Your comment is a generalization though it is true that Europeans largely washed their hair with water, vinegar and/or egg yolk prior to the colonial era. Shampoo became known to Europeans through India. The word Shampoo comes from the Sanskrit champo which means to press or massage. What was used in India at the time was a more effective combination of coconut oil and various herbs.
Dean Mahomed (1759–1851) was a British Indian traveller, soldier, and entrepreneur who brought both curry and shampoo to the UK.
In 1814, Mahomed and his family moved back to Brighton and opened the first commercial “shampooing” vapour masseur bath in England, “Mahomed’s Baths”, on the site now occupied by the Queen’s Hotel. Located on the seafront, the luxurious bathhouse offered therapeutic baths and shampooing with Indian oils.[2] He described the treatment in a local paper as “The Indian Medicated Vapour Bath, a cure to many diseases and giving full relief when every thing fails; particularly Rheumatic and paralytic, gout, stiff joints, old sprains, lame legs, aches and pains in the joints”.[40] Jane Daly, Mahomed’s wife, was also actively involved in the bathhouse business. Adverts suggested that, like her husband, Jane possessed “the art of shampooing” and that she superintended the Ladies Baths.[2] The business was an immediate success and Dean Mahomed became known as “Dr. Brighton”. Hospitals referred patients to him and he was appointed as shampooing surgeon to both King George IV and William IV.
The fact that hair would look mangy after a few days, especially with the use of a poorly pH balanced hair cleansing with water, vinegar and egg yolk, is part of the reason large wigs were popular in early modern Europe.
Your comment is a generalization though it is true that Europeans largely washed their hair with water, vinegar and/or egg yolk prior to the colonial era. Shampoo became known to Europeans through India. The word Shampoo comes from the Sanskrit champo which means to press or massage. What was used in India at the time was a more effective combination of coconut oil and various herbs.
Dean Mahomed (1759–1851) was a British Indian traveller, soldier, and entrepreneur who brought both curry and shampoo to the UK.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dean_Mahomed
See “Introduction of Shampooing to Europe”
The fact that hair would look mangy after a few days, especially with the use of a poorly pH balanced hair cleansing with water, vinegar and egg yolk, is part of the reason large wigs were popular in early modern Europe.