Guinnea Pig Product Review: Beaphar Grooming Spray

Beaphar Grooming Spray is supposed to "[detangle] the coat and [moisturize] the skin, and [leave] the coat beautifully shiny." Sounds nice, doesn't it?

There's a guinea pig on the front. That's often a good sign.

However, the bottle itself didn't have the ingredients listed. After our humans discussed this stuff on a guinea pig forum, we were concerned that if there were any bad ingredients in this stuff, we could end up ingesting them since we like to groom ourselves. (Keep this in mind if you ever run across any similar products.)

After doing some web searching and even emailing the company, we got a list of ingredients in this stuff: "The main ingredient of the Beaphar Grooming spray is the almond oils as this conditions the coat and leaves it feeling soft and shiny. After this there is water, Bronidox and castor oil in it." Bronidox is an anti-microbial compound commonly used in shampoos, and the US FDA considers castor oil to be a "generally recognized as safe and effective" (GRASE) ingredient. So none of the ingredients seemed particularly toxic. However, one of the fine folks at the Guineapigcages.com forum told us: "Leaving oil all over the pig (or human scalps for that matter) for longer periods of time without washing it out can disrupt the acid mantle."  According to Wikipedia, the acid mantle is: "a very fine, slightly acidic film on the surface of the skin acting as a barrier to bacteria, viruses and other potential contaminants that might penetrate the skin." That definitely doesn't sound like the kind of thing you want disrupted!

The forum poster did point out one safe way to use oil products like this, however: you can use it half an hour before you give your guinea pig a bath. So I guess that's what we're going to have to do to try this product.

Wait, I'm the one who gets baths all the time! Maybe we could just skip this review?

What is this stuff you're spraying on me? It smells!

I'm not enjoying this!

Already, the bottle has made several statements that I strongly disagree with:

• "Many pets enjoy being groomed." --I can't speak for other pets, but I don't like this at all!
• "It keeps the fur in good condition and strengthens the bond between pet and owner." --It made my fur smell funny, and I can't remember the last time I've nibbled on my human's hands so angrily!
• "It contains macadamia oil which helps the tangles slip out more easily, moisturizes the skin, and leaves the coat beautifully shiny." --The comb didn't go through more easily, I already talked about how it's probably not good to leave on the skin, and my coat just looked like an oily mess. (Also, I thought the main ingredient was almond oil, not macadamia oil?)

As if I wasn't having a bad enough time reviewing this product, then I had to have a bath to get this stuff off me!

I'm so miserable! (But at least the Gorgeous Guineas shampoo smells much better than the Beaphar Grooming Spray!)

Time to dry off and put this nightmare behind me.

As should be obvious by now, there was nothing about this product I enjoyed. It smelled bad, I didn't look good after being sprayed, it didn't make it easier to brush me, and I had to have a bath to get it off. This product gets 1/5 stars!