The Complete History of Hair Care Products

Caring about hair, makeup, and clothing isn’t a 21st century concept. While beauty standards have changed across time and cultures, our ancestors have always found ways to beautify themselves using their available resources and knowledge of the world to guide them. Historically, society has used their appearance to signify wealth, status, and personality—and for far longer than you may think. Continue reading to learn about the history of hair care products around the world, and how it has shaped the hair care industry we are used to today.

Turning Back the Clock

Across continents and centuries, two cultures in particular helped lay the foundation for the cleansing rituals we now recognize as modern hair care: the ancient communities of the Indian subcontinent and the traditional soapmakers of West Africa. Long before chemists bottled formulas or laboratories refined detergents, these societies relied on botanical knowledge, natural resources, and cultural practices to create some of the earliest documented forms of hair cleansing.

In South Asia, the practice of chāmpo—a therapeutic massaging and cleansing ritual—emerged as early as the Indus Valley Civilization. People washed their hair with plant-based ingredients rich in natural saponins, such as shikakai, reetha (soapberries), amla, and fenugreek. These herbal blends didn’t just cleanse; they reflected a holistic approach to beauty rooted in Ayurveda, where caring for the hair was intertwined with wellness, ritual, and aromatherapy. This deep tradition is also what ultimately introduced the word shampoo into the English language in 1762, adapted from the Hindi word chāmpo (चाँपो).

Meanwhile, in West Africa, generations of artisans developed what the world now knows as African Black Soap, or Ose Dudu. Crafted from plantain peel ash, cocoa pod ash, and nourishing oils like shea or palm, this soap became a versatile staple used for both skin and hair. Its unique composition offered gentle yet effective cleansing, and its production relied on craftsmanship passed down through oral tradition. Though African Black Soap emerged later than the earliest Indian herbal cleansers, it remains one of the oldest historically documented examples of naturally derived soap used for hair care — and represents a profound legacy of ingenuity within African communities.

Together, these traditions tell a shared global story: that humans have always sought ways to cleanse, condition, and care for their hair using what nature provided. From saponin-rich botanicals to ash-based soaps, these early practices paved the way—directly and indirectly—for the modern formulations we rely on today, reminding us that the roots of hair care run far deeper than the shelves of any contemporary beauty aisle.

Shampoo

While the first version of liquid soap was credited to inventor Hans Schwarzkopf in 1927, the modern concept of “shampooing” took shape much earlier. In 1814, Sake Dean Mahomed introduced “Mahomed’s Steam and Vapor Sea Water Medicated Baths” to England, bringing therapeutic scalp massage and cleansing treatments to the Western world. His influence helped spark new interest in hair hygiene and laid the groundwork for commercial shampoo formulas to come.

By 1900, Josef Wilhelm Rausch created one of the earliest liquid shampoo products, (Shampooing)Champooing, further modernizing hair cleansing. Schwarzkopf then helped mass-produce and popularize liquid shampoo in Europe, bringing it to the mainstream.
But it doesn’t end there! What we know as shampoo today took a major leap in 1934 when Proctor & Gamble introduced the first synthetic, detergent-based liquid shampoo — shifting the industry toward the surfactant-rich formulations still used in most modern products.

Conditioner

Conditioners help moisturize the hair by adding moisturizing ingredients and locking in natural oils. For thousands of years, people from Mesopotamia, Egypt, Greece, and so on have been using hair oil to do just this, but this does not fit our modern definition of conditioner. What we know as conditioner today didn’t come around until the 20th century when Edouard Pinaud invented and presented it as a product called Brilliantine at the 1900 Parisian Exposition Universelle. It was a perfumed, greasy liquid made of fatty alcohols and silicone and was originally marketed for men’s hair, beards, and mustaches. 80 years later, Proctor and Gamble would once again make history by creating the first 2-in-1 shampoo in 1987.

Dry Shampoo

One of the earliest renditions of what we know as dry shampoo can be traced back throughout what we know as Asia during the 15th century. Women would apply a dried clay powder to their hair to remove oil, and the people of the Elizabethan era did the same. In the 18th century, men would use starches to freshen their wigs, which is why they were often referred to as “powdered wigs.” It wasn’t until the 1940s that the Stephanie Brooke Company of New Jersey City invented Minipoo, mainly consisting of talc and magnesium carbonate.

In the 1970s, Klorane created the first sprayable dry shampoo, but it was marketed towards hospital patients or those who were bed-bound, mainly mothers! But this product took the world by storm, and it was Batiste that ran with it in 1975, making it the most popular dry shampoo brand on the market.

Hair Oil

As previously mentioned, hair oil has been used for an incredibly long time and is considered an ancient science. Because of how old the application of hair oil is, it is hard to give one period or region credit for its invention, but we can begin by looking at Africa. Africa is a vast continent consisting of 54 distinct countries, but we know that many have used castor oil for myriad applications.
Because of the continent’s often sunny and dry conditions, castor oil was the popular choice for keeping hair moisturized. Some historians date it back to 1500 B.C. in ancient Egyptian medical texts, but at the time, it was used to treat eye irritations, so its first use as a hair product is uncertain.

Pomade

Stylists use pomade, or hair wax, to style the hair and keep it in place. In the past, animal fat was used as a pomade. Once again, we can credit this invention to the ancient Egyptians, who used it to style intricate braids, waves, and curls. Romans and other European tribes did something similar, still using animal fat as the main ingredient. It wasn’t until the 20th century that other ingredients started to replace animal fat. During this time, ingredients such as petroleum jelly and beeswax became more popular, although lard was still used. Even then, it wasn’t until the 2010s that water-based pomades were invented, which are much easier to remove.

Hair Relaxers

The first hair relaxers were credited to a man named Garret Augustus Morgan, Sr., in 1913, when he invented a product he called G.A. Morgan’s Hair Refiner. This relaxer was a mixture of alkaline chemicals and lye, but lye-based relaxers weren’t commercially processed and sold until the 1970s. As you may well know, lye is a dangerous chemical and would damage the hair if left on for long periods or not washed out completely. However, this does not negate the cultural significance of and the revolution caused by hair relaxers when they were introduced to the African American community.

In 1981, Johnson Products Company (who also invented the first permanent hair relaxer in 1965) invented and sold the first non-lye-based hair relaxer known as Gentle Treatment. While it still used alkaline chemicals, it contained chemicals that were less harsh, such as potassium hydroxide and lithium hydroxide.

Ultimately, what we can take away from this history is that caring for your hair goes back generations, is different in each place in the world, and always takes inspiration from its natural surroundings. Looking for hair care products that prioritize these same ingredients utilized by our ancestors? NourishUs Naturals provides you with an entire hair care catalog to choose from, starting with wholesale shampoo and conditioners, to high end hair oils. With superstar ingredients like honey, aloe, chamomile, shea butter, jojoba oil, and much more, our dedication to formulating products that make you look and feel your best is incomparable.