Where does the word shampoo come from?



Shampoo is the Hindi/Urdu word chāmpo for a head massage with oil. The first known usage in English was in 1792 from a surprising source.

In 1814 a Bengali businessman, Dean Mahomed, and his Irish wife, opened Mahomed's Steam and Vapour Sea Water Medicated Baths in Brighton, England. Clients were offered Turkish baths and an Indian treatment of champi (shampooing) a form of therapeutic massage. 

Dean's new treatment was immediately popular and he was appointed ‘Shampooing Surgeon’ to both George IV and William IV.

Dean Mahomed also opened the Hindoostanee Coffee House: the first Indian take-away restaurant in London.

A podcast on Hobson-Jobson from the FT is here