Natural Dog Shampoo Bar with Lavender and Cedarwood

Natural Dog Shampoo Bar with Lavender and Cedarwood

Solid shampoo bars aren't just for humans. This award-winning dog shampoo bar delivers the same gentle, effective cleansing as liquid formulas whilst eliminating plastic bottles and lasting significantly longer per wash.

Handmade in Yorkshire by Friendly Soap, this natural bar combines lavender, rosemary, and cedarwood essential oils with soothing oatmeal and coconut oil. The result is a thorough clean that leaves coats soft and shiny whilst providing natural bug-repelling benefits for outdoor-loving dogs.

Key Facts:

• 95g bar, typically 20-30 washes for medium-sized dogs
• Lavender, rosemary and cedarwood essential oils
• Oatmeal soothes sensitive skin, turmeric adds lustre
• Cedarwood naturally repels fleas and ticks
• Vegan, cruelty-free, palm oil-free
• Made in UK (Brighouse, West Yorkshire)
• Zero plastic packaging, pH 8-9 for canine skin

Why Choose a Shampoo Bar

One 95g bar typically provides 20-30 washes for a medium-sized dog, replacing 2-3 plastic bottles of liquid shampoo. The concentrated formula means you need less product per wash, and there's no water weight to pay for or transport.

Better value: Bar shampoo is significantly cheaper per wash than liquid equivalents. What looks expensive as a single purchase actually saves money over its lifetime.

Zero plastic: No bottles, no pumps, no caps. The bar arrives in recyclable cardboard packaging and nothing goes to landfill except the small amount of unusable soap at the very end.

Travel-friendly: No TSA restrictions, no leaking bottles in your luggage. Perfect for holidays, camping trips, or visits to family where you don't want to pack bulky liquid bottles.

Longer shelf life: Bars don't separate, dry out, or degrade like liquid products. They actually improve with age as they cure and harden, becoming more economical to use.

Less storage space: Multiple bars take up minimal cupboard space compared to plastic bottles. Easy to stock up without cluttering your bathroom.

The Natural Ingredients

Coconut oil (sodium cocoate) forms the base, providing rich lather and deep cleansing whilst being exceptionally gentle on skin. Coconut oil's natural moisturising properties prevent the dryness that harsh detergents cause, leaving coats soft rather than stripped.

Castor oil (sodium castorate) adds conditioning properties and helps create stable, creamy lather. It draws moisture into the coat and improves the distribution of the essential oils throughout the fur.

Lavender oil provides natural antibacterial properties whilst offering a calming scent. For anxious dogs, the familiar lavender aroma can make bath time less stressful. It also soothes minor skin irritations and helps heal small scratches or hot spots.

Rosemary oil stimulates healthy coat growth and adds natural shine. It's also mildly antiseptic, helping prevent skin infections in dogs who scratch or have minor abrasions from outdoor activities.

Cedarwood oil acts as a natural insect repellent, making this particularly suitable for outdoor dogs exposed to fleas and ticks. The woody scent is pleasant to humans whilst being off-putting to biting insects. It also has natural antifungal properties.

Oatmeal (Avena sativa) soothes itchy, irritated skin. Colloidal oatmeal creates a protective barrier on the skin's surface, locking in moisture and reducing inflammation. Perfect for dogs with sensitive skin or minor irritations from rolling in grass.

Turmeric (Curcuma longa) adds a beautiful golden lustre to light-coloured coats whilst providing anti-inflammatory benefits for skin. It's naturally antiseptic and helps maintain healthy skin condition.

The pH of 8-9 is specifically formulated for canine skin, which is more alkaline than human skin. Using human shampoo (typically pH 5-6) disrupts dogs' skin barrier and can cause dryness and irritation.

How to Use a Shampoo Bar

Wet your dog's coat thoroughly. The wetter the coat, the better the bar will lather.

Method 1 (Direct application): Rub the bar directly onto your dog's wet coat, working up a lather as you go. This works well for short-coated dogs and gives you precise control over product placement.

Method 2 (Lather in hands): Rub the bar between your wet hands to create lather, then massage the lather into your dog's coat. This works better for long-coated or nervous dogs who might be startled by the bar touching them.

Massage the lather thoroughly from skin to tip, ensuring complete coverage. The concentrated formula means a little goes a long way, you don't need as much lather as with liquid shampoo.

Rinse thoroughly until water runs clear. This is crucial with any shampoo but particularly important with bars, as any residue can cause itching.

Frequency: Most dogs need bathing every 3-4 weeks, though this varies by coat type and lifestyle. The gentle formula is safe for more frequent washing if your dog gets particularly muddy.

Bar care: After use, allow the bar to dry completely on a soap dish with drainage. Don't leave it sitting in water or it will dissolve prematurely. Properly stored, a bar can last months even with weekly use.

Perfect For

• Dogs of all coat types and breeds
• Outdoor dogs needing natural bug protection
• Sensitive skin requiring gentle, soothing care
• Households wanting to eliminate plastic packaging
• Travel and camping with dogs
• Multi-dog households (excellent value)
• Dogs with dull coats needing extra shine
• Anxious dogs (calming lavender scent)
• Anyone preferring natural ingredients

About Friendly Soap

Friendly Soap was founded in 2009 in Brighouse, West Yorkshire, by two friends frustrated with the lack of genuinely natural, affordable soap options. What started as handmade soap for humans has expanded to include a range of pet care products, all made using the same principles: natural ingredients, no unnecessary additives, and absolutely no plastic packaging.

Every bar is handmade in small batches in their Yorkshire workshop, using traditional cold-process soap making methods. This gentle process preserves the beneficial properties of natural oils and creates mild, long-lasting bars that are kind to skin.

The dog shampoo bar won Gold in the Free From Living Awards, recognition of both its effectiveness and its commitment to natural, allergen-conscious formulation. It's completely free from synthetic fragrances, parabens, SLS, palm oil, and animal-derived ingredients.

Friendly Soap is certified vegan and cruelty-free, and they're transparent about every ingredient that goes into their products. No fillers, no marketing gimmicks, just effective soap that works.

What Makes This Different

Most dog shampoos, whether liquid or bar, use synthetic fragrances and harsh detergents. They clean effectively but often leave coats dry and can irritate sensitive skin.

This bar uses only natural essential oils for fragrance, providing aromatherapy benefits whilst avoiding the skin reactions that synthetic fragrances can trigger. The coconut and castor oil base cleanses without stripping, so coats stay naturally moisturised.

The cedarwood content makes this particularly suitable for outdoor dogs. Rather than relying on harsh chemical insect repellents, the natural wood oils create an environment that fleas and ticks find unappealing, providing passive protection between baths.

The bar format eliminates plastic entirely. There's no bottle to recycle (or fail to recycle), no pump mechanism to break, no cap to lose. Just a bar in cardboard packaging that composts when you're done with it.

The pH formulation is crucial. Many "natural" dog shampoos are just rebranded human products with dog-friendly packaging. This bar is specifically formulated at pH 8-9 for canine skin, which is more alkaline than human skin and requires different chemistry.

Award Recognition

Winner of the Gold Award in the Free From Living Awards, which recognises products that are free from common allergens and unnecessary additives whilst maintaining high performance standards.

This award validates what regular users already know: you don't have to choose between natural ingredients and effective cleaning. This bar delivers both.

Additional Product Details

Weight: 95g
Typical usage: 20-30 washes for medium-sized dogs
Made in: Brighouse, West Yorkshire, UK
pH: 8-9 (formulated for canine skin)
Shelf life: Improves with age when stored dry
Packaging: Recyclable cardboard, zero plastic
Suitable for: Dogs of all breeds, ages, and coat types

Certifications:

• Vegan
• Cruelty-free
• Palm oil-free
• Free from parabens
• Free from SLS
• Free from synthetic fragrances
• Gold Award, Free From Living Awards
• Plastic-free packaging

Full ingredients list: Sodium cocoate (coconut oil), Aqua (water), Sodium castorate (castor oil), Cedrus deodara wood oil (cedarwood), Rosmarinus officinalis leaf oil (rosemary), Lavandula angustifolia oil (lavender), Curcuma longa root powder (turmeric), Avena sativa kernel flour (oatmeal), Limonene*, Linalool*

*Occurs naturally in essential oils

Storage tip: Keep bar dry between uses on a soap dish with drainage. A properly cared-for bar can last several months even with weekly bathing.