I’m looking for advice from people who have dyed a mane or tail. Need to know everything. What results did you get? Would you do it again?
dyed a tail once. It was a sunbleached black tail. Word of advice, natural black and african american shiny black are not the same thing. Go with more natural black!
Had a good friend that qualified her very sunbleached black horse for indoors. She panicked and bought a couple of boxes of hair dye. Well… 10 boxes later the horse was so black he was blue. Looked amazing under the lights though and everyone was raving about his coat quality!
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I haven’t dyed horses, but I know with dogs a lot of groomers use Manic Panic from Sally beauty, or http://www.manicpanic.com/classiccreamformula.html .
I did the tail of my dark bay TB. It was sun bleached orange and looked terrible compared to her beautiful, almost black summer coat that grew in. I picked a nice, natural black from the drug store and had at it. I stuck her tail in a trash bag while it set so she couldn’t swish it all over (AFTER I desensitized her a trash bag on her butt ;)) Turned out gorgeous and shiny. The color has faded some, but to a nice dark brown rather than orange. I’d definitely do it again!
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Years ago, I used to have “Clairol Day” for my mare. Her black mane and tail would turn a lovely shade of orange. For the mane, its a good idea to put something like vasoline along the neck so that if/when the dye gets on it from the mane, it wont dye the hair on the neck. The trash bag idea is a good idea for the tail IF your horse is ok with it. Maybe get an old tail bag that you dont mind getting dye on.
I actually took pics the first time I did it… these are like… geez over 6 years old.
Before
http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b70/ixitellyixi/Layla-Tail-4-A.jpg
http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b70/ixitellyixi/Layla-Tail-3-A.jpg
After
http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b70/ixitellyixi/Layla-Tail-1-A.jpg
I usually got whatever was on sale and got like… geez I think 3-6 boxes. I dont have to do that anymore as she no longer bleaches out like that. But yes, natural black is a good idea.
Yep - did the tail and forelock of a young horse that I showed on the line last year. She was kept out with minimal shelter before I got her, and the tips of both were a lovely pumpkin-spice shade.
I used the cheapest permanent color I could find in Natural Black. Wrapped the forelock in aluminum foil so the star didn’t get dyed, and tied the tail up in a plastic grocery bag.
Did it all season long - maybe once every 6 weeks? - and mare was year end champion. Everyone in the barn would laugh their ass off when they would walk in and see her all foiled and bagged up.
I mentioned dying my horse’s bleached-out mane and someone in my barn told me it was against either USDF or USEF rules to dye a horse’s hair–anyone know if that’s true? If it is, it might be worth keeping in mind. I have no idea…
I ended up pulling most of the bleached hair out instead.
Those before and after pics are awesome!
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I dye tails all the time to restore color after sunbleaching. Manes seem too difficult.
In addition to the tips you already have:
Use ammonia free hair color
I don’t use a bag, I just hold the tail and work the dye in for about 10 minutes (usually shorted because I get impatient and/or worried color is not right, or horse gets impatient!)
Wet the back end and back legs and keep the hose going in case you get dye in unwanted places. You can quickly spray off.
Wrap hind white socks with old polo wraps.
Yes, it’s true.
Hold on a minute; I couldn’t find the actual rule but did see that one association is OK with “enhancing the natural color” of manes and tails…
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We use:
-semi pernament… to me it looks more natural then pernament
-ammonia free dye
Vaseline everywhere , use old polos.
We also use an old towel, cut a hole for tail towards one end of it. We then attach baling twine to each side of the towel near hole. Person can either hold twine or tie it in front of horse ( like a cape). Will note : out yearlings are generally aced for this and are fine but we are also clipping legs and multi tasking at hence the ace. Towel keep dye off horse more reliably.
We only use one box per horse so some what surprised that you would need 3-6 but i guess most of ours are only yearlings but they do have pretty good tails.
P.
I used a Clarol color for black Asian hair (kind of blue-black) with extra conditioners. I bagged the tail in a plastic grocery bag. Came out absolutely beautiful, shining, extrordinarily comb-able. I would do it again in a second, but now I have a horse with a white tail.
yeah, we did blonde for a palomino and it worked great
Dyed an entire sun bleached black mare before a Regional show. She looked fantastic … as she got hot and worked the under sides of my show pads did turn a lovely blue black that was very hard to wash out.
I used Lady Clarol “Natural Instincts” black on my mare’s bleached tail two summers ago. It worked great, looked natural, and is a non permanent dye. I would do it again (in fact, will probably dye my 2 year olf filly’s tail for her upcoming classes on the line),
I know this is an old thread but I am bumping it up because I am curious and dying mane forelock and tail of a dingy grey horse, from what should be white to a soft soft natural black with some white still left in so it doesn’t look so dingy.
Any new updates on dying your horse’s hair? How do you keep it out of their eyes?
As long as you are dyeing the mane/tail the natural color it’s legal. So is using ‘whitening’ products to remove stains, and color enhancing shampoos
@Chachie , what you want to do is change the natural color, that could be a problem if someone complains.
It will also be difficult because what you need to do is ‘low-light’ individual hairs for it to look natural.
Do not let any hair dye products get in the horse’s eyes!!!
Sally’s Beauty Supply may still carry Roux ‘Fanci-Full’ color rinse in the color True Steel or Silver Lining. That would be the best to start with. It is semi permanent, I would use it on the hairs in the center of the forelock and underside of the mane and let the outer hairs be natural.
Smear creme rinse on the hair you don’t want to dye and braid it out of the way, follow directions on coloring the hair you do want. Use a plastic or old tail bag if tail needs to match.
It would be best to test this well in advance of any show. You can do a touch up just before the show.
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That’s actually illegal. If you are just trying to get it white you need blueing shampoo or that Roux shampoo is awesome. Get the White Minx. Otherwise Orvis. You have to wash weekly. We had a grey quarter horse lesson horse that loved nastiness. You can soak in vinegar, but I prefer just washing in orvus to get everything sparkly and them using the White Minx dye.
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I wonder.
I know AQHA, and Arab folks dye hair, I know Saddleseat people who do it too. I bet hunters and jumpers dye mane/tails, I know they dye switches.
I don’t think using a temporary rinse that turns dingy, brownish hairs steel grey is technically a breach of the rules, but dyeing a true white tail to grey could be.
My experience is…if it looks natural no one cares. If it looks fake you’re busted.
OP if you are going to show this horse, check your the rule book.
You can dye hair the color it is originally. Ex black faded tail colored black. White tail dyed white, You can’t turn a white mane black because its dingy.
I’m from the saddle seat world I’ve dyed many a black tails and a few chestnut tails back chestnut vs orange grossness. We don’t turn a flaxen horse into a bay or bleach tails.We don’t change their original color. We just add switches the color we want that blends. If I had a pretty chestnut with a bit of flax, my switches are going to be 2 light and 1 darker hung so it blends to be an almost golden tail with flaxen highlights. But I didn’t change the original color, its still flaxen.
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Yup. Bleached a liver chestnut saddlebred’s mane and tail flaxen. Turned out beautiful. Wrapped her neck in plastic and cut holes and pulled the mane thru.
