DEALING WITH DILUTION - PET GROOMING

A GROOMER WRITES: ok, so Ive beem grooming for years now...but.... since Ive had no
"formal" training I have no idea about how to mix shampoos,
conditioners to their most efficient ratio, labels confuse me....at
work we dump in a half inch or so into a katchup bottle and call it
"ready". I have opened my home shop now and so I bought the mixing bottles and
I want to do things right and so heres the questions:
some shampoos say can be mixed to 32:1, like griminator etc...maybe it
can be watered down that much, but will it still work great at that
ratio? or should I add more shampoo per water to really clean those
dirty dogs well?
Same with conditioners? more matted the more conditioner to water?
It probably varies with each product right? what is the general rule
of thumb to follow then?
I want to learn, please help.

BBIRD RESPONDS:
Generally speaking, when a manufacturer says that their product can be
diluted xx:1, it means that this is this dilution that they recommend
for optimum performance of their product. They have formulated the
product so that it will meet their standards of performance at that
dilution.

Unless you have extremely hard water, the dilution ratio on the label
is the best place to start. Many products can be diluted more. When we
use bathing systems, we dilute to 128:1 and greater. On an extremely
dirty pet, a second bath might be necessary, or some extra product
(diluted) on especially dirty areas, such as feet, underchest, rear
end of the dog. A hard concept to grasp is that cleaning mostly
happens in the rinsing, not in the amount of shampoo put on the dog.
This is especially true of high sudsing products.

Conditioners are different, and it makes more sense to use stronger
dilutions of conditioners on severely matted dogs, or on matted areas.
Conditioner ingredients are substantive to the hair. This means that
the ingredients stay on the hair, unlike shampoos. Another approach on
challenging coats is to use a rinse through conditioner in the tub,
and spray with a leave-in and/or detangler product on the table as you
dry or brush out.

Conditioners are usually recommended at dilutions of under 10:1, but
often work very well through a recirculating bathing system at vastly
greater dilution. Conditioners often don't work as well through
application type bathing systems. The big difference between hand
bathing and a recirculating system is that in hand bathing we are
applying product and then rinsing it down the drain. In recirculating,
we are applying it over and over until more molecules of the active
ingredients are used and all the hairs are addressed.

P.S. If you have extremely hard water, it is best to use products that
contain "chelating agents" such as EDTA, that help to keep the
minerals in your water from interfering with the action of the
surfactants in the product. Since hard water minerals bind with some
surfactant molecules rendering them unavailable for cleaning, hard
water can require approximately 2 more parts shampoo. Also in this
situation, it is better to use products that ask for less dilution, so
there is less of your hard water and more of the manufacturers
de-ionized water being applied to the task. Did you follow that? I
hope.