Shampoo is not that easy to find.  Heading north on 7th Street, the first street after Callowhill is Willow Street. At the corner of 7th and Willow is the sign pictured above. You make a left onto Willow Street and about half-way up the block on your right is Shampoo.  From the outside you would never know that it is a club inside because it is housed in an old manufacturing building.  The only thing that gives it away are the people congregating outside.

The entertainment started at the door as we were greeted by a bouncer that looked straight out of the London club scene.  This bloke was very dark with dreads, and was wearing a really, I mean really, light brown fuzzy fur coat and black leather pants.  With the head set in his ear, he looked like the next James Bond villain.

Inside the door is a metal detector.  Unfortunately I beeped as I passed through which caused me to be padded down . . . at least I thought I was going to be padded down.  The frisking that I got was a down out groping where the bouncer was getting too liberal with his hands.  If the bouncer was a beautiful baby then maybe we could have had some fun, but I don’t appreciate a Jean Claude Van Damme wannabe putting his hands in my pockets.  I was afraid he was going to turn me around and give me a rodgering! 

There are two floors to Shampoo.  The upper floor was the main dance floor that was lined with elevated platforms so that the beautiful people can strut their stuff.  There is ample bar and standing room on the second floor for those people who do not dance or are wanting to take a break. 

But if you came to Shampoo to hang out, the lower level is for you.  The lower level has a dance room, but is mainly a place where you can chill and converse. There are bars, couches, and little alcoves.  I really liked how they decorated the downstairs, it was real campy. 

The music at Shampoo is your typical American dance club music.  Its not your European dance music, but it is lot closer to it than dance music was a couple of years ago. Though the music does have European influence, you will not hear any Fat Boy Slim, Chemical Brothers, etc. 

The bathrooms on the second floor are really odd in that there are no sinks within the bathrooms, but rather there is a manufacturing sink outside the bathrooms in the room where everyone is hanging out.  This setup would actually be good for a frat-house, but not a club. 

So now coming to the important part, the drinks.  Shampoo does have taps, but they only carry three beers.  One was Yuengling, one was Killians, and the last was forgettable.  My beef here is that if you are going to have only a few taps at a club, make good choices.  For example, they should have had Guinness, Boddingtons, or some other beer that is better suited coming from a tap. 

The oddest part about Shampoo was that there were many buff guys walking around without shirts.  Granted the lady’s might like these Calvin-Klein underwear model chaps, but it was extremely cheesy.  The worst thing is that I believe that these Adonis's along with their Venus counterparts are hired help . . . professional cool people. My friend and I were hanging out downstairs in a quiet, out-of-the-way place, so that we could talk.  We were next to a door and all these beautiful people were quickly going in and out carrying clothes.  It was very bizarre.  I wanted to explore this some more, but when another couple came over and started getting too friendly with each other, my friend wanted to leave so I went back up to the dance floor with her.  The final word is that if I wanted to see plastic people dance, I would just go down to Delilah's Den and be done with it.

AND FOR THE 50th TIME,

The Reviewer did not go to Shampoo on their Gay Night! Stop the e-mails!

-As reviewed by The Nutty Irishman

His other reviews include: The Elephant and Castle, Oscar's Tavern, The Samson Street Oyster House, Maggie O'Neal's, Barnaby's, Rio, The Great American Pub, The Boat House & Valley Forge Brewing Company.