Call A&H Seafood in Bethesda and ask them if they have any. It won't be as far to drive if they do, and their prices are always good.

I agree with Zora, I think the seafood at A&H is the best in the area and sometimes (not often) you can get head on shrimp

I think most Asian markets -- at least the larger ones like Great Wall or Eden -- sell head-on shrimp. Not vouching for freshness or other quaility factors. Just that you can get shrimp and have a tete a tete

Given the contamination issues made public recently, I would avoid Chinese shrimp, and concentrate on US caught wild shrimp.

The question is, where are said shrimp in season?

Maine shrimp are in season.

White shrimp are in season in the summer, brown shrimp are in season in the fall and winter, as long as it's warm enough to fish.

Atlantic and gulf-caught brown shrimp are in season right now. Linky.

American shrimp fishers are finding it very hard to compete with imported shrimp. Consider giving your business to local fishermen. I would buy wild caught shrimp from American coastal waters.

You can freeze head-on shrimp by putting them into a container, filling the container with water, and freezing into a block of ice. When we lived in New Orleans, we'd cut the top off milk cartons and use thd bottom as a container. This works very well. You could also use a plastic container. After this is frozen, you can wrap it, but don't close the container or wrap the container until it's frozen solid, as the ice expands. We always preferred brown shrimp (Penaeus aztecus).

Thanks for the advice. A & H didn't have them, and neither did Blacksalt. I would up with headless wild-caught, shell-on from Blacksalt. They should be OK.

Slavin on Glebe Road has them, both in a smaller size and frozen as Maya 20/30 Head on.

the Blacksalt shrimp were delicious, as were the mussels. They will be getting more of my business from now on.

A little shrimp porn:
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I've never been to A&H. Perhaps some etouffee this evening...

I love it when you talk like that.

The fellows at A&H were very nice and their product might be very good, but the smell of the place really put me off. They also have a selection of Spanish groceries. The owner suggested that if you want head-on shrimp to call first, because they sometimes sell out their whole stock to restaurants early in the day.

My guess is that the smell is from the slabs of dried salt cod that they carry. The place is clean and regularly mopped, and I've never gotten a piece of fish from them that smells bad.

Harris Teeter frequently carries head on shrimp caught off the Carolina coasts. When they do have them, they are almost always on sale for about $6 a pound for 10-20 count shrimp. We get them frequently and are generally happy with the flavor. Much better than the imported head on shrimp you find in the Asian markets.