Best Shower Head Filters of 2024 - CNET

Oct 19, 2024

Article updated on October 15, 2024 at 11:00 AM PDT

Remove unwanted minerals and enjoy healthier hair with the best showerhead water filters.

CNET’s expert staff reviews and rates dozens of new products and services each month, building on more than a quarter century of expertise.

What to consider

Your reasons for wanting a shower filter

The best shower filter for you will depend on your needs and what's coming out of your shower. Some filters may be better at removing chlorine, for example, while others add vitamins to water.

Installation

Your existing shower setup matters when it comes time to choose a shower filter. Make sure you buy a filter that looks both easy to install and makes sense for your particular shower.

Price

The best shower filter in the world won't help you if it's too pricey to buy. There is a wide price range for shower filters. When comparing models, make sure you don't sacrifice quality for a better deal.

CNET’s expert staff reviews and rates dozens of new products and services each month, building on more than a quarter century of expertise.

What to consider

Your reasons for wanting a shower filter

The best shower filter for you will depend on your needs and what's coming out of your shower. Some filters may be better at removing chlorine, for example, while others add vitamins to water.

Installation

Your existing shower setup matters when it comes time to choose a shower filter. Make sure you buy a filter that looks both easy to install and makes sense for your particular shower.

Price

The best shower filter in the world won't help you if it's too pricey to buy. There is a wide price range for shower filters. When comparing models, make sure you don't sacrifice quality for a better deal.

While you're likely already filtering your drinking water, you may not know that you can also filter water in your shower too. Doing so can benefit your skin and hair, remove hard water minerals and more, and it's very simple to do with a good showerhead filter.

Showerhead filters are designed to remove contaminants like chlorine, fluoride and heavy metals, providing cleaner, healthier water. This can lead to smoother skin and shinier, more vibrant and healthier hair. As such, a showerhead filter can even make a fun, unexpected holiday gift for the beauty enthusiast in your life. The installation process is straightforward, whether you're replacing your entire showerhead or adding a filter to your existing showerhead.

It's essential to look at easy availability and cost of replacement filters, as they'll need to be replaced periodically. Replacement frequency is another factor to consider. But don't worry, we've made the job easier for you. From Jolie to Sonaki, here are the best shower head filters for every price point.

The Sonaki Inline Shower Filter is the best overall filter because our research found it can filter out bacteria, chlorine, heavy metals, rust and other byproducts from regular showerhead water. The internal filter system is an activated carbon filter, which is one of the most effective. It also doesn't require purchasing an extra showerhead. You can just screw it on your old one.

When it comes to filters, an activated carbon filter is the most effective choice for your showerhead. That's what you get with the Sonaki Inline Shower Filter. The granular activated carbon filter removes bacteria, chlorine, chloramine (another disinfectant that's sometimes used), heavy metals, rust and any other byproducts, so you can shower knowing that you're safe. Plus, it'll soften the filtered shower water so you can get softer hair than ever.

The Sonaki Shower Filter is an inline model, which means you won't need to buy a separate showerhead. You simply screw the filter into the wall and the showerhead on the other side.

The QwenchPure KDF-55 Shower Filter is one of the best KDF filters available. KDF filters are made out of copper and zinc, two elements that create a small electrical-chemical charge between them. It may seem counterintuitive to put more metal in your shower, but a KDF filter is great for dissolving mercury, cadmium, arsenic, aluminum and even chlorine. You won't notice the electrical charge in your shower, but the heavy metals sure will.

Installation for the QwenchPure KDF-55 Shower Filter is super easy. No tools are required, it just screws in behind your showerhead. It will also act partly as a water softener, reducing the minerals in your shower water.

The Aqua Earth Vitamin C Shower Filter is a great pick for chlorinated water issues. Vitamin C shower filters remove chlorine and chloramine fluoride by neutralizing them. It won't affect many other contaminants and impurities, so don't rely on it to filter out other minerals and metals.

If you have confidence in the safety of your water but the chlorine that's in it gives you dry skin, the Aqua Earth Vitamin C Shower Filter is one of the best shower filters you can buy and will leave your skin feeling softer. Installation is a breeze; this filter can be attached to any showerhead you already have.

This widely-popular filtered showerhead is super easy to install and is designed to fit all standard showers. While the most expensive on this list, the Jolie Filtered Showerhead utilizes a KDF-55 and calcium sulfate filter. Additionally, the showerhead is heavy-duty, because it is made of brass unlike most of the plastic filters on this list.

Jolie claims to remove chlorine from the water to give you healthier skin and hair, all while looking stylish and sleek in your shower. The showerhead comes in five colors: brushed gold, brushed steel, jet black, modern chrome and vibrant red. You can also choose to subscribe to Jolie to get the showerhead for $17 cheaper. Filters will show up at your door every 90 days for $33.

If you are looking for shower water filters with an attached, large showerhead, then this one's for you. AquaHomeGroup's Luxury Filtered Shower Head contains a 20-level KDF-55 filter and a vitamin cartridge within the showerhead. The filtration system helps to remove chlorine and other impurities.

This filter attaches to the provided showerhead and then to your shower. The showerhead itself is 8 inches wide, has a rainfall setting and a screwable compartment where you can find and replace the vitamin cartridge. With a lifespan of six months, each vitamin cartridge adds vitamins A, E and C to your shower improving both skin health and hair health.

Like other household accessories, shower filters can quickly become expensive. If you're operating on a budget, consider the GE Universal Shower Filtration System. It retails for around $20. It's smaller than other shower filters, but just as easy to install. No tools are required; you just have to screw it in.

The GE showerhead water filter mainly gets rid of chlorine, but it's also capable of filtering sediment. The filter can last up to six months and it's compatible with any standard showerhead or shower fitting you currently use. It's a more basic option than other filters on the list, but it's a dependable option that's significantly more affordable than many others.

There are loads of shower filters on the market. There are a couple of key components to assess while you're shopping to make sure you choose the right model for you. Some filters will not fit your specific needs. Here's what to look for when buying a filter.

Different types of filters work better to remove different contaminants and sediment, so when you're looking for the best shower filter, you'll want to check out what's in your water and decide what's most important for you, whether that's water softener, flow rate, if it will affect existing water pressure, shower filtration or gallons of usage.

The best shower filters come in many forms. Some look like tanks you attach to your showerhead, some are built into a fixed showerhead, and others are available in a handheld showerhead. Each style is similar in effectiveness. Depending on your shower, some may be a better fit.

Filters don't last forever. They will have a limited lifespan before they need to be changed. Most options generally need to be replaced every six months. It's important to be prompt about replacing the filters because they become less effective as time goes on.

Most of the best shower filters are easy to install, but some can be more involved than others. It's important to note the installation process before buying.

Some filters include scented oils or vitamin C. If you are looking to take extra care of your skin or hair, look for these additional features

Another thing to keep in mind is that athough the initial purchase for your water filtration might not be that high, you'll typically need to replace the filter or its internal cartridge every six months. So you should factor the price of replacement filters and cartridges into the cost while arriving at your budget for filters.

The shower filters for this list were selected based on price, accessibility, filter quality, filter replacements and cartridge lifespans. We also took into account a product's materials, what it can potentially filter out from water and customer reviews.

Even if your water quality is perfectly safe, your hair and skin might still benefit from filtered water in your shower. For some people, the minerals and metals in their water wreak havoc on their hair. Water with high concentrations of minerals is known as hard water, and it runs through the pipes in many people's homes. Not sure if you have hard water? This USGS map can help.

Increasingly, people say that a filter on your shower helps with itchy and dull skin, not to mention a flaky scalp. The reported effects of hard water on your hair and skin are backed up by science. The specific minerals in hard water make it difficult for soaps and shampoos to lather and do their job so that icky feeling on your skin might actually be that it's not getting quite as clean.

Read more: Best Showerhead

A lot of the hair and skin irritation has to do with the fact that soap and hard water react to form "scum," the white sticky layer left behind on your skin after soaping up. Have you ever noticed the white residue that builds up on your faucets that's hard to clean? It's the product of calcium and magnesium in your water, and that same residue builds up on your skin, too. The scum clogs your pores and can cover the strands of your hair so that your conditioner can't do its work, making sensitive skin and high-maintenance hair worse.

It's not just the metals and minerals in water that dry out your skin. Anyone who's spent time in a chlorinated pool knows how it seems to draw all the moisture out of your body, leaving you with crunchy hair and red, dry or itchy skin

The residual chlorine in shower water can create the same problems but on a much smaller scale, leaving you with skin that just can't get quite as soft as you'd like. Keep in mind that the chlorine in water is hard to remove, so you'll want to make sure the shower water filter you buy is capable of water filtration for removing chlorine.

Many countries, including the US, have a comprehensive set of guidelines to make sure that the harmful chemicals in your water, and your overall water quality, are being examined and regulated.

In the US, the EPA has legally enforceable standards for all different types of pollutants in your drinking water, as well as secondary concerns that may cause skin irritation or affect your hair. Your local water supplier should produce a new Consumer Confidence Report each year, and the EPA has a public database designed to let you easily look up the most recent tap water report for your area. You can read the report and see if there are any worrisome pollutant levels in your water, but you can also rest safe in the knowledge that if any water contaminants are over their legal limit, your community will certainly be notified.

If you're especially worried about lead, one easy way to mitigate that risk is to simply run the tap water a few minutes before using it. The most dangerous amounts of lead accumulate when the water has been sitting in your home's pipes overnight, so if you flush that water out of the lines, you'll be in better shape.

Even if your water smells and tastes fine, that doesn't mean your tap water is free of harmful chemicals. Water pollutants fall into different categories, but the ones of primary concern in your shower water are toxic metals, chlorine (used as a disinfectant) and the byproducts that chlorine creates with other chemicals in the water. Any of these can put a major crimp in your shower experience.

The main toxic metals that often hide in water are arsenic, lead, cadmium and mercury, all of which made the World Health Organization's Top 10 list of "chemicals of major health concern."

The lead from degrading plumbing can get into drinking water, causing all sorts of public health issues.

Lead is often deemed the biggest contaminant offender, even if your water supply is pure, water slowly corrodes the lead in home plumbing systems, and the toxic metal seeps into the water. Children are at a particularly high risk for harsh chemicals and have been reported to absorb up to 50% of their lead through drinking water. Even at relatively low levels, the WHO reports, lead exposure can cause irreversible neurological issues. This is why water quality must always be a consideration.

Another main issue is connected to the chlorine that's used as a disinfectant in our drinking water. The major health concern is actually the byproducts created when chlorine reacts with natural organic matter in the water, creating harmful chemicals called THMs. You've probably heard of chloroform, which is just one common THM, and high levels of THMs act as carcinogens.

One study found that people absorbed more THMs from a 10-minute hot shower than from drinking a liter of water, so if you're concerned about this, a shower filtration system that actively removes chlorine can be helpful.

The short answer is yes; shower filters work by collecting the excess traces of chemical components like chlorine or minerals. These components in your shower water can irritate your skin or contribute to brittle hair. Shower filters can help protect your hair and skin from metals and minerals in your water.

Strictly speaking, not everyone needs a shower filter. If you live somewhere with mineral- or chlorine-infused water, consider its benefits for your hair and skin. Chlorine strips the hair and skin of its natural oils made to protect the hair. Investing in one can ease your symptoms if your skin or scalp is dry and itchy.

How often your filters need to be replaced depends on the exact showerhead filter you own. Most commonly, shower filters need to be replaced every five to seven months.

The best showerhead filter for your hair is a filter that removes the most contaminants. Unfiltered, hard water is not good for soft hair or healthy skin. I recommend the Jolie Shower Head, as this shower filter is made to take care of both your hair and skin.

According to the United States Geological Survey, water hardness typically describes the amount of dissolved calcium and magnesium in water. Soft water has 0 to 60 mg/L, while hard water has 121 to 180 mg/L. You might have "hard water" if your hands feel like there's buildup after washing, your dishes aren't as spotless, etc. Some people think hard water can have an impact on your hair health.