Blueberry facial shampoo product review

INTRODUCTION

Blueberry Facial, from South Bark Dog Wash

Keeping your dog groomed and clean not only makes them socially acceptable as family pets, but bathing them provides an opportunity to examine them for minor injuries and hitchhiking parasites – particularly if your dogs hunt as mine do. A good facial shampoo such as South Bark Blueberry Facial ® is perfectly suited for dogs with long facial hair such as Spinone.

My bottle of Blueberry Facial ® was won in a contest and I decided to review the product to see whether or not it was something that I’d continue using. We first limited its use to our therapy dogs, where hygiene is of the utmost importance and the shampoo’s aromatherapy would benefit those whom the dogs are visiting. After seeing how well it worked, we began shampooing all our dogs following bird hunting trips, as they return home with their coats full of burrs, seeds, dirt and mud.

Blueberry Facial ® is manufactured in the United States by South Bark Dog Wash located in San Diego, California. According to South Bark, a “facial” is a specialized head cleaning that goes deeper than a bath and the result is a thorough clean and noticeable brightness of their coats.

The facial shampoo is non-toxic and consists of coconut oil, jojoba, aloe, blueberry extract, avocado, and vitamins A, D, and E. As stated by South Bark: Our all-natural Blueberry Facial is a tearless, extra-mild aromatherapy facial wash applied through a gently, yet thorough facial, neck and head massage. The scent is a delicious compliment of the relaxing head massage your dog will absolutely love! During the peaceful relaxation the benefits of natural antioxidants take effect. With regular use the result is a deep-clean, bright, fluffy muzzle and face extra free of crusty and tearstain buildup.

Elvis and Sophie in need of a bath before their therapy visits

CRITERIA

Cleans and brightens your pet’s face. Although our dogs all have healthy and shiny hair, the shampoo did seem to brighten and soften not only their faces, but entire coat. Blueberry Facial claims to help tear stains on dogs’ faces, but with Spinone its beard stains. The Blueberry Facial noticeably brightened Elvis’ beard stains after just one application.

Elvis, washed up and smelling good, ready for work.

Can be used as a tearless face wash, full body shampoo and color brightener. We use Blueberry Facial as a shampoo as well as facial, which brightens their entire coat and gives them just a slight blueberry scent that people enjoy. Spinone are more of a wirehair, but when it comes to therapy visits, soft hair is what people enjoy. Blueberry Facial gives both the Spinone and Labs a soft silky coat.

Relaxing and cleansing. From casual observation, this certainly seems to be true. Our dogs do well with baths and showers and fully cooperate with taking them. The Blueberry Facial seemed to take it a step further, perhaps due to its aromatherapy; they not only enjoyed the showers but the blow drying afterwards. The cleansing was particularly noticeable on Elvis’ beard, by not only cutting through the muck and grime, but it seemed to detangle the hair as well.

Use straight from the bottle or dilute 8:1. A little goes a long way. A small amount of shampoo goes a long way. We’ve oftentimes had to reapply name brand shampoo several times, however with the Blueberry Facial ® used less to begin with and did not have to reapply it. After wetting the dogs down, we either use it straight from the bottle by pouring small amounts into our hands and worked it into their hair, or will dilute it depending on how dirty they are. After working it into their coats, we let it set for about 5 minutes before rinsing it out.

Tearless. If any got in their eyes, we were not aware of it. We did, however, work it into their faces and heads.

Sophie shows off her shiny coat before starting our visits.

SUMMARY

Blueberry Facial® is available from South Bark Dog Wash, located in San Diego, Ca. It has a nice blueberry scent that I appreciate more than other scented shampoos, and it seems to help eliminate much of that wet dog smell. Blueberry Facial® also seems to do a better job of detangling and cleaning the dogs’ beards, which is particularly important for the therapy work they do.

I recommend Blueberry Facial® as a shampoo and facial, and will be using it not only for therapy work, but after bird hunts when they need it most.