# How do you dye poodle fur?



## 2719

Hello, I have seen a few avatars of some poodle forum members that have dyed their poodle's ears, tails etc. some real wild colours. I think they look awesome!

Most of them are light coloured dogs.

I have black standards...so I don't think I can dye their fur. But, my boy is a faded brown and he is almost silver...so I was wondering if I could play around with dying his fur?

I know that I have used manic panic coloured dye to dye my son's hair..but I had to bleach sections first.

Can someone tell me a) what dye is used on dogs?
b) does the dye work, exclusively on light furred dogs?

Any input would be happily received.

:questionmark:


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## creativeparti

Why don't you get some pet safe spay on colours first... I've not used manic panic before.. So can't say how to use...


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## Bella's Momma

Anyone use kool-aid on their poodles? I know it works well with animal fibers and I thought I remembered hearing someone do that. 

I wonder, though, since it dyes the fiber...do you just have to wait for it to grow out?


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## charity

I use food coloring because it's safe and it washes out nicely. However I doubt that it would work well on darker colored dogs. The end result is always a lot lighter than the coloring itself. 

I just did Shamus (my white toy) in a blue. It went on really dark and came out light.


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## poodlemom2be

Bella's Momma said:


> Anyone use kool-aid on their poodles? I know it works well with animal fibers and I thought I remembered hearing someone do that.
> 
> I wonder, though, since it dyes the fiber...do you just have to wait for it to grow out?


I know nothing about coloring poodles, BUT I do remember growing up and in jr high hearing of people coloring their hair with kool-aid. I don't know how long it stays though.


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## littlebluetrike

Manic Panic is a Vegitable Based dye, I recommend only using those kind of dyes only on dogs and cats. It is harmless, if they injest it it won't hurt them and it will not hurt their skin as there are no harsh chemicals. 
We use Manic Panic on malteses (ears tails, and feet), white poodles (did a flower decoration all over one) and, Shi Tzu's flames, Bichon's (mowhawks). We let it dye for 45 minutes to an hour and it lasts for weeks. If you only let it soak for 15 minutes it will only be a light tinge and maybe last two weeks.

Koolaid works good on lighter colored dogs, though it does not color on them dark and if they aren't really white its not going to show as well. 

I've heard cake decorating food coloring in the little plastic canister containers were really good. But we haven't gone to that yet. 

As for dying black standard poodles or blue poodles. His tail is lighter, a little grayer than the rest of his body so I used pink dye and it colored it purple. 

I know this is a gasp to the community but we were very careful and my boss is a professional groomer. She carefully bleached his ear and tail balls. We then used manic panic after that for an hour, it came out really nice.

WARNING: As long as that bleach does not touch the animals skin, you should be fine. Though I would recommend a professional to handle this. Because if you get bleach burn, that's a vet bill and your beloved dog in pain.


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## MamaTiff

I have only used Manic Panic. It is safe and works very well.


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## Fluffyspoos

I've used that cheap little comb in color from Hot Topic. It lasted TOO well and stayed in Vienna's ears for at least 5 months. The good part was that it didn't fade to an ugly color and disappear, it just got lighter and lighter, always staying a cute shade of pink.

Fresh









A few months later


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## lilypoo

I've heard of making a paste out of sidewalk chalk and using it to dye white dogs! I would think I'd prefer to use Manic Panic or something made for people since sidewalk chalk isn't meant to go onto a living thing! LOL

I have seen special hair dye for dogs, at our wholesale warehouse.

Unless the hair is white or very light, you've not going to get a bright color without bleaching. I know this from my own hair. My hair is naturally light brown and unless I bleach, I can't get a bright color. I often put fuschia or purple streaks in my hair. Eventually I started bleaching because I wanted it brighter.

There ARE temporary sprays and gels that WILL show color on dark hair because they coat the hair, rather that actually dyeing the hair. That might be a good place to start. If you were to put color on silver/dark silver, you'd get some color...just darker than what you put on.


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## littlebluetrike

If you use human dyes though, be sure they are vegitable based


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## partial2poodles

Www.thencgia.com is an organization that I belong to which promotes safety first in creatively grooming pets. The products they recommend are the only safe ones. I shuddered when I saw that dark blue dye right up to the dogs eye rims. Its not safe to do that. Dogs have no voice so don't even come close to harming your dogs eyes...its just not that important. I have colored my dogs in areas or designs....but I choose designs that require no face coloring. Other brands to look for that are vivid and long lasting are Punky, Adore, Avatar and Kiss Express. You can order the the website. The whole name is the National Assoc of Professional CREATIVE Groomers


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## Aidan

I used manic panic for both dye jobs on Sagan. They both lasted forever. It's safe, pretty easy to do..the hardest part was making sure not to get dye anywhere else.


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## supysmom

partial2poodles mentioned the NAPCG, they have a wonderful book available, the science of creative grooming.
I have used food coloring, chalk, sprayza pens, and manic panic. the product you use really depends on the results you are looking for. on a dark colored dog I dont know what you can expect. bleaching is extremely dangerous. please dont do it. but even if you cannot dye your poo you can still be creative. I do nail polish on Lacy. she had candy corn nails at halloween. you can also carve designs into there fur. check out creative poodle images. its incredible.


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## Ladywolfe

A lot of people say that you just cannot dye hair on a darker shaded poodle. My toy is a rather dark grey, and manic panic worked fine on her:


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## lilypoo

Oh, she's adorable! However I disagree that she's a dark gray--looks silver to me in the image. You wouldn't get as bright a result on a dark gray, black, etc. Personally I'd be afraid to bleach but I know the experts out there can do it safely. I'd like to try pink on my apricot...just afraid I'll get some crazy-horrible shade. I'm going to do a strand test next time she has a haircut!  My new crested is mostly white and oh, do I have some plans!!


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## Ladywolfe

Right you are; yeppers, she IS a silver toy. I just meant that her coloring is on the darker side of a silver (I had imagined her to be that lovely, clear platinum coloring), but she has held enough coloring that I didn't expect her to dye well at all.

It was right here that I learned about the manic panic. I dyed her a couple of weeks before Christmas, and she is still holding a nice light pink now after baths and grooms.

Bleaching is beyond my expertise or comfort, as well.


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## PooDoo Fashionista

You should visit National Association of Professional Creative Groomers (The NAPCG)
These people work very hard at educating Groomers to safely and correctly use dye on dogs. Beaching should never be done as it is very dangerous. It is banned in grooming competitions both profile and creative.

Cheers,
Mich


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## PooDoo Fashionista

I believe you can also find them on Facebook.


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