Shampoo
AI-drafted · awaiting admin review
The word and the practice of 'shampooing' came to Britain from India. Sake Dean Mahomed opened a shampooing bath in Brighton in 1814.
India first (well documented)Culture, games, language & ideas
Indian claim
Shampoo comes from India: from the Hindi word champo ('press, knead'), a head and body massage, brought to Britain by Sake Dean Mahomed of Patna.
Evidence for the Indian claim
- The English word 'shampoo' comes from Hindi chāmpo, 'press, knead', and is recorded in English from the 1760s.
- Sake Dean Mahomed opened a commercial 'shampooing' vapour bath in Brighton (dates given vary from 1814 to the early 1820s) and was appointed 'shampooing surgeon' to Kings George IV and William IV.
Commonly credited to
Shampoo is a modern Western product, invented by European and American soap makers.
Evidence for the other claim
- Mahomed's 'shampooing' was a therapeutic massage, not hair-washing; the meaning 'washing the hair with soap' and modern liquid shampoo products developed in Europe and America later.
What historians and scientists say
The word and the original massage practice are Indian and reached Britain through Sake Dean Mahomed. Modern bottled hair shampoo is a later Western product.