Paw Spa: The Original Cloudstar Buddy Wash

Here's a blast from the past, the original Buddy Wash and Buddy Rinse dog shampoo and conditioner from Cloud Star. I used to wash my dearly departed cocker spaniel in this stuff, followed up with a few Buddy Biscuits for good measure. That was over ten years ago. While this stuff isn't quite that old, it has definitely been kicking around since before Cloud Star changed their package design. I have an original lavender mint Buddy Wash shampoo and matching Buddy Rinse conditioner, and I also have a "Refreshing Rosemary" Buddy Wash shampoo.

Whilst finding the Cloud Star website for this blog post, I stumbled upon the realization that Buddy Biscuits and Buddy Wash are no longer Cloud Star brands. I wasn't sure when exactly this happened, but after some research I'm pretty sure the change was related to the January 2015 merger between Cloud Star and Tiki. Sometime after this point, Buddy Biscuits became their own brand, offering their man-shaped cookies, shampoos, grain-free biscuits, teeny tiny treats, and soft and chewy Buddy Biscuits. Meanwhile, the Cloud Star brand offers Wag More Bark Less biscuits, soft Tricky Trainers treats, and Dynamo Dog chew bones. The two brands are still owned by the same company, but have their own incredibly similar websites with product ranges that overlap significantly.

The current iterations of Buddy Wash are all 2-in-1 conditioning shampoos, with a lavender conditioner also available. I'm not actually sure how old my Buddy Washes are, but I can find pictures of these bottles from reviews and sites as late as 2012 so they may only be 4 years old. Given the shelf life of shampoo though, I guess four years is old enough. Stuff lasts longer when it hasn't been used, so the rosemary shampoo is probably in better shape than the lavender one.

It's worth noting that all Buddy Wash products are supposed to be white. Both of my shampoos are now an amber color, and the conditioner is a bit yellowed as well. I used the lavender shampoo on Brisbane, Sisci, and Ru and it lathered up very nicely. It still smells amazing, and got them all squeaky clean.

The conditioner on the other hand...while it still left Brisbane and Ru soft and silky, it also smelled pretty funky. I guess after a few years conditioner goes rancid. I ended up rinsing them off really good and using something else. And now we know! Thanks for joining me on this little journey of discovery.