This is a tale about dying your horse’s tail. And it’s not pretty.
L from Gray Horse Problems posted a tutorial for dying your gray horse’s tail, and I immediately ordered all the supplies, because hello, Gus’ tail is magnificent.
Since Pilgrim is a disgusting creature, I try to purple shampoo his tail at least 2-3x/week. But I never feel like it actually looks clean. More than once I’ve threatened to just dye his tail all black. So when I saw the tutorial, I was super excited to try it.

First, I gathered up all the supplies:
Plus Latex gloves, plastic bags, and vet wrap. Turquoise vet wrap, naturally.

Then I tied up the black part of his tail to keep it out of the way.
Then I mixed up the stuff (probably wrong), and slathered it in- again, probably wrong.
Then wrapped the plastic bag over it and put him in his stall so his tail could cook.
After 30 minutes, I unwrapped to wash the bleach out. It was a little shocking to see how yellow it was, but I didn’t panic (yet) because now it was time for the purple shampoo to get that gleaming white!
Now, I’m well-versed in the world of purple shampoo. I should probably own stock in Vetrolin White ‘N Brite. But I’ve never left purple shampoo in for longer than 5 or so minutes, and this called for leaving it in for 30 minutes.
Then I rinsed out with hot water and….behold:
Now I felt slightly panicked, but surely it won’t DRY this way. I’m sure it’s fine.
Nope, not fine.
Here are some more angles just to let this sink in:
Yep, that’s purple.
With nothing more I could do that night, I turned him out. Choking back some sobs as I watched him walk away.
And for the first time EVER, willed him to roll harder to maybe disguise it a bit until I could find a solution.

The next day I texted my salon-owning friend who does my hair.
Then she called me right away because I had forgotten to add that I had used the above process on my horse and not my own hair, and she was freaking out that I had burned off all my hair.
She recommended clarifying shampoo or, since it was horse hair, mixing baking soda and Dawn dish soap.
So I ran to the store and then to the barn, just hoping that maybe I had temporarily gone color-blind the night before and it really wouldn’t be purple when I pulled in.
No such luck, so I got to scrubbing.
And it worked! You can still see that the color has obviously been tampered with, and every once in awhile there’s a subtle hint of purple here and there, but it’s not OBVIOUSLY purple anymore.
So, what was the purpose of posting this? Well, just a warning to not be like me. I’ve never been a “test for color fastness” person. I mean, who has the time for that? And it’s always worked out for me. Until this. So if you ever get the urge to alter your horse’s hair color, maybe just take 90 minutes (or less) and test to make sure you don’t turn your horse into Barney the Dinosaur.
oh my god. i am sobbing with laughter here. I LOVE PURPLE but yet not in a horse’s tail. OMG still laughing. Sorry but you have to have had the best post ever today!! Thanks I needed the giggle. OMG 🙂 THIS IS WHY I dont ever touch hair dye for me or my horse. 🙂 Thanks for the warning though. Poor P. 🙂
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Bahahaha, at least the upside is that it’s funny. My poor horse puts up with so much.
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I needed this laugh!!!! Hilarious!!! This would so be me if I attempted anything of the sort.
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Yeah, don’t be like me! Stay away from hair dye!
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lol omg. bay horses 4 lyfe, yo.
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Seriously, you have the right idea
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OMG LOL. Well, I’m glad you got it looking normal! I admire that you tried it to begin with! Maybe some silver toner will give it a nice sheen? (i know nothing about hair)
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After this I’m afraid to touch it!
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OMG! Gus’ tail never comes out purple and I leave that stuff in forever! I am so sorry!
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It’s not your fault- I’m SURE I did something wrong. Gus’ tail is gorgeous and I just wanted to replicate it!
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Figuring out white hair is the worst. I’ll have to post some of my fails… for example, I used this product everyone on COTH recommended for extra white shine at Chatt and his hair turned to straw. It was so brittle and gross. Not sure if it reacted badly with something else in his tail but I’ve been afraid to try it again!
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Oh no! What product??
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Fanci-full rinse minx. It’s a leave in product. To be fair, his hair was really pretty and silvery.
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Noted!
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i mean, i would’ve left it.
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Bahaha,I don’t doubt it. So just use these steps to create your dream tail 🙂
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i thought of you Megan when I saw it 🙂
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Lol! I’m gonna have to figure out what to do with Luna bc her tail is a coon tail… Realistically it’ll prob just be tinged red//brown 😂
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Hahaha coon tail 😂
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Hahaha I was hoping it would pull more purple. Looks like you did an admirable job saving it.
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Helps to have hair savvy friends!
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This is my nightmare and EXACTLY something I would do. Except I would do it right before a show…
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At least we didn’t have anywhere to go! The silver lining.
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LOOOOL that is a good one. Glad I’ll only ever have to deal with black dye, which I can just cover up with more black dye!! Not that Murray will ever let me dye his tail but… ya know.
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Hahaha, P just stood there the whole time, but kept giving me side eye like, “I know you’re screwing this up.” And he was right 🤦♀️
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I had a gray horse before May that was pretty gross, and May’s “golden yellow” tail likes to be more “poop brown”. I am also the laziest person with a light colored horse ever and only really wash tails for shows. my secret? This stuff: https://championtails.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/srs.jpg
It is literally a concentrated, powder form of purple shampoo. for really bad tails (yours does not qualify, just that stuff with water will work), I mix it with GOOP and make a purple paste. Leave on for 10 minutes. Wash out. Condition. and BLINDING WHITE TAIL.
One day I’ll have to do a tutorial on it.
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Please do! Where do you find GOOP? I tried searching but it pulls up all sorts of stuff.
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Walmart sells it. Look for the “Goop Multi-Purpose Hand Cleaner”
https://www.walmart.com/ip/Goop-Multi-Purpose-Hand-Cleaner/16880683?wmlspartner=wlpa&selectedSellerId=0&adid=22222222227009374627&wl0=&wl1=g&wl2=c&wl3=57014425248&wl4=pla-80332315728&wl5=9014225&wl6=&wl7=&wl8=&wl9=pla&wl10=8175035&wl11=online&wl12=16880683&wl13=&veh=sem
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Fantastic! Thanks!
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Honestly I think grey horse tails are the perfect vessel for hair dyes. Next time make it teal!
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I’d be served an eviction notice immediately 😂
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Omg I died laughing!!!!!!!!!! This is one of the best posts hahaha!!!! Britt Gillis at A House On a Hill (https://ourhouseonahill.wordpress.com/) has some secrets to white tails too. But don’t worry to much bc dark horses also have their woes. Sun bleaching is real and a pain in the ass if your horse lives outside 24/7!!!
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There’s no winning! I just wanted to hide the fact that my horse lays in his own crap- was that too much to ask for? 😭
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As someone who went to cosmetology school I cringed through the whole post and laughed at your friend’s response. Clarifying shampoo might do a better job of getting rid of the yellow than bleach (yellow is the toughest color to remove from hair strands).
Thanks for taking one for the collective blogger team though. 🙂
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So is there no hope until it grows out?
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You’ve damaged the hair with bleach (it’s just what happens when bleach or developer is used). It will eventually wash out but the cuticles on the hair shafts are blown out and will allow all kinds of junk to get in there possibly preventing the color from ‘falling out’ sooner. You can use the clarifying shampoo daily but I would also use a leave in conditioner to help the dryness the tail will now experience.
I don’t know the life cycle length of horse hair (it’s years and years but I don’t know how many) but it will be a while before the bleach hair is all gone. However, the purple/blue should hopefully disappear in a few weeks.
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Gaaahhhh, lesson learned!
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The More You Know!
Sorry you had to learn by trial and error. 😦
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At least P doesn’t have vanity issues. And my super conservative BO hasn’t mentioned it so it must not be that noticeable!
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Haha. That’s good! And on the up side, when all that purple comes out the tail is going to be platinum.
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