is really only meant for cleaning hair on your dog’s back and sides.
How To Use Dry Shampoo
Every dry shampoo for dogs has a slightly different recommended use sequence. Wild One’s Rinseless Shampoo is designed to be easy to use and comes with a basic squirt bottle perfect for spritzing the exact right amount of shampoo onto your dog’s hair.
To use this dry shampoo:
- Shake the dry shampoo bottle well before using it.
- Then hold the nozzle about three inches to five inches away from your dog’s fur coat.
- Spray the dry shampoo down your dog’s back, starting at the neck and working toward the tail. It’s easier if you have your dog sit calmly during the dry shampooing process.
- Never spray the dry shampoo on your dog’s face, which can irritate them.
- Let the shampoo drive for a few seconds to a minute.
- Lastly, gently rub or brush the dry shampoo in your dog’s coat. This will ensure that the oils and other natural ingredients dig deep and get rid of as much sebum and dirt as possible.
As you can see, using dry shampoo is pretty quick and easy (and it’s much faster than giving your dog a full, thorough bath).
Is Dry Shampoo Better than “Normal” Shampoo?
Even though these benefits can be quite nice and helpful for pet parents, you should never try to replace your regular shampoo or bath time with your pup with dry shampoo. Dry shampoo can get the job done in a pinch, and it can be used as an in-between cleaning solution if you don't want to give your dog too many baths in a few days.
You should still give your dog a bath from time to time and use regular or conditioning shampoo to more thoroughly cleanse their hair and skin. This way, you’ll get rid of extra oil, dead hair, and skin cells, and mud or debris that might build up over time.
Giving your dog a regular bath is also important so that they are less susceptible to fleas, ticks, and other parasites. By keeping your dog clean, you’ll ensure that they look and feel healthy for years to come. Use dry shampoo as a complementary solution to regular shampoo, not a replacement.
Dry on the Fly
Overall, dry shampoo is a great cleaning product you should include in your dog's regular wellness routine. Use dry shampoo from time to time if you've just given your dog a bath and that pesky pup gets all dirty from rolling around in the mud again! Then use regular shampoo when the time comes to give your dog a full bath once more.
Luckily, you can find the perfect dry shampoo for your dog with Wild One’s Rinseless Shampoo. Try it today, or check out the rest of our wellness products and canine care solutions from Wild One.
Sources:
How Often Should You Bathe a Dog? | CCSPCA
Coat And Skin Appearance In The Healthy Dog | VCA Animal Hospitals