It’s 1814 and on a whim visit the most talked about new business in Brighton, England, “Mahomed’s Indian Vapour Baths”. You promptly ask for a shampoo treatment…are led into a Turkish bath…and experience a vigorous deep tissue massage followed by the cracking of your joints…and then, only as a very last step, a scalp massage with oils. It would be another 52 years before this service first changed to a head and scalp massage with oils and herbs to its modern understanding of washing one’s hair.

The shampoo of today bears little resemblance to its oil based Hindu chāmpo that originated in the Mughal Empire…thankfully. The 20th Century introduced leaps forward in cosmetic chemistry…first with Berlin chemist Hans Schwarzkopf who introduced his water-soluble powder shampoo and later in the 1930’s when a doctor and P&G went head to head. While Procter and Gamble innovated shampoo with the first synthetic (non-soap) shampoo sold direct to consumers, Dr. John Breck in Springfield, Massachusetts developed the first pH-balanced shampoo and sold it exclusively to New England beauty salons.

Today, cosmetic chemistry has a come a long way and alternatives to the harsher surfactants of yesterday offer the same shine and clean feeling free of any damage or concerns with long term hair health!

Think you know hair extensions? Think again! As old as civilization itself, our desire to remake ourselves into what we REALLY think is beautiful dates back to the Ancient Egyptians…who wrote the book on beauty. Not just the originators of hair oils, makeup and formal hairdressing…they also were the first culture to fully embrace add-on hair with decorative wigs & hair pieces.

Check out this infographic on the history & evolution of hair extensions.