"Starting Over ": SHAMPOO CHEN

All her life, Shampoo just wanted to belong somewhere. She thought her past was behind her when she came to UC Berkeley in the United States. However, the mysterious glances of one attractive lesbian Jane Dunway is forcing the purple-haired amazon to realize that she has to make many sacrifices to get what she wants.

Shampoo's life was full of sacrifices. Chen was born in the amazon city of Jyung-Sou (Joketzou). Her mother was an amazon warrior named Mung Bean who died following birth, leaving Shampoo to be raised by her father Hair Spray and her great-grandmother Cologne Chen. She was renowned for her martial arts skills and her beauty. No man was strong enough to beat her and marry her...until Ranma Saotome showed up in China.

After losing to Ranma Saotome (then Ranko Saotome) Shampoo traveled back to Japan. According to amazon edicts, if a male foreigner defeats an amazon, she must marry him. Ranma revealed his large number of jealous fiances, including Akane Tendo, Ukyou Kuonji and Ryoga Hibiki. Shampoo quickly found herself in the chaos of Nerima, Japan.

When Cologne moved to Japan to help Shampoo win her fiance, Cologne opened a restaurant called the Nekohaten. Shampoo enjoyed working at the Nekohaten. She enjoyed being surrounded by the delicious fusion of Japanese and Chinese dishes. She secretly longed to stay in Japan so she could continue working at the Nekohaten. She realized that she had to focus on winning Ranma back so her dreams of becoming a culinary chef had to wait.

Shampoo started to realize that Ranma was in love with Akane and that there was no possibility of a future between her and Ranma, She was blindly following her duty to her great-grandmother and to the sacred code of the Chinese amazon women. Shampoo realized that she didn't want Ranma Saotome at all- she wanted freedom, especially freedom from all the chaos that Ranma's life put her through.

Following Ranma's marriage, Shampoo packed her bags and left for China to take care of her great-grandmother. Cologne's immediate death allocated Shampoo a large amount of money which she used to start attending the University of Beijing. She eventually got enough support to transfer to the University of California, Berkeley. She declared a double major in Food Science and Women's Studies. Her biggest dream is to have a restaurant like the Nekohaten and provide fusion cooking. She also started teaching martial arts, specializing in women's self-defense, at the university fitness center.

Shampoo also befriended a young Chinese-American man named Ben Kwong who later became her boyfriend. Kwong was a tutor at a late-night English-teaching school which Shampoo attended to master her English. Through Ben, Shampoo discovered Berkeley's diverse (and conservative) Asian-American community. To blend in for her boyfriend's sake, Shampoo joined Kappa Alpha Omicron, the largest Asian-American women's sorority. With a boyfriend by her side, a group of superficial yet supportive sisters, Shampoo finally felt like she finally belonged somewhere. But all that changed when Jane Dunway walked into her life and Shampoo started realizing that she was more drawn to women than to men. Perhaps with the support from the LGBT community, Shampoo will embrace her true self and find pride in the woman she is about to become.

Shampoo Chen's model is Vivian Hsu.