If you spend enough time on Instagram, you might get an idea that the biggest problem facing America today is water, and what’s in it.
Over the past few years, a new generation of stylish filtering showerheads has emerged and taken over our collective social media feeds, and perhaps our subconscious minds, with some scary questions.
Can you really trust the water coming out of your shower?
The makers of these showerheads tend to make bold announcements about the effects that degraded pipes and chemical-filled shower water can have on your body during the only five peaceful minutes of your day. The argument goes that if we can remove chlorine and other pollutants from our water, we may be able to solve all sorts of troublesome problems, from frizzy hair, limp hair, dandruff, hair loss, eczema, dry skin, and split ends. There is. The heartbreaking thoughts of blackheads and psoriasis.
However, many showerheads with filters are very good at removing the abrasive chlorine compounds that are added to tap water in urban areas to kill bacteria. And this was our focus. Water systems in about half the country, including New York and Seattle, use chlorine to disinfect municipal water supplies. But most metropolitan areas use more stable substances called chloramines, which are considered less carcinogenic. However, chloramines are more difficult to filter out, and not all shower filters are successful.
In fact, in some cases the performance differences were surprisingly large. So let’s say you don’t like chlorine in your water. And do you live in a city? Here are the recommended shower heads.
For more ways to level up your bathroom, check out our guide to the best bidets, electric toothbrushes and eco-friendly cleaning products for your home.
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Test method and test content
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We sought manufacturer-independent laboratory data where available. We also used digital and chemical tests designed for pools and aquariums, and avoided home test strips, which are highly unreliable. The bottom line is that you shouldn’t expect these shower filters to soften the water’s mineral hardness or remove most substances.
So what do these showerhead filters actually do in a way that we can measure? They primarily filter out chlorine and chlorine compounds through a chemical reaction. Nearly every city in America adds low concentrations of chlorine or chlorine compounds to drinking water to kill potentially harmful bacteria. This is fine when the water is still in the pipes. However, chlorine is not necessarily good for hair or skin, and few people like to drink it. You may also be particularly sensitive to tastes or smells, or be prone to skin reactions.
That’s where household filters come in. The best-known shower filters rely in part on a zinc and copper mixture called KDF-55, which is known to be highly effective at neutralizing pure or “free” chlorine. I am. Other common materials used to treat chlorine and chlorine compounds include calcium sulfite and activated carbon. The most effective filters use a combination of these.
Shower filters probably won’t help
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The market for filtering showerheads is still young and largely unregulated, and performance claims are rarely publicly supported by independent data. We have made many requests, but very few shower filter companies are willing to hand over lab results. (Thank you for being the exception, Aquasana.)
Some manufacturers said they were supported by independent laboratories and certification bodies, and data would be provided in the future. Many offered customer satisfaction surveys instead. All of this means that some skepticism is justified.
After all, the filter has to be relatively small to fit in the shower head. Nevertheless, they are required to filter gallons of water per minute that are forced through both high temperature and high pressure. Showerhead filters present a more difficult engineering challenge than countertop water filters, which can only process small amounts of water at a time, or large reverse osmosis devices that can connect to under-sink plumbing.
There is little evidence that the most common types of showerhead filters have a significant effect on water softness or hardness or calcium buildup. In fact, some early academic research provides evidence that this is not the case. The shower filters tested had little effect on the total amount of dissolved solids in the water, as measured by a TDS meter. That is, the filter was not removing large amounts of substances and minerals from the water.
I haven’t been able to test the claims some companies make that these filters remove heavy metals like lead and arsenic, but thankfully my pipes did not contain them. But if you think your water contains dangerous lead or arsenic, you probably shouldn’t try to fix the problem with a mail-order shower head. Consult a water treatment professional or public health authority.
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If you live in a major city in the United States, chances are your city doesn’t use chlorine to treat the water in its water pipes. New York, Chicago, Seattle and Phoenix use chlorine. But that’s not the case in Los Angeles, Philadelphia, Atlanta, Boston, and most large cities in Texas.
More than half of America’s largest cities use a substance called chloramine. Chloramines are chemicals that are more stable, durable, and difficult to filter and test. To test it out, I whipped out my handy digital water colorimeter and some rather finicky chemical indicators and tested each shower filter’s ability to handle chlorine compounds in the water.
First, we tested the total chlorine in the water without filtration, and then tested the water filtered through the shower head. Each test was run multiple times to account for inaccuracies and fluctuations in city chlorine levels. In most cases, we did this over several days. (On the second day of testing, the filter on one of the showerheads broke under its own weight. Even though the test results were only middling for one day, I had no problem not recommending this showerhead.) ) We’ll continue testing the most effective shower heads as we update this guide. Use filters to see how their effectiveness changes over time and add new shower filters that you can recommend.
