What did Egyptians use to wash their hair?

Dr. dig responds:
Well, I suppose the waters of the Nile came in very handy for this purpose. But shampoo with loads of lather as we know it didn't exist back then. Of course, the Egyptians weren't so obsessed with cleanliness as some of us are today. Greasy hair wasn't as much of a problem as headlice. To solve the problem of headlice, the ancient Egyptians shaved their heads - which avoided the problem of stringy, greasy hair completely! They simply wore wigs instead. Elaborate wigs were worn by those who could afford them and by the pharaoh and his royal court.

Egyptians who didn't wear wigs, kept their hair smelling clean and fresh with herbal fragrances and perfumes. They also dyed their hair when it threatened to go grey during middle age using a mixture of blood and oil. I don't know of a recipe for soap or shampoo that may have been used by the Egyptians, but they used many ingredients to shampoo their hair, including cat, hippo, and crocodile fat mixed with perfumes and ash. I think that the ancient Egyptians may have been very surprised by the lustrous shine we are able to achieve with a simple shampoo and conditioner.