Article by Barbara Bird, Groomers Network, Pet Grooming articles, Shampoo, Curtis Hanvey, Hanvey Specialty Engineering, Bathing Beauty, hrydo massage surge of water bathing systems.

                       
Suds and Me: A Groomer's Love Affair
A CASE STUDY into Barbara Birds' Epiphany.

By: Barbara Bird

  
"My Love affair .....
Lasted over 20 Years!!!!!"  

   My love affair with suds lasted over 20 years.  It spanned two thirds of my pet grooming career.  It ended with an awakening and a transformation of my understanding of shampoos.  I'm  sharing my story in the hope that other groomers can benefit from my experience and move into a 21st Century appreciation of the role of suds in pet grooming.

"I knew what I liked.......... thick, rich suds!"

    I started my grooming career working as a bather.   Bathing was considered a “no brainer”, although it was emphasized  as the foundation of good grooming.  I didn’t think much about the products I used, and we didn’t have many choices.  But I knew what I liked, and that was thick, rich suds!  For me, super thick rich, foamy suds were happening.    Thicker was better, for sure!  I was convinced that I was getting a better application of the product if I had thick foamy suds.  Besides, rich suds felt good to my hands.  As a groomer,  I trusted my sense of touch.

    For years, I diluted products according to the thickness of suds that I liked, regardless of manufacturer's recommendation.  I demanded a certain degree of thickness in suds to be confident that the shampoo was working.  I would often mix to a lesser dilution ratio just so I could feel those lovely suds on my hands. 

   Maybe the product said 15:1 but I liked it better at 10:1.    Oh yes,  I was really righteous and even a little religious about the whole thing.  Hey! I was a professional.  I knew my bathing!

"lower suds...... I ditched the idea....

tossed the shampoo"

     About 10 years into my career, I got my first inkling that there might be a rationale for lower suds.  I purchased a shampoo from a company I trusted for their natural products and they explained that it was a low suds product.  Although the explanation made sense,  I was skeptical.  It turned out that I was not impressed with the product, so I ditched the idea of low suds when I tossed the shampoo.   It was another 10 years before my awakening.

"...the end of my love affair"

   What precipitated the end of my love affair with thick suds was the purchase of a recirculatory bathing system(Bathing Beauty, HydroSurge, etc.).  This was a considerable investment, so I was committed to having it  be a successful purchase.  To get the maximum value from my recirculatory bathing system, I needed to understand how the system worked and more importantly, how it did not work.  Not just the mechanical side of things, but how the recirculated, diluted shampoo solution worked to cleanse the pet coat.  Grasping an   understanding of the recirculatory bathing system resulted in an upturning in my previous convictions about how shampoos work. My suds love affair was now in jeopardy.

"Thick suds choke the pump."

    A recirculatory bathing system really needs to be used with a lower suds shampoo.  Thick suds "choke" the pump.  Thick suds will not  go through the filter screen on the bottom of the pump.  That revelation hit me like a brick!  Wow!

Think about it: if thick suds are choking the bather system, maybe they are choking the cleansing in the hair as well!  

“Suspension”

   The other feature of the bathing system that created a break through for me was the concept of “suspension”.  The bathing system is designed to recirculate the shampoo/water mixture through the coat again and again as you bathe the pet.  Something about the recirculation worried me.  "Am I redepositing the dirt into the coat?"  I called the company to find out if this concern was justified. They told me that the shampoo/water solution holds the dirt “in suspension”.  In other words, once the dirt is   "suspended" in the water/shampoo solution, it is not free to redeposit back on the dog.  That was another big light bulb for me.

"..the physics of suds."

     Here is my elementary understanding of the physics of suds.
Suds are air bubbles that are completely surrounded with a minuscule electrical charge which attracts water molecules and holds dirt and sebum (oil) in suspension.   Big bubbles have a larger surface area and hence a greater capacity to hold water and suspended dirt.  Lots of little bubbles have less surface area available for this job.  Thick suds have lots of little bubbles and are unable to do much work.   Thick suds literally chokes off the cleansing action.  When you lather up thick suds, you must rinse some off and dilute the solution before you  get much cleansing action.  And you have to rinse forever,  because those little tiny bubbles can’t hold much water on their surface. 

"water that does the work.."

   It is water that does the work of actually removing the dirt and oil from the coat. 

There are three active ingredients in a basic shampoo.

1. Surfactants - The surfactants loosen the dirt from the skin and coat.

2. Emulsifiers -   Emulsifiers place dirt and oils it into suspension.

3. Water - The water is the carrying agent that removes the suspended dirt and oils.

   When you have thick suds, most of the actual cleansing is coming in the last third of the rinse, when the suds are breaking down.  On the other hand, lower sudsing products create the bigger bubbles which more efficiently deliver the cleansing agents and allow the water to remove the dirt and sebum.

"Yes, suds are necessary."

     Yes, suds are necessary.  It is  the means by which the cleansing agents are  delivered.  As with many other things we like, there can be too much of a good thing.   We have been brainwashed with images of thick suds as being "rich" and "luxurious" by advertisers of human hair products. We carry that over to our pet grooming.  Besides, thick foam feels good to our sense of touch which further validates what we have been manipulated to believe.

".. our addiction to thick products and suds.."

       In order to satisfy our addiction to thick products and suds, shampoo
manufacturers add thickening agents and extra foaming agents to the products.  They have learned that we groomers don’t want to be enlightened about the benefits of lower sudsing shampoo products.  So they give us what we want. THICK, RICH, LUXURIOUS SUDS!!

    These additional ingredients are cheap, so manufacturers are not crying too hard.   In a given ounce of shampoo, how much of the product is nothing more than ingredients for which the sole purpose is to cater to our misconceptions?  Think about it!  What are you paying for?   With less of these ingredients, there would be more room in our ounce of shampoo for the real working ingredients...... like surfactants and emulsifiers, and conditioners .

"My love affair.....ended"

     My love affair with thick suds ended with my purchase and successful use of  a recirculatory bathing system.  Being open minded to the workings of the recirculating bathing system and the action of lower sudsing shampoos has resulted in a much more advanced awareness of the dynamics of bathing and has empowered me to get the maximum benefit from my bathing system.  But wait! That's not all!  Not only am  I getting better results but I'm getting them in much less time spent at the tub. 

"I can never go back to my thick suds."

    I realize now that my addiction to thick suds was self-indulgent as well as uneconomical.  I can never go back to my thick suds, hand/finger scrubbing bathing process even if I had to work without the bathing system. I now own both brands of recirculating bathing systems,  Bathing Beauty and a HydroSurge.   

How about you?

    Are you ready to give up your love affair with the millions of tiny bubbles and enter the 21st Century with a science based expectation of your shampoo products?