Viva la No Thank You

Ciao fellow groomers and dog enthusiasts! I'm so SO excited to be joining BubbleCollie and the Shampoodle as the newest member of this blogging team to bring you the best reviews around. I'll be starting off by looking into Viva la Dog Spa's "White Coat" shampoo. 

Now I have a 1 year old mismark poodle named Kylie (the Panda Poodle Princess is the title she prefers) and I've been using this product to clean her white spots for a few weeks now so I think it's fair to say I'm equipped to give my final verdict on this product.

Beginning with the most important part, lets talk about it's whitening powers. I've been to three different shops and used a multitude of different whitening shampoos, and this one is probably on the lower end of effectiveness. It cleans and helps to remove some stains but really doesn't give that pizzaz, wham, POW! LOOK AT HOW WHITE I AM! shine that other shampoos provide. 

As far as the smell goes, it promises a cucumber melon scent and when you pop the top that is definitely what you get. It's really light, fresh, and slightly fruity smelling. It's a nice mild fragrance which is a welcome change from some of the harsher chemical smells you can get with other whitening or bluing shampoos. However, once you rinse the pup and all is said and done, there really is nothing there to smell, and that's kind of a bummer. (I really do like that smell!)  I do usually wash my girl with something on top of the whitening though so it may not really matter in the end. 

The other thing that bothers me is the texture of the shampoo itself. It's gelatinous and doesn't come out of the bottle smoothly. It may sound like a weird complaint but it doesn't feel like it's as easy to lather as other shampoos are. When I've tried to mix it with water to dilute it it was hard to mix because it was so thick. I almost always have to use it more than once on the dog and since whitening shampoos can be harsh on skin, I really only like to use it once and then do something else on top or even just mix some in with my other shampoo from the get-go.

Price-wise it's fairly inexpensive. 16oz bottle for $8.99 on amazon (I picked mine up for about the same price at Home Goods. It is concentrated 2:1 which means you really aren't getting much bang for your buck and given it's less than perfect results I don't dilute at all and like I said you don't get much smell even with that. 

Some ingredients include; Water, Mild Coconut Cleansers, Panthenol Conditioner and Chamomile Extract. 

The Bottom Line

While the company is a green company, (so you can feel warm and fuzzy about buying this product) it really is a middle of the road shampoo; not bad, not great. It lacks fragrance at the end of the bath and while it does do some whitening it's nothing to write home about. I'd recommend it if you've run out of your favorite whitener and you're really in a bind. Overall, I'd leave it on the shelf at Home Goods and look for something better.

//The Spic n' Spaniel//