Groom Professional Tea Tree Oil Shampoo

The Groom Professional Tea Tree Oil Shampoo is aimed at the itchy dog -- tea tree oil for its cooling, soothing feel on skin that has been bitten, scratched or generally irritated.

Key Features

• Tea tree oil: Melaleuca alternifolia, included for its soothing, cooling effect on irritated skin
• For itchy skin: Aimed at flea-bitten and scratched skin rather than at the fleas themselves
• Cleans properly: A full shampoo, not just a soothing rinse
• Contact time: Groom Professional say to leave it on five to ten minutes before rinsing
• Concentrate: Dilutes 14:1
• Two sizes: 450ml and 4L

Tea Tree Oil And Cats

This needs saying plainly. Tea tree oil is toxic to cats -- they cannot process the terpenes in it the way dogs can, they groom everything off their coat and swallow it, and there are well documented poisoning cases from tea tree products used on cats. Do not use this shampoo on a cat, a kitten, or a small animal such as a rabbit or guinea pig. If it has already happened, ring your vet rather than waiting to see.

Itchy Skin Has A Cause

A soothing shampoo makes a dog more comfortable for a few days. It does not treat anything. Persistent itching is nearly always fleas, food, pollen, dust mites, or a skin infection sitting on top of one of those, and all of them need a vet to work through. Groom Professional's own copy describes this shampoo as healing and pain relieving; it is a cosmetic wash, and those are their words rather than a clinical claim.

This Is A Concentrate -- Dilute It

Groom Professional give this one a dilution of 14:1, which means 14 parts water to one part shampoo. That is how a salon makes a 450ml bottle last, and it matters for the dog too: neat professional shampoo is far stronger than a coat needs and strips the oils out of the skin. Mix what you need in a jug or a bottle before the dog gets in the bath, and mix it fresh rather than keeping diluted shampoo for weeks.

How To Use It

• Brush the coat out before it gets wet. Water turns a loose tangle into a solid mat.
• Soak the coat right through with lukewarm water first -- diluted shampoo will not penetrate a dry double coat.
• Work it in from the neck down so the suds run away from the face.
• Leave it on for five to ten minutes. Groom Professional build these to work with a bit of contact time, and rushing the rinse is what wastes the product.
• Rinse until the water runs clear, then towel off and brush the coat as it dries.

How Often To Wash

Most dogs do not need a bath more than once every four to six weeks, and plenty need less. Washing more often strips the oils that keep a coat weatherproof and the skin comfortable, which can leave a dog itchier than it started. Salons wash frequently because they are working to an appointment, not because a dog benefits from it.

Who Makes It

Groom Professional launched in 2009 on the Causeway Coast in Northern Ireland and is sold through the grooming trade supplier Christies Direct. The range was built for working salons rather than for the bathroom cupboard, which is why so much of it comes as a concentrate and in four-litre sizes. Groom Professional say the products are manufactured in the UK.

Good To Know

• This one is out of stock at the moment, so the page is here for reference while we wait on the next delivery.
• Not for cats, kittens, rabbits or other small animals. This listing was previously tagged for cats and kittens, which was wrong.
• Not a flea treatment. It may make bitten skin feel better, but clearing fleas needs a licensed product from your vet plus treating the house.
• Dilute it properly. Neat tea tree oil products are the ones that cause problems, and 14:1 matters here more than on a scented shampoo.
• This is a dog product. Do not use it on a cat unless the label specifically says you can -- cats groom everything off their coat and swallow it, and they handle fragrance and essential oils far less well than dogs do.
• Keep it out of the eyes, ears, nose and mouth. Rinse with clean water if any gets in.
• Groom Professional's published ingredients for this one include methylisothiazolinone and methylchloroisothiazolinone. They are common preservatives and they are also known skin sensitisers, so wear gloves if you bath dogs all day, and stop using it if the skin goes red or itchy.
• A shampoo cleans; it does not treat disease. Broken, scabby or weeping skin, bald patches, a smell that returns within days of a bath, or scratching to the point of bleeding all need a vet rather than a different bottle.
• Keep it out of reach of children and store it somewhere cool and dry.