Protecting Your Dog’s Skin Naturally: Choosing the Right Shampoo
- Clare Buckland
- Oct 18, 2025
- 2 min read
Updated: Oct 19, 2025
We often get asked what the best shampoos are, so here are some recommendations and an over view of why using a natural canine shampoo is important.
Canine skin is much more alkaline than human skin, hence us not suggesting or recommending human products. The pH of the outer skin of dogs ranges from about 6.5 to 8.0 (akin to the pH of Milk to Sea Water) with the average being about 7.5 whereas in human skin, the pH is in the range of 4.8-5.8 (Orange Juice to Black Coffee)
However the main difference with human skin is not the pH itself but the fact that the skin of dogs is much thinner than human skin and the acidic mantle is absent.
The acidic mantle surrounds the human skin externally and protects it from the growth of fungi, yeasts and bacteria while making it more resistant to their attacks. Our skin is directly exposed to environmental factors and become resiliant over time, while in dogs, their bodies are totally protected from being covered with fur/hair.
Therefore it’s really important to maintain the skin barrier Human toiletries are mostly designed to be used on a more frequent bathing rotation than we would typically see with a dog and are designed and engineered to provide rich foam (which is very human pleasing) but often contain sodium sulphate salts (SLS, ASLS) that can become irritating over time.
Don’t forget that Ph is not measured in single units, something with a pH of 5 is TEN times more acidic that something with a pH of 6 so even a small numerical difference will constitute a large physical difference.
From this we can see that ‘human’ shampoo can be many tens of times more acidic than a dog shampoo
The use of human shampoo on dogs can lead to the disruption of the delicate skin barrier even from the first use, resulting in lower protection against naturally occurring yeasts and fungal infections.
At the same time, they can be so strong that they remove the oily substrate of the skin that is secreted by the hair follicles leading to more sebum growth, an over production in fact which often results in that ‘doggy’ odour we all hate. This then leads to more frequent washing which starts the vicious cycle once again.
All of these factors are why we suggest not using ‘human’ shampoo and washing products on our dogs.
Whilst oatmeal may be soothing to the skin, but many animals have grain allergies and are likely to have problems with oatmeal in shampoo. Grain-based shampoos may also feed yeast and bacterial conditions.
So to summarise, always use a natural canine shampoo and if possible use a canine conditioner.
©️ Clare Buckland, written for No Bull Just Natural Health For Dogs.
Some NO BULL suggestions:
