Can I bleach a horse's tail/mane?

[Leslie Perry]

Please don't reply with anything negative!! That is why I am asking! Is it cruel in any way to highlight a horse's mane or tail? It's a trail horse that my husband has. He's a sorrel TWH and I'd like to lighten his mane and tail to look flaxen. Well, maybe not quite so drastic. We don't show him or anything....I just thought it'd be pretty....IF it won't burn it up or dry it out. I see all this sparkle stuff people put on horses, and I wondered if anyone has tried bleaching?

[Luanne]

Hi,

I don't know about bleaching, but I do know about using human hair coloring on horses. It is very common in the miniature horse industry to dye manes and tails. When I used to show my mini horse who is a bay, I would dye his mane and tail because he would get bleached out by the sun. The only down side I can see - and this happens with humans as well, is that coloring the hair does tend to dry it out and the sun bleaches it as well. If you do this, just make sure you use a good conditioner. I used to use Pantene on him and liked it a lot.
Good luck!

[Jacci Barrow]

I would also suggest that you do a test area first. With the coarseness of horse hair you may have to experiment with how long you leave the color and whether or not you need to use a filler first in order for the hair to take the color. Are there any cosmotolgists here that can speak to this?

If you do it please post some before and after pictures I'd love to see the transformation!

[Leslie Perry]

Brilliant!!! Of course I should've thought of doing a test area first! I even see that on the box but never pay attention because I've been doing it on my hair so long I don't even know my true color anymore!! Hee Hee! I will definitely take before and after pictures after I do the test. Thanks!!
Leslie

[Linda Grajewski]

A friend of mine in the show industry told me to use Palmolive (green) dishwashing liquid on manes and tails or white areas. I have tried this and it works really well. I don't think you would get a complete color change - black to white, but for manes that have a flaxen look but have red or brown in them it really does a good job. I then apply Infusion 23 from Wal-mart. It is a leave in conditioner and is cheap. This really does a good job.
Blessings, Linda

[Leslie Perry]

I will try this Sunday! Then I will do the bleach test area if I don't get the results I'm looking for. Thanks for your input!
Leslie

[Linda Grajewski]

Leslie, the more you do this the better it gets. In other words it may take 2-4 times before you get the optimum results. Plus don't rinse out all of the palmolive but leave in a little and it keeps on working.
Blessings, Linda

[Adrienne Walsh]

I have used hydrogen peroxide on my mare's white tail when it starts looking yellow and dirty. I get a big bottle of the peroxide and mix it with enough water in a bucket to put her tail in. I keep ducking her tail and letting the peroxide mixture set on her tail for a few minutes, then rinse and let dry. When it dries her tail is much whiter. I don't know if this would work on a brown tail or not. I think it might work to some degree because the person who told me about the hydrogen peroxide said to not get it on other colored areas of hair that I didn't want lightened.

[Lora Daniel]

I have used bleach on my horses mane and tail, of course they are grey with white mane and tail anyway. I put 2 caps of bleach into a spray bottle and add water. It seems to make it whiter but I don't know how well it do on a sorrel horse.

[julie]

I bleached a fake tail once. It could only be ordered in black, and the horse was sorrel! It turned out real good though, I don't see why you couldn't do its actual tail. It took longer and more of the lightening solution than it recommended for a human.

[Leslie Perry]

Did you use real bleach? I didn't think it was recommended for hair use. You said "lightening solution". Or are you using the term "bleaching" like I did......just a general term.

[sheila coffman]

I know the peroxide will lighten the tail and it will not damage the skin at the top of the tail. Hairdressers do not use bleach on peoples hair. If you let the bleach stay on top part of tail where skin is it will eat away and cause severe burns to the skin. Pour it on your arm and leave it and see how it feels.Not trying to sound mean but if it burns you think what it will do to your horse. I did use a colour on my strawberry roan once to lighten his mane. I turned it red and it never came back to its oringinal color. Also I know a hairdresser that order shampoos etc. that are for African Americans for a lady they come in different hues and she matched them to her horses color. Says horse hair is course and thick just like African Americans hair and works well on the horses. Please be careful with bleach or you may wind up with big vet bil

[julie]

I used human hair lightener, which is not like clorox bleach. The tail I did was fake and not on the horse at the time, but I think you would be able to lighten the outer hair without getting it on the skin.