Getting the Most from Your Shampoo
Many of you may be frustrated with the amount of shampoo you use and yet the dogs just aren’t as clean as you would like. Guess what! Changing the type of shampoo may not solve the problem either! It may be time to review your technique, not your shampoo.
Some of you have switched to bathing systems and where amazed at the better results you achieve. Was it the bathing system that made the difference?
We must remember that bathing a dog is about science and chemistry. What! You say you are a groomer and you don’t believe in that…. Well, Sorry. It is what it is, so let’s embrace it and learn from it.
How shampoo works is all about chemistry. A shampoo contains molecules with receptors that grab dirt and when you rinse away the shampoo, it takes the dirt with it. Simple enough! Here is where the science starts though. When you have a large globule of soap it has a limited amount of receptors that can grab dirt. If you break that globule of soap into many smaller globules (which a bathing system or a bowl and whisk does), it increases the surface area of the soap and it is able to grab more dirt, better utilizing the amount of shampoo used.
More chemistry! Chemical reactions take time to occur. If you put shampoo on and then instantly rinse it off, it has not had enough time for the reaction to occur and you wasted product. If the shampoo is rinsed off too quickly, maybe only one receptor will grab dirt so ¾ of the product is wasted. Ideally you should leave the product on for 5 minutes.
If you let science work for you, you will save time, money and product.