What Causes Eye Irritation From Shampoo?

At one time or another, everyone has suffered from shampoo eye irritation. The same goes for your pets. Shampoo has ingredients that cause the irritation when it comes into contact with their eyes. The ingredients that are going to have the most significant impact on their eyes are the surfactants, colorants, preservatives, and fragrances.  It’s A Dog’s Life Spaw mobile pet grooming uses shampoos from Nature’s Specialties which contains little to no eye irritants.  Our service area includes Temecula, Menifee, Murrieta, Wildomar and nearby communities.

When purchasing shampoo, the pH of the product is important as the higher pH is going to be more irritating to your eyes. Some shampoos are soap-free. Soaps have a high pH, with most of soaps having a pH of 9.0 to 9.5. Unfortunately, the saponification process makes the pH of hard soaps set in stone and cannot be adjusted. Formulations of detergents, however, can be tweaked. A pH level of 9.0 can be very irritating to the eyes of a dog, so soaps aren’t recommended around eyes or for facial product use.

Why Do Eyes Get Irritated from Shampoo?

When the shampoo contains a high amount of an irritating ingredient, such as a harsh soap, colorants, or fragrance oils, it will cause eye irritation when it comes into contact with your pets eyes. While soaps are effective degreasers, they are going to attack delicate eye tissues. Soaps are surfactants that are going to look for lipids then in turn, emulsify them into a solution.

Sodium Lauryl Sulfate, known as SLS, is a surfactant that is very aggressive and it can overstep its duties of attaching to oils and dirt and irritate skin and eyes. The harshness of the surfactants alone is not the sole determination of shampoo irritation potential. The irritation potential is based on the concentration of the surfactants plus the harshness of the surfactants as well as the contact time.

The product’s dilution and specific formulation determine the concentration. Products that foam are highly diluted so they are not as likely to cause irritation as liquid straight from the bottle. We use care when selecting products to use on your pets. We work to eliminate eye irritation when you entrust your pet to us.

Call us today to schedule our mobile grooming service to your home. (855) 774-SPAW (7729).