Ecolicious Equestrian: Harv and Riley get a spa treatment

I'm no nature girl. I've used one natural horse product, Eqyss Avocado Mist, and was not impressed. I use Showsheen or Vetrolin, usually. These products deliver a shine, but also silicone and other "undesirables."This spring I got an offer to try a free bottle of Ecolicious Equestrian De-stresser mane and tail conditioner. The rep also kindly sponsored the Foal caption contest (winner got a free bottle of the same stuff).

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Disclaimer: This isn't one of those reviews-that-is-really-an-ad. I get freebies fairly regularly, and if the product doesn't leave an impression, I don't blog about it. When I'm contacted about freebies in advance, the sender understands that there is no guarantee of a blog reference. Just FYI.

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Harv gets the spa treatment
Harv was the first one to get the De-Stress spa treatment. I have to confess when I read the directions, I was dismayed at step 2 -- wrap saran wrap around the tail and let it heat up for ten minutes. Harv doesn't like his tail handled and he swishes it violently when he's had enough! But as it happened he was a good boy. I used the "sticks to itself" saran wrap  which conformed to the tail beautifully. I only left it on for five minutes.


Harv's beauty issues
Believe it or not, Harv does have a flaw or two. His tail is thick, but stiff and strawlike.  Vetrolin and Showsheen make his tail slick and stiff and and strawlike.  The Ecolicious De-stress works like a hot oil treatment. It smells wonderful, was easy to apply, and easy to rinse out. But Harv's a tough hair case and I wondered what a non-silicon product would really accomplish. 

After his tail dried, it felt SOFT--like human hair. It was not blindingly shiny but there was a nice luster -- in the evening light I could not get a decent picture, it just looked like a black tail. If only you could feel the difference I felt. The Ecolicious blog has a before/after photo -- of course Harv's tail was not as bad but the "after" picture is comparable to what I saw. I didn't not wrap the tail anywhere near that thoroughly, and I didn't give it the full length of time in the wrap.

Riley's next...

This weekend I tried it on Riley. Riley has a lovely, thick, soft  tail that doesn't need much help. However, he is losing hair in the middle of the tail base from rubbing his dry, itchy skin, and his hair does tend to fall into ropes. I applied the product with no saran wrap and left it on for five minutes. Here is a photo (right) after I picked through the tail with my fingers only (no brush, no comb). Oh, the pink stuff is SWAT; flies are bad right now.

Look at the volume and shine. Bob took the photo and he was impressed. There's another photo at the bottom if you want to see the tip of the tail..

So it's a thumbs up!
I think all but the most die-hard Showsheen devotees will be pleased with this product. If you're wondering if I'd buy it with my own money, let me share that I've ordered the body conditioner of this product line.  I love that because it's all human grade ingredients, people can use it too.

Is there anything I don't like? 
In my opinion, the detangling properties don't compare with the other commercial products, and the price is 15% higher than some of the products I've used. However the earth-friendly products do tend to cost more and the prices are in line with the natural products I've seen.

More about Ecolicious and the destresser 
If you have questions about Ecolicious, leave a comment on my blog or on the Ecolicious blog. My contact, Petra, is a blog reader, and I'm sure she'll try to answer your questions...

RESOURCES

Ecolicious Equestrian Web site

DE-STRESS Intensive Restructuring and Detangling Treatment (description)

Equine Chronicle review of Ecolicious products
Ecolicious article in Southwest Trader