shampoo

Pluralshampoos

Formsshampoos, shampooing, shampooed

1. 1
   nouncountable or uncountable

   A manufactured liquid cleanser, similar to soap, for washing hair or other fibers such as carpets.

   Most shampoo contains detergents that lift oil and dirt from hair.

   Carpet cleaners often dilute the shampoo before applying it.

   Note

   Hygiene's word for the product itself, as distinct from the act of washing. It is uncountable for the substance (a bottle of shampoo) and countable for kinds and brands. Nicholas Kristof's 2021 list of everyday products that carry endocrine disruptors puts shampoos beside plastics and cosmetics. Its reach goes past the head: carpet shampoo is the same kind of cleaner, applied to textile fibers.

2. 2
   verbtransitive

   To wash hair, a carpet, or similar fibers with shampoo.

   The groomer shampoos every dog twice before clipping.

   They shampoo the office carpets once a month.

   Similarwash, clean

   Note

   The washing verb with a stated object, and that object need not be human hair. In Kipling's "The Maltese Cat," the grooms prepare their ponies before the game, and shampooing is part of that care. Carpets and rugs take the verb just as readily, so the pattern is simply shampoo plus whatever is being cleaned.

3. 3
   verbintransitive

   To clean one's own hair by lathering it with shampoo and rinsing it.

   Most people shampoo more often than their hair really needs.

   She shampoos every morning before heading to work.

   Note

   With no object, the hair is understood: you simply shampoo. Danielle Sinay's 2024 piece on TikTok advice to shampoo once monthly shows how naturally this use pairs with routine and frequency. Add the thing being washed and it becomes the transitive verb. The past participle also serves as an adjective here, as in Sali Hughes's conditioner applied to shampooed hair.

4. 4
   nouncountable

   An act of washing hair or other fibers with shampoo.

   The salon includes a relaxing shampoo before every haircut.

   One thorough shampoo removed weeks of dirt from the rug.

   Similarshampooing

   Note

   The noun for a single washing, and it often sits inside a give construction: you give the carpet a shampoo. Like other one-off actions it can be counted, so a week can hold two shampoos. Shampooing covers the same ground and is the form to reach for when the washing is an activity rather than a single occasion.

   I'm going to give the carpet a shampoo.

   The rug needed a good shampoo after the party.

5. 5
   nouncountable

   A traditional Indian and Persian body massage given after warm water is poured over the body and herbal extracts are rubbed into the skin.

   Each guest at the hammam received a vigorous shampoo after the steam.

   He recalled the deep shampoo the bath-keeper administered to his weary limbs.

   Similarmassage

   Note

   The sense the word arrived with, borrowed in the mid 18th century from Hindi cā̃po, the imperative of a verb meaning "to press, knead." The word began as a command, "press!" It names a whole bathing ritual of pouring, rubbing and kneading rather than a product. It works both as a count noun (a vigorous shampoo) and as the general practice, and massage is its nearest everyday equivalent.

6. 6
   verbtransitive

   To press and knead the whole surface of a person's body while stretching the limbs and joints, as part of a hot bath.

   The masseur shampooed the weary traveler from shoulders to feet.

   At the baths, skilled attendants shampoo their patrons with practiced hands.

   Similarmassage

   Note

   Here the verb keeps the original bath massage in view. The object is the person, not the hair, and the work is pressing, kneading and stretching the limbs as part of a hot bath. It belongs to accounts of baths and their attendants. Readers who know only the hair-washing verb may need context, and massage is its plain equivalent.

7. 7
   nounslanghumorousuncountable

   A humorous slang term for champagne.

   They popped the shampoo the moment the deal closed.

   Pour me some more of that shampoo before the toast.

   Similarbubbly, fizz, champers

   Note

   Party slang built on a sound joke: say champagne loosely enough and it becomes shampoo, and both of them foam. It belongs with bubbly, champers and fizz among the playful names for the drink. It suits celebrations among friends, not a wine list or a formal toast. In plain writing it can read as a slip, so it works best where the joke is obvious.

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