Review: Fresh Wave Pet Shampoo
Test Lab

Name: Fresh Wave Pets, Shampoo
Price: $13.99 (MSRP)
Rating: Recommend*

Meet Pilot, our new puppy. Pilot enjoys short walks in the park, playing with his puppy friends, and until recently, peeing on his bed which he sleeps in—the perfect test for Fresh Wave Pet shampoo, an all natural, non-toxic pet cleaner and deodorizer. See the full list of ingredients and how it stacks up, after the jump.

I've reviewed Fresh Wave products before and was pleased with the results. Well, they were kind enough to send me some of their Pet Shampoo to test out on my new puppy, Pilot. Since he's a puppy, all the more important to use something that's not going to irritate his skin nor expose him to harsh chemicals.

Ingredients:
I was immediately impressed with the list of ingredients in Fresh Wave, when compared to other dog shampoos.

Fresh Wave Pet Shampoo Full Ingredient List: Water, derivatives of coconut oil, natural extracts of lime, pine needle, aniseed, clove, cedarwood, soya and chrysanthemum.

Another unnamed pet shampoo that we had on hand, Full Ingredient List: Water (Eau), PEG 80 Sorbitan, Laurate, Sodium Trideceth Sulfate, Cocamidopropyl Betaine, Steareth-10 Allyl Ether/Acrylates Copolymer, Sodium Laureth-13, Carboxylate, Sodium Hydroxide, DMDM Hydantoin, Panthenol, Aloe Barbadensis Juice, Methylchloroisothiazolinone, Methylisothiazolinone, TEA-Cocoyl Hydrolyzed Collagen, Sorbitol, Ext. Violet 2, Fragrance (Parfum).

The difference is amazing. Sure, most of that stuff is probably in the shampoo I use on myself but when it comes to a puppy, we should at least try and do better. Fresh Wave claims that all their products are non-toxic, non-hazardous, biodegradable, non-aerosol.

Performance:
I've been using the Fresh Wave Pet shampoo for the last month, about once a week. I have also tried the other unnamed pet shampoo once. The result? The Fresh Wave shampoo definitely gets the odor out, leaving Pilot smelling like wet dog. Wet dog does however have an odor: that's just how it is. Once he drys, he's definitely cuddle worthy. The shampoo, however, eliminates the odor and leaves a pleasant smell capable of masking wet dog. Unfortunately, I can only assume that the pleasant smell is the result of the mass of ingredients whose origin is unknown to me. As far as lasting cleanliness, I feel like they're about the same but it's hard to judge.

Overall:
Fresh Wave Pet Shampoo is a bit pricier than the other bottle I had on hand, but based purely on the ingredients, it's hard to argue against its use. My wife's biggest complaint is that it doesn't lather. Whether it be the lack of "lathering agent" or whatnot, its a bit harder to tell that it's working. While Fresh Wave certainly gets the dirt and smell out of Pilot, it seems that the natural ingredients just aren't capable of leaving a residual scent. For most people, this won't be an issue as I think they'll understand that dogs smell like dogs but I'm sure there are others out there who will want their dogs smelling like roses.

*Our Ratings:
Strong Recommend
Recommend
Weak Recommend
Don't Recommend

(Images: Trent Johnson)

Apartment Therapy Media makes every effort to test and review products fairly and transparently. The views expressed in this review are the personal views of the reviewer and this particular product review was not sponsored or paid for in any way by the manufacturer or an agent working on their behalf. However, the manufacturer did give us the product for testing and review purposes.

Comments (5)

Pilot is adorable! The only problem I have with your review is... that you should "do better than" a list of unpronounceable chemicals for both you AND the puppy. Really.

The non-lathering part is definitely hard to get used to, by the way. I still feel like i go through bottles of the more natural shampoos a lot quicker just because I overcompensate for the lack of lathering by using more. :-(

If you're concerned about the scent (or lack of it), you could try massaging a little bit of essential oil into his coat. Mmmmm, cedarwood.

I have used Earthbath for my great dane puppy, and couldn't be more pleased. It's totally natural, biodegradable and I can pronounce all of the ingredients! It gets the smell out and never dries out his sensitive skin. Finally, it lathers well and it doesn't have SLS.

It's about $13 for a 16 oz. bottle. We too end up washing him about once every one to two weeks, so I pair it with their conditioner.

See, I don't bother washing our dogs. We have two labs. They occasionally spend time chasing the kids through the sprinkler and such, but other than that- no baths. The only time one was necessary was when Tootsie, our Choco Lab, got into a tussle with a baby/small skunk. And even then we just doused her with tomato sauce and vinegar until she didn't stink anymore. We do brush our dogs a lot, which takes out most smells and hair and such... that and our dogs are both around 90lbs, and I am NOT itnerested in trying to wrestle either of them into a bathtub. We do have pet shampoo on hand, but have never used it...
dry shampoo works wonders on pets, I hear... our vet also says cornstarch sprinkled on them, rubbed in then brished out, takes out a ton of odors... never tried it though!

Pilot is adorable! I just got a new puppy, too, and I've been looking for something good. I've been bathing her with Dr. Bronner's but someone in our puppy class mentioned that you need to be careful that it has the pH balance for their skin. Not sure if Bronner's is ok now or not but it was doing a good job.