When I found out that I had concerningly high levels of aluminum in my body, it made me rethink my entire self-care routine. Not only do I now avoid aluminum foil in the kitchen, but I’ve also become much more careful about my exposure to any metals, microplastics, or toxins. I stick with fragrance-free personal care products, avoid plastic containers for hot food, and filter all my drinking water.
But I recently realized that I was still coating myself in unfiltered water everyday in the shower. I knew it was time to add a shower filter to my bathroom, but I struggled to find the right option. I wasn’t ready to spend the big bucks and didn’t want to compromise on the features that I loved in a showerhead: great water pressure and a variety of stream settings.
That's why, when a filtered shower head with five settings and a handheld option for just $100 crossed my desk, I knew I had to give it a shot. I've been using the Seventy Handheld Filtered Showerhead for about a month, and here's my honest review.
Why you want a shower filter
Hard water is widespread in the U.S., which means most people are getting excess levels of calcium and magnesium in the shower, which can strip your hair and skin of moisture. Municipal tap water often contains chlorine as a disinfectant, and can contain traces of heavy metals from aging pipes.
What is the Seventy Filtered Showerhead
This showerhead uses a KDF filtration technology, which stands for Kinetic Degradation Fluxion, to filter out excess chemicals and irritants, like chlorine, heavy metals, calcium, and magnesium. To maintain water pressure, the filter uses a 125-Micron mesh that traps ultra-fine particles while still letting the water through.
The water pressure is also adjustable, with a sliding dial for pressure and five spray settings ranging from a trickle to an intense massage. You can further customize your shower experience with the hand-held option, which easily connects to the Snapnetix magnetic dock, and the 360-degree swivel-head attachment to adjust which direction the stream goes in.
But the best part of this showerhead is how easy it is to change the filter. Instead of worrying about how you are going to take the whole system down from the wall, you simply press the easy release button and slide the old filter out, before replacing it with a new one and easily reattaching the head.
Even with a replacement routine as simple as that, you only need to change the filter every three to six months, which is much less frequent than other showerheads.
First impressions
Right out of the box, the design felt sleek. While I wanted the health benefits that come from a filtered shower head, I didn't want something that would ruin the aesthetic of my bathroom.
Luckily, the silver chrome finish I opted for looks shiny and sophisticated. The shower head is larger than my old one, but not in a way that overwhelmed my already small shower space. Even with the built-in filter, it doesn't feel bulky mounted on the wall.
Installing the showerhead
The package came with a printed instruction manual, and with no tools required, installation was easy, so I was able to set my shower head up immediately after it arrived. After removing my old shower head, I applied plumber's tape to the now bare arm of the shower sticking out from the wall. Next, I screwed on the filter housing, doing my best to orient it with the connection for the hose attachment facing the ground. I then screwed in the hose that connects the shower head and the filter housing, and attached the shower head to its magnetic docking! And voila!
I am by no means a handy person, so the fact that I was able to install this myself without much effort impressed me. My one gripe is that I struggled to orient the filter housing so that the hose attachment faced perfectly towards the ground, which means the hose hangs off a bit to the side of the shower head.
Getting the hang of the magnetic dock
This was the biggest learning curve for me. One of the reasons I wanted this shower filter is because of the handheld element, but the way the shower head attaches to the dock took some getting used to.
My instinct was to simply pull straight down on the shower head to switch it into handheld mode, but that's not how it works. You have to lift it off the magnetic dock first, then pull down. After about three showers, I had the hang of it. My advice is to think "lift, then pull," and give yourself a few showers to build the habit.
Spray settings and water pressure
Overall, the water pressure feels similar to my previous shower head, though it changes quite a bit from one setting to the next. The jet-like massage setting delivers the most intense pressure, and each setting after that gets gentler, all the way down to a trickle.
That range has turned out to be super helpful. I reach for the more intense settings when I'm washing my hair, then switch to rain mode when I'm just rinsing my body after a trip to the gym. I imagine the adjustable pressure would also be very helpful with children and pets.
The different modes, paired with the handheld option, have made cleaning my shower much easier, too, since I can aim the spray exactly where I need it.
My testing experience
I've previously had concerningly high levels of aluminum show up in my bloodwork and deal with eczema, so I wanted to take the next step to remove these contaminants from my water.
But while I was focused on heavy mentals, most people opt for a shower filter with a focus on chlorine. For context, the harsh chemical can have a negative impact on your skin and hair health.
First stop: skin. As board-certified physician Azza Halim previously told mindbodygreen, hard water strips skins of natural oils, which can lead to dryness, itching, and irritation. These harsh chemicals can also clog pores, leading to early aging and loss of skin elasticity. Count me out.
What’s more, hard water can decrease hair strength and cause breakage. It dries out hair and prevents moisture from reaching the hair shaft, which can lead to thinning over time.
For me, the biggest difference has been in my skin redness. After a month, my skin is noticeably less irritated despite the recent influx of cold weather.
Breaking down the value: pros & cons
After four weeks of testing the Seventy handheld filtered shower head, here's what stood out to me:
- The handheld option is extremely convenient for washing hair, rinsing off, and cleaning the shower
- Installation was easy and tool free, even for a non-handy person
- 5 spray settings offer versatility for different parts of my routine
- Water pressure is adjustable, with a slider for spray intensity and spray settings that offer everything from an a massage jet down to a trickle
- It costs just $100, which is cheaper than most water filters on the market. Each filter cartridge costs $34 and the company suggests replacing them every 3 to 6 months, which is a longer time period than other popular shower filter companies
- Installation is simple, but getting the shower head to sit with the hose connection perfectly oriented at the bottom can be tricky
- The magnetic dock has a learning curve
The takeaway
The Seventy showerhead is cheaper than many other water filters on the market, and comes with five spray settings, a handheld option, and every tool you need to install it yourself. That combination is what makes it feel like a great value to me.