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?

[Leslie Perry]

I actually saw my friend Tara Saturday and she had a great idea....she said to put a blanket or towel or something on his rump to protect it, and to keep him from swishing his tail while he had the stuff on. Wouldn't that have been awful? He'd have had streaks all over his hind quarters!!!

[Leslie Perry]

Oh, I never intended to use actual bleach! I used the term "bleach" as a verb rather than a noun. I'm allergic to bleach. I just assume that when someone says they bleach their hair, they aren't actually putting Clorox on it! I was originally thinking of Nice 'N Easy. And probably just streaks at that. Julie (see reply above) said she used it........maybe dilluted like that wouldn't hurt. But the fact remains that I am allergic. I should've been more specific! Sorry. I am suprised your horse's mane never turned back to it's original color! I would've thought that eventually it would grow out, even if you couldn't fix it with another color. That is what I'm trying to avoid! I know how frustrating it is to get a bad color job! :-)

[Catherine Murphy]

I know a gentlemen who had a beautiful chocolate Rocky stud with Flax mane and tale. He said he used Palmolive (green) to enhance and keep it so light. He no longer owns the horse and the horse no longer gets the Palmolive treatment. I saw him a month ago, he is still a beautiful horse but no longer has quite the same striking looking mane and tale.

[Leslie Perry]

but would this work if the horse DIDN'T have a flaxen mane and tail? I don't know if Palmolive actually LIGHTENS the tail, or just brings out the natural color better. I haven't tried anything yet...He's my husband's horse, and he said I could try whatever I wanted, but I'd like to get it right the first time!

[Jennifer]

Whatever you decide to do....take pics and let us know what you tried and how it works......good luck!

[julie]

Yes I used a hair lightener kit (hair bleach, not clorox) from a beauty salon. The hair is course, so it took quite a bit. It turned out perfectly sorrel, even had mixed colors in there. That was a fake tail, so it kept the color indefinately, but a live tail would grow out. I think plain peroxide will turn a dark tail orange.
using hair bleach on a horse, I would have plenty of water handy to rinse mistakes, and cover the horse with a blanket. Or you might come out with an app, lol!