# What do you do to fix and prevent sun bleached tails?



## OTTBLover (Jun 23, 2011)

I used to use human hair dye to dye my Bay horses sun bleached tail. It worked GREAT! Just be careful not to get it on their coat haha!


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## HollyBubbles (Jun 22, 2009)

OTTBLover said:


> I used to use human hair dye to dye my Bay horses sun bleached tail. It worked GREAT! Just be careful not to get it on their coat haha!


Really? I thought that would have been bad for them.
And you would still do the patch test right? God help me if Mitch turned out to be allergic to a hair dye :lol: he rubbed out half his tail on a 40minute float trip, so imagine what he would do if he got an itchy tail from the dye :shock:


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## OTTBLover (Jun 23, 2011)

I did the patch test - and my horse had no probs. Most of the dye goes on the tips of the hair, and the length - not really much need to get it on the dock...


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## HollyBubbles (Jun 22, 2009)

OTTBLover said:


> I did the patch test - and my horse had no probs. Most of the dye goes on the tips of the hair, and the length - not really much need to get it on the dock...


That's very true, now I just have to find a hair dye that looks like Mitchs tail colour.. Would it look funny if I dyed the tail and not the mane & forelock? Guess I'd have to find out


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## OTTBLover (Jun 23, 2011)

True, I was lucky with Inca, as he was bay, and his tail was *supposed* to be black, so that was easy for me 

Good luck, let us know what you decide to do


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## Hoofprints in the Sand (Nov 23, 2008)

My buckskin mare has a horrible orange tail about midsummer usually...I also dye it with human hair dye with no problems 
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## HollyBubbles (Jun 22, 2009)

Oh cool, looks like I will be trying out the hair dye then 

it shouldn't be too hard to find the right colour I hope


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## Hoofprints in the Sand (Nov 23, 2008)

I just find plain old black 
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## HollyBubbles (Jun 22, 2009)

Hoofprints in the Sand said:


> I just find plain old black
> _Posted via Mobile Device_


I'm just hoping it'll be close enough to his dark brown tail, it should be, it'd be almost black so if its not quite the right colour i'll just have to die his mane too :lol: he'll be so impressed


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## Pidge (Sep 5, 2009)

Yup the dying is a quick fix for sure...to keep it dark though and to help prevent it from sun bleaching again Ive heard putting them on a suppliment high in copper helps keep their hair dark and helps prevent it from bleaching. My black bay gelding had an orange tail for a while...the copper thing def works...I wont buy a mineral lick without copper in it now and I suplimented for a long time.


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## HollyBubbles (Jun 22, 2009)

Pidge said:


> Yup the dying is a quick fix for sure...to keep it dark though and to help prevent it from sun bleaching again Ive heard putting them on a suppliment high in copper helps keep their hair dark and helps prevent it from bleaching. My black bay gelding had an orange tail for a while...the copper thing def works...I wont buy a mineral lick without copper in it now and I suplimented for a long time.


Oh thats cool, I've never heard about supplementing with copper before.

I might also go out and buy a summer cover with a really big tent-style tail flap on it :lol:, I think my worst nightmare would be to have a horse who is completely sunbleached, especially before/during show season.


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## DejaVu (Jul 6, 2011)

I dye my bays tail as well. His tail is the only thing that fades, so I didn't have to do the mane or forelock which stays a gleaming dark black.

You can cut a small lock, from the middle where it won't be seen, (and also where it's not faded) and take it into a hair store of some sort, and start comparing on the color swatches until you find the dye that matches.

Also, I discovered not the leave in the dye as long as you normally would. I left it in about five to ten minutes less then you would on human hair depending on the dye. It easily starts coming out if left in too long, same as human hair.


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## lovemarcy (Jun 5, 2011)

My friend has a black mare, and to keep her from getting bleached she keeps her in during the day and out at night. She also dyes her tail to match her body. She looks stunning at shows. I never realised how popular tail dyeing is!


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## HollyBubbles (Jun 22, 2009)

DejaVu said:


> I dye my bays tail as well. His tail is the only thing that fades, so I didn't have to do the mane or forelock which stays a gleaming dark black.
> 
> You can cut a small lock, from the middle where it won't be seen, (and also where it's not faded) and take it into a hair store of some sort, and start comparing on the color swatches until you find the dye that matches.
> 
> Also, I discovered not the leave in the dye as long as you normally would. I left it in about five to ten minutes less then you would on human hair depending on the dye. It easily starts coming out if left in too long, same as human hair.


Mitch is the same, so far anyway. It's only been his tail thats faded.

That's a good point, never even thought of that one. I think I will go do that.

Wow, thanks for that tip.. I can't imagine Mitch with no tail, it's short and thin enough as it is.:lol:


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## Hoofprints in the Sand (Nov 23, 2008)

Just dyed Sandie's tail, here are some "before and afters" :wink:

First photo is before, all nice and sun bleached! And then a couple photos of right after I dyed it yesterday (kinda blurry and dark but you get the idea!)


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## HollyBubbles (Jun 22, 2009)

That looks much better... Looks like i'm gonna have to go out and get before pictures though... You wouldn't believe how sunbleached his tail is O.O
I haven't had time to go and get dye yet though, grrr.


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## waresbear (Jun 18, 2011)

I always thought of dying my daughter's (now deceased) arab's tail when he started getting gray hairs but never did. Thanks for the photos, lets me know you can indeed do this. I have a breeding stock paint that is chestnut, and a loud chestnut paint, wonder if they would look good as blondes, maybe add some blue streaks like I had done in my hair???


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## Katze (Feb 21, 2011)

waresbear said:


> I always thought of dying my daughter's (now deceased) arab's tail when he started getting gray hairs but never did. Thanks for the photos, lets me know you can indeed do this. I have a breeding stock paint that is chestnut, and a loud chestnut paint, wonder if they would look good as blondes, maybe add some blue streaks like I had done in my hair???


Your kidding right......I assume you guys are buying pharmacy brand color too...

OK here we go, *Do NOT* dye your horses mane tail forelock etc.... with human hair dye *ESPECIALLY BLEACH!* Yeah yeah yeah it's on the shelf people use it to dye thier hair how bad can it be right? Ever see those old ladies with patchy, balding, straw like hair? Or the middle aged ladies with greenish tinted, balding, and or straw like hair? That's what you get from using pharmacy brand colors. 

The hair dyes sold in a pharmacy have 3 to 5 times the amonia content and 2 to 3 times the peroxide content then salon brand colors. So your oh so inoccuous black instead of it being a 10 or MAX 20 volume is probably a 30 volume peroxide with triple the amonia content and that ladies = nasty hair. If you insist on buying hair dye, go to your locoal bio store, and buy ALL NATURAL hair dye or better yet, invest in a sheet or keep your horse stabled during the day and out at night. 

This reply to all your posts is not intended to sound rude, it is meant to educate. Color is a chemical and should not be used by people with no training, as to the side effects that pharmacy brand color, ANY form of a color process can cause they are indeed numerous. 

Going to the salon and getting your color done by a professional colorist is expensive for a reason girls, that 10-15 dollar box of hooey is cheap for a reason :wink:


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## Hoofprints in the Sand (Nov 23, 2008)

Oh boy I'm having deja vu now with that reply, I believe you were the same one who went off on someone in a similar thread. 

Ok, so the dye I used was about $3 from walmart and is ammonia free. I've dyed my mare's tail three times now with the stuff and she's alive and well...with a shiny soft tail I might add  just sayin...
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## HollyBubbles (Jun 22, 2009)

Katze said:


> Your kidding right......I assume you guys are buying pharmacy brand color too...
> 
> OK here we go, *Do NOT* dye your horses mane tail forelock etc.... with human hair dye *ESPECIALLY BLEACH!* Yeah yeah yeah it's on the shelf people use it to dye thier hair how bad can it be right? Ever see those old ladies with patchy, balding, straw like hair? Or the middle aged ladies with greenish tinted, balding, and or straw like hair? That's what you get from using pharmacy brand colors.
> 
> ...


I wasn't planning on buying pharmacy dyes, I'm well aware of what they are like and wouldn't even use them on my hair.. And if I wont use a human product on me then theres no way I would use it on my horse.
Plus, I don't want to bleach his tail, I want to make it dark again, I don't need to bleach it.
Any hair dye I have ever bought (for my hair) has always been from a supermarket or a hairdressers, and I always read the contents and amounts etc before I walk off to the counter.
To be honest, no I haven't ever seen ladies with hair like that, not in real life here anyway, so either the hair dye here is different, or they must be doing something different with it.

I'm planning on buying a summer cover with a big "tent-style" tail flap, and if I had a stable then sure I would stable him, but I don't have that luxury just yet (dad has been talking about building one recently though, when the money comes in)

Thankyou for that info though, now that has just confirmed that I will never buy hair dye from a pharmacy :lol: sadly we don't have "all natural" stores here, but I can find hair dye that comes close to it, and I won't be buying any old hair dye I can find, I'll be looking at those labels very carefully, and only leaving the dye in for a very very short amount of time.


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## Katze (Feb 21, 2011)

No idea if it was me or not.

Yay for you, you invested in 3$ hair dye, I invested over 15k in a course/es that taught/teach me all about color and what the reactions are that can occur etc... and I will keep taking courses on my profession. You can keep buying your 3$ hair dye, if it's amonia free it is a semi permanent and washes out, does not cover grey and probably has monoethanolamine (which is amonia but a softer form of it, it's still amonia). I was trying to educate people on why it is bad, your flippancy toward coloring in general is slightly agravating. I am glad her tail is soft and shiny, did you by any chance at all PH balance her tail/skin after applying and shampooing out the color? Do you know why it takes 10 min or more at the sink in a salon when doing a color process? Not because we like sore backs I can assure you.

Every time you apply anything chemical to any part of the skin or hair there is a reaction, even if you can't see it with the naked eye, now if that reaction is so minute that NOTHING happens, kudos to you, what would you do if all her hair fell out and it looked like she had a sever burning, bubbling rash where you had applied the color? Call your vet because of a 3$ oopsy. Where on the box does it say safe to use on animals?

Ignorance is not bliss as so many people think, color, bleach etc.. can cause sever allergic reaction, burns and scarring when used incorrectly. Even salon brand color when used incorrectly can cause reactions. (obviously lol.) 

I don't care if after reading my wall-o-text you still decide to try your hand at dyeing your horse, at least you have been forwarned, and as the say forwarned is forearmed! This is not intended to be a rant, I hold courses once a year at my salon for folks that are not trained in my field but don't have the funds to go to the salon every 3-6 weeks for maintenace, my aim for everyone is that they know how and what they are using and what they can use that is safe and easy for them at home at a fraction of the salon cost.


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## HollyBubbles (Jun 22, 2009)

Katze said:


> No idea if it was me or not.
> 
> Yay for you, you invested in 3$ hair dye, I invested over 15k in a course/es that taught/teach me all about color and what the reactions are that can occur etc... and I will keep taking courses on my profession. You can keep buying your 3$ hair dye, if it's amonia free it is a semi permanent and washes out, does not cover grey and probably has monoethanolamine (which is amonia but a softer form of it, it's still amonia). I was trying to educate people on why it is bad, your flippancy toward coloring in general is slightly agravating. I am glad her tail is soft and shiny, did you by any chance at all PH balance her tail/skin after applying and shampooing out the color? Do you know why it takes 10 min or more at the sink in a salon when doing a color process? Not because we like sore backs I can assure you.
> 
> ...


I've never even seen $3 hair dye over here, that to me is quite suprising 
What do you mean by PH balance her skin/tail? (would like to know as much as possible before I confirm my want to buy dye, if my want to buy it is changed then i'm just gonna have to wait it out and chop off the bleached bits, darn. But I don't want to hurt my horse)

With the reaction, to me that always seemed obvious, correct me if i'm wrong, but if there was no reaction then the dye would not dye the hair? That in itself is a reaction is it not? And I'm definately going to shop around and see if I can find any natural hair dyes now, but even if it is a natural one that I find, would I be right in still doing a patch test?

Whether anybody else see's it as a rant is their problem, I see it as valuble information, and I am quite glad that you have replied to this thread. I will still look into the hair dyes, but I'm going to be looking in places that most people wouldn't, and come to think of it.. We actually do have a natural products store in town, so that will be the first place I stop at.


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## Katze (Feb 21, 2011)

When your restoring the PH to the skin, what your doing is "rebalancing" the lvl of moisture, sealing the hair cuticle, and restoring smoothness to the hair shaft. Your putting back and balancing what the chemical process removed. (oh and always do your "final" rinse with cool water. that seals up the cuticles beautifully and makes your hair VERY shiny.)

Your best bet is to either go to a "naturist" store, ask one of the clerks there what you could use, tell them what it's for, and what shampoo is best to restore the hair and skin. Or buy your stuff from a reputable hair salon (but that could get pricey) There is also Henna color, no idea if that is safe or not, I do know that it has advanced by leaps and bounds in the past 5 years. "Real" color and henna do not mix lol, you get either fushia or green when those two come into contact with each other. (REALLY funny to see, I saw it done on a mannequin.)

Reactions to color can vary, and it's usually a combination of, heat and amonia, heat and peroxide, peroxide content too high on a sensitive scalp, medication the client is taking, I could go on and on lol. Sometimes it's a light "rash", itching towards the back of the head lower neck hairline area, to blisters, bubbling, and yup burning/peeling hair loss. 

When doing a color process make sure your in a well ventilated cool area, do not sit in the sun, or if it's your horse, keep him/her in the shade, heat makes it work harder and faster i.e more chance of something going wrong. And yes by all means ALWAYS do a patch test, *but do not mix the whole "box" or whatever you'll be using and store it, make sure you mix in equal amounts of 1 ounce color 1 ounce developer for a patch test. Please use a scale to get exact weight *I still use one and i've been at this for a loooooong time ****.

I'm not against color, i'm a colorist for heavens sake lol, what I hate is ignorance and self imposed ignorance. I'm glad your taking note of the info, and don't hesitate to ask questions no matter how inane you might think they are. Now when youll be ready to do a color change at your local hair salon maybe you can teach those hairdressers a thing or two, oh and always ask the stylist doing your hair if she's a certified haircolor technician before she starts the job, there is usually one or two techs on staff at every salon. :wink:


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## HollyBubbles (Jun 22, 2009)

Katze said:


> When your restoring the PH to the skin, what your doing is "rebalancing" the lvl of moisture, sealing the hair cuticle, and restoring smoothness to the hair shaft. Your putting back and balancing what the chemical process removed. (oh and always do your "final" rinse with cool water. that seals up the cuticles beautifully and makes your hair VERY shiny.)
> 
> Your best bet is to either go to a "naturist" store, ask one of the clerks there what you could use, tell them what it's for, and what shampoo is best to restore the hair and skin. Or buy your stuff from a reputable hair salon (but that could get pricey) There is also Henna color, no idea if that is safe or not, I do know that it has advanced by leaps and bounds in the past 5 years. "Real" color and henna do not mix lol, you get either fushia or green when those two come into contact with each other. (REALLY funny to see, I saw it done on a mannequin.)
> 
> ...


Ahh this makes a lot of sense, thank you for that.

I know of one naturist store I can go to, and they've already helped me with a number of issues on myself, so I'm guessing they can help me with this too.

Cowshed here I come :lol: seeing as I don't have a big barn or anything, and the cowshed is pretty much one wall and a roof, plus lots of steel bars, so its really well ventilated.
Thanks for that tip, I will make sure to use a scale... Thats one thing I'm not going to use my "guesstimation" skills on :lol:

When it comes to things like this, I would far rather learn about it the easy way as opposed to doing something wrong and potentially hurting my horse.


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## Hoofprints in the Sand (Nov 23, 2008)

Katze said:


> No idea if it was me or not.
> 
> Yay for you, you invested in 3$ hair dye, I invested over 15k in a course/es that taught/teach me all about color and what the reactions are that can occur etc... and I will keep taking courses on my profession. You can keep buying your 3$ hair dye, if it's amonia free it is a semi permanent and washes out, does not cover grey and probably has monoethanolamine (which is amonia but a softer form of it, it's still amonia). I was trying to educate people on why it is bad, your flippancy toward coloring in general is slightly agravating. I am glad her tail is soft and shiny, did you by any chance at all PH balance her tail/skin after applying and shampooing out the color? Do you know why it takes 10 min or more at the sink in a salon when doing a color process? Not because we like sore backs I can assure you.
> 
> ...


It was definitely you, I recognize it from your post above  anyway, that "$3 crap" worked fine, no ill effects, trying to share my opinion as are you and of course no one wants to be made to feel like they're not being cautious or concerned with their horse. I very much understand the risks that come with coloring with anything, but in my case there were no adverse effects and I've known many people with my same experience too. In fact, never heard of anyone having something bad happen to their horse because of it. 

Does that mean it's foolproof and nothing can ever happen? Of course not, but then again my horse breaks out in lumps all over if you feed her molasses, she's allergic. I don't know many other horss with that allergy so I'm not going to warn everyone to stay away from molasses, but for me personally it just doesn't work for my mare. 

So anyway, to the OP, glad you're getting a lot of info here from multiple people, just remember to take everything you read with a grain of salt. Glad you are being thorough in your research, most wouldn't. I'm not sure what the difference is between "pharmacy" and supermarket/walmart color, but I know that I do use semi permanent since it's ammonia free. Yes it will wash out eventually but I like that option and my hair stylist who I've been going to for color and highlights for over 10 yrs now sees no problems with it (she has over 20 yrs experience at some very high end salons too so she also knows what she's doing). 

If you're worried about an allergic reaction, by all means do a patch test but typically since I'm just dyeing the sun bleached area, I'm only putting it on the top part of her tail and not on her skin. A little gets through to her dock I'm sure but not much. I once used that Feria foam stuff, little more expensive but was easier to control where the dye went so not as messy.
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## wild_spot (Jan 30, 2008)

You can buy dye here in Aus specifically for horses - Horse show colour or Show pony colour. 

Maybe you have something similar over there?
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## HollyBubbles (Jun 22, 2009)

We may have something like that over here, but if it is then its hiding pretty well as I havent found it yet


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## faithinthehorse (Aug 14, 2011)

my friend personally use dye on her horses tails as do i


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## Katze (Feb 21, 2011)

wild_spot said:


> You can buy dye here in Aus specifically for horses - Horse show colour or Show pony colour.
> 
> Maybe you have something similar over there?
> _Posted via Mobile Device_


Never heard of anyone that uses horse specific hair dye here, "yet". I've actually been thinking of "making" horse friendly hair dye, and it seems alot of people have the tail bleaching issue. Sommething to seriously look into


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## wild_spot (Jan 30, 2008)

It sells really well here - the brand we carry have kits in the different colours for the whole horse or just the mane and tail.
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## mls (Nov 28, 2006)

HollyBubbles said:


> -They don't sell MTG in NZ so I can't use that to make his tail grow faster.
> -He doesn't have a winter cover, so even the top of his tail is bleached.
> -Obviously tail bag would fix the bleaching but he's quite a master of getting things off, or getting out of things (paddocks, yards, and duct taped hoof bandages included, so a tail bag would be no match)


MTG does not MAKE hair grow. It "encourages" hair growth. Think about it - if MTG made hair grow, we would not have bald men . . . 

Ok - off my soap box now.

Some of tail bleaching comes from urine splash and manure residue. Wash, rinse and condition once a week to discourage chemical discoloration.


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## HollyBubbles (Jun 22, 2009)

mls said:


> MTG does not MAKE hair grow. It "encourages" hair growth. Think about it - if MTG made hair grow, we would not have bald men . . .
> 
> Ok - off my soap box now.
> 
> Some of tail bleaching comes from urine splash and manure residue. Wash, rinse and condition once a week to discourage chemical discoloration.


Oops, my mistake, just from what I had read about it that was the impression I got.

Now thats two new things I've learnt this morning :lol: Thankyou for that.


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