Head & Shoulders

This article is about a brand of shampoo. For other uses, see Head and Shoulders.

Head & Shoulders (H&S) is an American brand of anti-dandruff and non-dandruff shampoo produced by parent company Procter & Gamble.

Head & Shoulders

Product type	Anti-dandruff, non-dandruff shampoo
Owner	Procter & Gamble
Produced by	Procter & Gamble
Country	United States
Introduced	1 January 1961; 64 years ago (1961-01-01)[1]
Markets	Worldwide
Previous owners	Richardson Vicks
Website	Official Website (USA)

The active anti-fungal ingredient in Head & Shoulders is piroctone olamine^[2] or zinc pyrithione,^[3] with some "clinical strength" varieties also containing selenium disulfide.^[2][3]

History

Head & Shoulders was introduced in the United States on 1 January 1961 based in Manhattan and used the slogan "THE AMERICA AND WORLD's NO. 1 SHAMPOO".^[4] It was patented in January 1962.^[5]

It was referred to as "The America and World's Number One Anti-Dandruff and Non-Dandruff Shampoo Brand" of shampoo, and it was noted that "no one hair care brand gets so many ad dollars as Head & Shoulders, a twenty year old brand, and no other brand matches its sales", despite it being a "medicated" shampoo.^[6]

Marketing

The brand has long been marketed under the tagline "You Never Get a Second Chance to Make a First Impression", which has been identified as an example of "anxiety marketing" commonly used by Procter & Gamble to drive sales by inducing fears of social consequences associated with the condition that the product claims to address.^[7]