Forgive me if this has already been answered, but what is Mane 'n Tail and is it any good?

Thanks!

Mane n Tail is horse shampoo.   Horse owners tried it on their hair since it comes in gigantic jugs at feed stores and found they liked it.  I have not read the ingredients but some people like to use it on their hair.  Now you can buy it at all sorts of stores in human-sized bottles.  I even saw it at Sally's Beauty supply the other day.

I have heard all sorts of urban legends about it making your hair grow, but really it is just shampoo.  A girlfriend of mine who had horses used to use it, but I never noticed her hair being spectacularly fast growing or anything.  

I've used it and I liked it, although it wasn't my very favorite and I haven't bought it since (it's one of those, "should I buy more?" waffle sessions at the grocery store).  Still, it's definitely worth a try.  

Kim

it never made my horses mane or tail look all that spectacular, so i've never been tempted.  i normally ended up using human conditioner on the horses.  
i had to laugh when mane n tail became so trendy and at how much more it cost in grocery stores than in tack (horsy) stores.

StacyP, I agree, the price difference is outrageous. Humans will buy anything as long as the price is high enough, I think. And It never did much for Luna or Faran, either(my two ex-horses :'() I used Suave on Luna, it brought out the brilliant white color of her coat. I wish it would do that to me! Faran always got pampered with the same stuff I used (almost always pantene). I figured our hair was almost the same color, it had to work, right? and it did! He was the shiniest, most spectacular-maned horse in the field. (given that the other three were an antique mule, and a pair of ponies owned by complete idiots, that wasn't hard, but still!) But Mane and Tail for humans,  I wouldn't recommend. Frankly, it made my hair feel like my horses'.

my horsies are ex's too... i share your pain!!!   it cost over a grand just to get my dog here (hawaii) when i moved, i can't even imagine what a horse or two would cost.  
but we're moving to KY in a few years, horses galore!  yay!!
i can put to good use all the leftover conditioner & shampoo i'm going to have since coming to these boards!

ooh, ouch! Yeah, I can imagine shipping a horse, what with quarantine and all, would be a pain in the butt, not to mention horribly expensive.  There are horses all around here, but none for me:( sometimes I wonder how we manage to keep our cats fed, much less ourselves. I can't imagine a horse right now. And my two were left behind 6(luna) and 4(faran) years ago in Virginia. Sold luna because she had a bad habit of getting drunk on fermenting figs(dangerous to ride)... the stable owner sold Faran because my parents didn't feel like paying the boarding fee for a few months(almost a year!) after our farm house burned down and we were kicked off the property, thus having to find somewhere to put him.  They wouldn't even drive me up there so I could muck stalls to pay for his board.
I'll never forgive them for that.  
Anyway, good luck on kentucky!

Horse products are often very harsh and loaded with oils. A few weeks ago, I found some S&C made by Cabellina just lying around in the garage. I'd heard good things about horse products, so I checked the ingredient lists...only to find that the first detergent listed in the shampoo was ammonium lauryl sulfate!!  :o
   I then checked the ingredients in the conditioner and found that it was loaded with all sorts of different oils, which might work for most longhairs...but not me. My skin is quite intolerant of it.
 
But genius that I am, I decided to try the conditioner anyway, and used it for weeks as a 2nd conditioner with no major breakouts (that I can recall at least). But the ingredients are fairly raw and it burns the back of my neck as so many conditioners seem prone to doing.  :(  

So yeah, totally not worth the price in chain, tack or feed stores in my opinion. My family also uses the cheap stuff (Suave, VO5, etc.) on our 2 horses and it works just as well. And our white paint gets Quicksilver because he likes to roll.  ::)

my white arab had a freakish talent for finding manure and smearing it all over himself the day before shows.  suave worked great for it.  i don't know what this says about suave, unless one finds themself with poop in their hair, but they could probably mark it up and sell it in tack shops.  a reverse mane n tail situation if you will.  

do you have an allergy?  i find that so fascinating that conditioner burns your skin....

 ;D lol Stacy...yeah, white horses do that. It's chronic. We always have to wash our white paint with Quicksilver before shows to literally bleach the stains out of him.  

Suave's cheap shampoos have a high content of ammonia, which might explain why they work so well at cleaning horses...or sinks or tubs. Just don't for the love of God let it touch your hair!!  :o


Quote:

do you have an allergy?  i find that so fascinating that conditioner burns your skin....

Well, I'm glad that you find it so fascinating.  :P  lol It's not as much fun for me.
   Nope, no allergies. The back of my neck is just sensitive to certain conditioners and will get incredibly dry, irritated and flaky if I continue to use them regularly. I'm not sure whether it's fragrances or some other ingredient that causes this reaction, but I've learned to avoid the conditioners that do.
   Skin is different on every area of the body and different parts of it are going to have different reactions to different things. Just like your system reacts differently to different foods. You learn what's ok and what to avoid. Isn't Nature a peculiar thing?  ;)

lol...i meant fascinating in a 'hmmm, i wonder why' sense, not a 'cool!'  sense.
i hear what you're saying.  my chest just under my collar bone is allergic to everything, even too much shower water will make me get hivey.  
that must be maddening to have an itchy neck!

I have no problem using Mane 'n Tail.  I can use it on my hair just well, and it has left it so nice, soft, and healthy looking.

I tried mane and Tail shampoo and conditioner about a year ago and it was the WOST shampoo I ever used! It acted like a clarifying shampoo and stripped the oils out of my hair and left it so dry!It took a day for my hair to calm down. The conditioner was not good for my hair either. :-/

JJJ

years ago when it first went on the shelves my older sister had a friend who loved it, but Ive never tried it, nor will i, It might be good for some peoples but Id rather not risk it, no thanks!  

If your hair is dyed, dry or crunchy at the ends then yes its a brilliant product as it has the protein dry hair needs, however if your hair needs moisture then try a deep conditioner with a protein free conditioner as the t &m will just dry it out. These are my experiences anyway! :)

I have owned horses all my life, and until a few years ago, I had no idea that Mane n'Tail was suitable for human hair! My sister brought it home one day and it was in the shower... it's great! I don't use it on myself on a regular basis, but it makes my horse's coarse tail/mane hair and his body hair very soft and shiny, and it's really good at detangling.