Making a shampoo for your loyal fur friend is one of the sweetest things you can do. We aren’t sure if it will appreciate the gesture but at least you’ll feel good about it.
Choose a shampoo base that’s gentle to protect your dog’s coat and skin. We went with our Fragrance-Free Good Oh Shampoo formulated by Stephenson in the UK with up to 40% certified organic aloe vera. The appearance at room temperature resembles that of aloe vera gel – translucent, pale yellowish.
To the shampoo base, we added about 0.5% cedarwood (cedar atlas) essential oil. Urban legend has it that some dog, all dogs like the smell of cedarwood. You can always start with 0.25% and maybe that will do. Remember that your dog’s sense of smell is at least 10,000 times more acute than yours.
Cedarwood oil is also a natural flea repellant. By increasing the dosage to 1 or 1.5%, you can make a shampoo that repels fleas. The processing instructions recommend no more than 0.5% of additives to the shampoo base. However we’ve tried with both 1% and 1.5% cedarwood essential oil and it doesn’t significantly reduce the viscosity of the shampoo.
Flea-Away Dog Shampoo
Course: Pet CareDifficulty: Easy60
uses10
minutes30
minutes40
minutesA gentle shampoo that keeps the fleas away.
Ingredients
500 g fragrance-free shampoo base
5 to 7 g cedarwood (atlas cedar) essential oil
Directions
- Add the fragrance-free shampoo base to a suitable vessel.
- Warm the shampoo base using a double boil method to 30 – 35°C, stirring slowly with a silicone spatula if the temperature of the shampoo base is below 30°C (86°F).
- Add the cedarwood (atlas cedar) essential oil to the shampoo base while stirring slowly around the sides of the vessel. The shampoo base will temporarily thin as you add the essential oil.
- Stir for 15 – 30 minutes until the essential oil is fully dispersed.
- Fill in a suitable container.