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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
This article is about the hair care product. For other uses, see Shampoo
(disambiguation).
This article may be in need of reorganization to comply with
Wikipedia's layout guidelines. Please help by editing the article to
make improvements to the overall structure. (January 2024) (Learn
how and when to remove this message)
 Shampoo lather in hair

Bottles of shampoo
and lotions manufactured in the early 20th century by the C.L. Hamilton Co.
of Washington, D.C., United States
Shampoo (/ʃæmˈpuː/) is a hair care product, typically in the form of a viscous liquid,
that is formulated to be used for cleaning (scalp) hair. Less commonly, it is available
in solid bar format. ("Dry shampoo" is a separate product.) Shampoo is used by
applying it to wet hair, massaging the product in the hair, roots and scalp, and then
rinsing it out. Some users may follow a shampooing with the use of hair conditioner.

Shampoo is typically used to remove the unwanted build-up of sebum (natural oils)
in the hair without stripping out so much as to make hair unmanageable. Shampoo is
generally made by combining a surfactant, most often sodium lauryl
sulfate or sodium laureth sulfate, with a co-surfactant, most often cocamidopropyl
betaine in water. The sulfate ingredient acts as a surfactant, trapping oils and other
contaminants, similarly to soap.

Shampoos are marketed to people with hair. There are also shampoos intended for
animals that may contain insecticides or other medications to treat skin conditions
or parasite infestations such as fleas.

History
South Asia
In South Asia, a variety of herbs and their extracts have been used as shampoos
since ancient times. The first origin of shampoo came from the Indus Valley
Civilization. A very effective early shampoo was made by boiling Sapindus with dried
Indian gooseberry (amla) and a selection of other herbs, using the strained extract. [1]
[2]
Sapindus, also known as soapberries or soapnuts, a tropical tree widespread in
India, is called ksuna (Sanskrit: क्षुण)[3] in ancient Indian texts and its fruit pulp
contains saponins which are a natural surfactant. The extract of soapberries creates
a lather which Indian texts called phenaka (Sanskrit: फेनक).[4] It leaves the hair soft,
shiny and manageable. Other products used for hair cleansing were shikakai
(Acacia concinna), hibiscus flowers,[5][6] ritha (Sapindus mukorossi) and arappu
(Albizzia amara).[7] Guru Nanak, the founder and the first Guru of Sikhism, made
references to soapberry tree and soap in the 16th century.[8]

Cleansing the hair and body massage (champu) during one's daily bath was an
indulgence of early colonial traders in India. When they returned to Europe, they
introduced the newly learned habits, including the hair treatment they called
shampoo.[9] The word shampoo entered the English language from the South
Asia during the colonial era.[10] It dated to 1762 and was derived from
the Hindi word cā̃pō (चाँपो, pronounced [tʃãːpoː]),[11][12] itself derived from
the Sanskrit root chapati (चपति), which means 'to press, knead, or soothe'.[13][14]

Ancient Mesopotamia
Ancient Mesopotamian tablets from the Neo-Assyrian period document the use of
medicated shampoo to treat scalp eruptions.[15]

Europe

Swedish advertisement for toiletries, 1905/1906

Sake Dean Mahomed, a Bengali traveller, surgeon, and entrepreneur, is credited
with introducing the practice of shampoo or "shampooing" to Britain. In 1814,
Mahomed, with his Irish wife Jane Daly, opened the first commercial "shampooing"
vapour masseur bath in England, in Brighton. He described the treatment in a local
paper as "The Indian Medicated Vapour Bath (type of Turkish bath), a cure to many
diseases and giving full relief when everything fails; particularly Rheumatic and
paralytic, gout, stiff joints, old sprains, lame legs, aches and pains in the joints".
[16]
This medical work featured testimonies from his patients, as well as the details of
the treatment made him famous. The book acted as a marketing tool for his unique
baths in Brighton and capitalised on the early 19th-century trend for seaside spa
treatments.[17]

During the early stages of shampoo in Europe, English hair stylists boiled
shaved soap in water and added herbs to give the hair shine and fragrance.
Commercially made shampoo was available from the turn of the 20th century. A
1914 advertisement for Canthrox Shampoo in American Magazine showed young
women at camp washing their hair with Canthrox in a lake; magazine advertisements
in 1914 by Rexall featured Harmony Hair Beautifier and Shampoo.[18]

In 1900, German perfumer and hair-stylist Josef Wilhelm Rausch developed the first
liquid hair washing soap and named it "Champooing" in Emmishofen, Switzerland.
Later, in 1919, J.W. Rausch developed an antiseptic chamomile shampooing with a
pH of 8.5.[19]

In 1927, liquid shampoo was improved for mass production by German

inventor Hans Schwarzkopf in Berlin; his name became a shampoo brand sold in
Europe.

Originally, soap and shampoo were very similar products; both containing the same
naturally derived surfactants, a type of detergent. Modern shampoo as it is known
today was first introduced in the 1930s with Drene, the first shampoo using synthetic
surfactants instead of soap.