5 Best Shower Filters We Tested For Healthier Hair & Skin

If every shower leaves your hair dry and brittle—or your skin sensitive and inflamed—then it might be time to take a deeper look at your water.

Most public water systems rely on chlorine to disinfect their water supplies, which removes parasites, bacteria, and viruses. Additionally some areas within the United States have hard water or water with a higher mineral content. This is due to groundwater flowing over limestone, which adjust the mineral content of your water.

Both these chemicals and minerals can wreak havoc on your hair in skin. Chlorine is a known skin barrier disrupter, which leaves epidermis susceptible to dryness and irritation (which explains why you often leave public pools with pruning fingers and toes).

Hard water has a similar effect; it coats your skin and hair follicles and creates a barrier from your shower products. As a result, hard water can decrease hair strength and cause breakage, and it has has been associated with atopic eczema in children.

Riggs Eckelberry, founder and CEO of OriginClear, a clean water innovation hub, explains that a shower filter is a filtration system designed for use right in your shower. “It typically consists of a screw-on attachment that helps remove irritants like chlorine and even Round Up—that’s right, the weed killer,” he says.

If you’re ready to upgrade your shower routine with a filter of your own, you’ll first want to decide whether you want a filtered showerhead (which will replace your full shower head) or a shower filter (which will be attached to your existing shower head). 

Curious about our testing process? View our testing rubric here.

Shower filters remove unwanted contaminants from water

Kyle Postmus, Senior Manager of Residential Water at NSF (National Sanitation Foundation), says shower filters help remove unwanted contaminants from water. “Many people choose to use a shower filter to help reduce irritation and damage to their skin and hair,” he elaborates.

Furthermore, water expert Riggs Eckelberry, who founded and clean water innovation hub OriginClear, says a good water filter can even remove Round Up a.k.a. the weed killer. Its main ingredient glyphosate is one of the most prominent contaminants in U.S. drinking water, which the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) has deemed "probably carcinogenic to humans" (though the Environmental Protection Agency disagrees1).

Shower filters can improve the health of your hair and skin

Eckelberry says filtering your shower water can soften skin, improve hair, and reduce skin inflammation. “On top of that, the less we’re exposed to these toxins, the better our overall health can be,” he adds. 

Shower filters offer immediate and long term benefits

After testing the best shower filters, our team experienced decreased shedding, softer skin, less redness, and healthier looking hair even after just one use. One team member even dubs her shower filter as the best thing she did for her hair and skin in 2023—and she’s tried hundreds of products.

Shower filters add no time to your routine

The best part of using a shower filter or filtered showerhead is that, once installed, it adds no time to your routine. You’ll simply go about life as usual and see the results over time.

Postmus shares that there are many different types of shower filters out there, including inline shower filters and shower head filters. “For choosing which one to purchase, it really comes down to preference of aesthetics, ease of installation, and how often users are willing to replace it,” Postmus says.

Regardless of your choice of filter, Postmus recommends choosing an NSF-certified filter to NSF/ANSI 177. “Certification for shower filters assures consumers that the filter effectively removes chlorine from the water,” he adds.

Installation: 5 | Efficacy: 5 | Water pressure: 5 | Filter replacement: 4 | Aesthetic: 5

Tested to NSF standards, the Canopy uses a combination of a granular activated carbon filter, KDF-55, and calcium sulfite to remove heavy metals, chlorine (!!!), and other contaminents from your H2O—all without compromising water pressure.

This filtered showerhead snagged the top spot on our list due to its high ratings during our at-home testing; it was easy to install, didn't impact water pressure, and doesn't kill the bathroom's aesthetic. Plus, Ferrante noticed a difference in her skin and hair after the very first use.

We'd rank the Jolie pretty closely with the Canopy, but the Canopy is slightly less expensive and sets itself apart with three stream settings and an optional aromatherapy option. It's also available in four finishes.

Installation: 5 | Efficacy: 4 | Water pressure: 5 | Filter replacement: 4 | Aesthetic: 5

Prior to Jolie's launch in 2021, the market was severely lacking an aesthetic showerhead filter. The brand not only paved the way for its current competitors, but it also emphasized the hair and skin benefits of using a shower filter.

Similar to the Canopy, the filter is tested to NSF certifications and uses a proprietary blend of KDF-55 and calcium sulfite to remove chlorine and heavy metals—but noticeably skips the addition of a carbon filter (which puts is just below its competitor).

Beauty editor Jamie Schneider tested the shower filter and found it was easy to install with a minimalist design that made it look similar to any other shower filter. Schneider gave it high ratings with her hair stylist commenting on her extra silky strands post-installation.

Installation: 5 | Efficacy: 5 | Water pressure: 4 | Filter replacement: 5 | Aesthetic: 3

Most of our staffers swear by Berkey's countertop water filter system—and the brand uses similar tech in its shower filter. It patented blend of zinc, calcium, and copper removes sulfides, hydrogen, rust, and up to 95% of chlorine.

Installation: 3 | Efficacy: 5 | Water pressure: 5 | Filter replacement: 4 | Aesthetic: 3

We'll be the first to say a lot of shower filter brands need to step it up when it comes to certifications (we get into that more below), but Aquasana is ahead of the game. Its carbon shower filter is NSF and ANSI 177 & 372-certified to remove free available chlorine and lead.

In fact, the AquaYouth removes up to 99% of free available chlorine. Remember: Public systems often use chlorine or chloramines to disinfect water. While highly effect, these additions can wreak havoc on skin by destroying your skin barrier and leaving it prone to dryness and inflammation.

Plus, the Korea Environment & Water Works Institute has also confirmed the filters ability to removes heavy metals—which makes this a great option for those with well water who need to remove heavy metals.

Installation: 5 | Efficacy: 4 | Water pressure: 4 | Filter replacement: 4 | Aesthetic: 4

It's extremely rare to find a handheld shower filter, and you'll typically have to settle for an in-line option. While these can have their perks—keep your existing showerhead!—they also can be harder to install, with potential leakage.

Skip the hassle with Aquasauna's handheld design; it's tested to NSF-177 standards to remove more than 90% of chlorine. Similar to Canopy, it has a copper-zinc (KDF) filtration, along with a carbon filter created from coconut shell.

NSF certification confirms that a filter’s contaminant reduction claims are verified, it doesn’t add anything harmful to the water, the system is structurally sound, and the product’s labeling is accurate.

When a brand opts to “test to NSF standards,” rather than being officially certified, it doesn’t necessarily mean that product couldn’t be certified.

Instead, it likely means the brand is either on the newer side and still in the process of gaining certification, or did not want to pay for the official certification (which can cost up to $50,000).

An earlier version of our guide did not require products to either be NSF-certified or tested to NSF standards. As a result, we've removed the Sprite SL2-CM Slim-Line 2 Universal Shower Filter from our piece.