15-11-2017, 09:11 AM
Shampoo is a hair care product that usually comes in the form of a viscous liquid, which is used to clean the hair. Less often, the shampoo is available in a bar form, like a bar of soap. Shampoo is used when applied to wet hair, massaging the product on the hair and then rinsing it. Some users can follow a shampoo with the use of hair conditioner.
The goal of using shampoo is to eliminate unwanted hair buildup without removing so much sebum as to make the hair unmanageable. The shampoo is generally manufactured by combining a surfactant, most often sodium lauryl sulfate or sodium laureth sulfate, with a cosurfactant, most commonly cocamidopropyl betaine in water.
Special shampoos are available for people with dandruff, hair treated with colors, gluten or wheat allergies, an interest in using "all natural", "organic", "botanical" or "plant derived" products, and babies and small children . ("baby shampoo" is less irritating). There are also shampoos intended for animals that may contain insecticides or other medications to treat skin conditions or infestations of parasites such as fleas.
In India, a variety of herbs and their extracts were used as shampoos since ancient times. A very effective early shampoo was made by boiling Sapindus with dried Indian gooseberry (aamla) and some other herbs, using the filtered extract. Sapindus, also known as soapberries or soapnuts, is called Ksuna in ancient Indian texts and its fruit pulp contains saponins that are a natural surfactant. The extract of soapberries, a tropical tree widely spread in India, creates a foam that the Indian texts call phenaka. Leaves hair soft, shiny and manageable Other products used for hair cleaning were shikakai (Acacia concinna), soapnuts (Sapindus), hibiscus flowers, ritha (Sapindus mukorossi) and arappu (Albizzia amara). Guru Nanak, the founding prophet and the first guru of Sikhism, made references to the soapberry tree and soap in the sixteenth century.
The cleaning with hairs and body massages (shampoo) during the daily washing of sashes was an indulgence of the first colonial merchants in India. When they returned to Europe, they introduced the newly learned habits, including the hair treatment they called shampoo.