Who Introduced And Popularised Shampoo In Great Britain?

When it comes to hair and the head, only natural, effective, gentle ingredients will do, and the best option for silky-smooth locks and long-term hair health is a beautiful organic shampoo suited for your hair type.

There are a lot of different options, using all kinds of ingredients that suit the varying needs of every head, but there is one source for shampooing entering the British collective consciousness, greatly improving the hygiene of the nation in the process.

The Travels Of Shampoo

Shampooing is a parallel invention that developed from a range of different indigenous traditions, but the hairwashing staple that made its way around the world started in the Indus Valley at the dawn of civilisation.

Along with Ancient Egypt and the region of Mesopotamia, the Indus Valley was home to one of the world’s first great civilisations, and the inventors of one of the first great natural shampoo recipes.

Mixing dried amla (Indian gooseberry) and Sapindus (soapberries) together along with a number of other herbs creates a natural shampoo that creates a considerable lather that leaves hair soft and silky.

It became so popular and widespread a practice that it endured for thousands of years after the end of the Indus civilisation and through the history of India up to the Mughal Empire.

It was known as “champu”, which derives from the Sanskrit word chapati, which means to soothe or knead.

It was first brought to Europe thanks to early traders who went to India, largely treated as an exotic indulgence rather than an everyday treatment.

This would change thanks to the entrepreneur, surgeon and explorer Dean Mahomed. Mr Mahomed, later adopting the honorific “Sake” (venerable one) due to his place in high society, was born in Patna, India, and after serving in the Bengal army travelled to Ireland and later to Brighton.

Sake Mahomed would become the first Indian to publish a book in English, the Travels of Dean Mahomet, that provided an insight into his early life, his military history, Indian culture, food and wildlife before detailing his journey to England.

He would also open the first Indian restaurant in England, the Hindoostane Coffee House, and whilst it would not be the first to serve Indian food, it would be the first to be run by an Indian national and claimed to offer authentic dishes and hookah. It closed within two years after he declared bankruptcy.

However, a couple of years later, he had far more success introducing “champi” to British scalps through his own “Indian Medicated Vapour Bath”.

He had initially worked for Basil Cochrane, a man who made his fortune at the infamous East India Company and helped Sake Mahomed to be accepted by the upper crust of London society.

After the Hindoostane Coffee House went under, Mr Mahomed moved to Brighton again, opening a therapeutic masseur bath known as “Mahomed’s Baths”, taking full advantage of the seaside spa trend popular at the time.

It is here where the practice of shampooing was introduced to Great Britain, with both Mr Mahomed and his Irish wife Jane Daly providing massages, therapeutic baths and shampoos using Indian oils and lathers that date back to the Indus Civilisation.

Unlike his restaurant, the baths were immediately successful, and Sake Mahomed became the “shampooing surgeon” to King George IV and King William IV, the last two monarchs before the lengthy reign of Queen Victoria.

He became highly popular and influential in the community, writing two books about shampooing specifically, and becoming known locally as “Dr Brighton”.

He would later claim that people were critical of shampooing and resistant to the new practice but quickly came around once they saw the benefits, which were prominent enough for hospitals to refer patients directly to him.

Exactly how effective the baths were for treating Rheumatism, paralysis, sprains, muscle weakness, aches, pains and gout is unclear, although a warm relaxing bath and pamper session can sometimes work wonders purely through boosting circulation.

However, by the 1830s, money was starting to become a problem again, and he ultimately sold his Baths and relocated to smaller dwellings in Brighton.

By this point, Sake Mahomed was in his 80s, and by the time he died in 1851, his remarkable achievements had been forgotten.

His legacy would be evaluated once again starting in the 1970s, long after the lifestyle practice of shampooing was long established in the daily lives of people in Britain, and the contribution he made to the world of hair and beauty would be finally recognised.