Here is a question you probably never asked in the shower: who invented shampoo? Surprisingly, the name isn’t a big-name brand or chemist in a laboratory. Even stranger, the word itself—“shampoo”—once had nothing to do with hair at all. 

Today, you’ll find bottles and bottles of the stuff at retailers like Target. Each claims to work a different miracle. There are shampoos that cure dandruff, maintain bleached hair, and add volume to your strands. Shampoo can be dry. Shampoo can, supposedly, both clean and condition hair, then be used to wash your body. How did we get here? 

The answer begins with an Indian immigrant and a seaside town in England. More than 200 years ago, this man taught Britain how to “shampoo” for the first time. He’d never guess that his methods would one day catch on all over the world. This is the story of Sake Dean Mahomed.

First, a 4,000-year head start 

Before we get to Mahomed, give humanity some credit. Long before shampoo came in a bottle, people on nearly every continent had already figured out how to get their hair clean, usually turning to whatever nature handed them.

Around 4,000 years ago, in the Indus Valley (a stretch of South Asia that now spans Pakistan, India, and parts of Afghanistan), people boiled soapberries with dried Indian gooseberries (amla) to produce a gentle, foaming wash for their hair. 

@maryjanetravels_ The Yao Women of Guilin, China 🇨🇳 They have the worlds longest hair that never turns gray. They use their centuries old rice water to grow their hair long and keep it from aging. What do you guys link! Save this incase you take that trip around china I keep suggesting!! #china #yaowomen #guilin #gunagxi ♬ original sound – Maryjane

The Yao Women of Guilin, China 🇨🇳 They have the worlds longest hair that never turns gray. They use their centuries old rice water to grow their hair long and keep it from aging. What do you guys link! Save this........

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