Examine Our High 6 Bathe Chlorine Filters
Honorable Point out Bathe Filters
{Photograph}: Matthew Korfhage
Filterbaby Diamond Collection Bathe Filter for $113: This inline filter was in a position to cut back complete chlorine ranges to undetectable quantities, certainly one of few filters available on the market in a position to take action—and the truth that it is an inline filter means you’ll preserve your present showerhead and simply slot this filter in between the pipe and your showerhead. That stated, it is a cumbersome filter, which suggests your showerhead can be about 4 inches decrease than it was once, and the screw-in system is just a little awkward: It is one of many solely showerheads I truly wanted a wrench to put in correctly. The alternative filters are designed to make use of minimal plastic, however they’re are additionally dearer than most, at $42 each three months.
ShowerClear Filtered Bathe Head, pictured as put in at a WIRED reviewer’s house.{Photograph}: Matthew Korfhage
ShowerClear Bathe Head for $139: OK, you bought me. This is not a filter. The ShowerClear is as an alternative designed to resolve an issue you in all probability hadn’t thought of however now might preserve you up at night time: Probably infectious micro organism referred to as mycobacteria, liable to inflicting respiratory lung infections, take pleasure in rising inside showerheads and are immune to chlorine-treated water. They develop in colonies, a bit like fungus. Therefore, the identify. What’s worse, if you cannot open up your showerhead, you may’t see them and you do not know they’re there. Provides you the willies. Anyway, this ShowerClear has a hinge and a latch. This implies you may open it up, look inside, and clear its inside fully, with cleaning soap or vinegar or disinfectants. It is a very uncommon high quality even amongst filtered showerheads. I might be happier if the ShowerClear’s water circulation fanned out just a little higher, or if the latch have been much less of a defining design function. However what’s all that for just a little peace of thoughts? (That stated, in order for you a filter to take away chlorine, you will additionally want an inline filter just like the Weddell Duo.)
{Photograph}: Matthew Korfhage
Croix Filtered Showerhead for $129 and Croix Handheld Showerhead for $129: Bathe filter firm Croix was based by chemical engineer Spencer Robertson, an outdated hand at water filtration. The fastened showerhead is good-looking, and the hand held bathe has a much wider array of spray settings than most—together with a enjoyable, ultra-broad spray setting that is like a savagely highly effective misting system. This stated, the KDF-55 and calcium sulfite filter did not filter even near the vast majority of complete chlorine ranges from my chloramine-treated water system. Based mostly on outcomes I’ve reviewed from Croix’s inside testing, I might extra possible suggest this system for chlorine-treated techniques just like the one in New York Metropolis. WIRED was in a position to overview inside testing displaying that Croix’s filters have been profitable at filtering most free chlorine from water, in accordance with NSF requirements. Substitute cartridges and filters are fairly priced and really helpful as soon as each 4 months, an extended interval than most manufacturers available on the market.
{Photograph}: Matthew Korfhage
Aquasana Inline Filter for $150: Aquasana’s funnily bulbous two-layer filter eliminated the vast majority of complete chlorine in my chloramine-treated system, and it was additionally one of many solely bathe filter corporations to supply unbiased testing knowledge backing up its claims for chlorine-based techniques. Up to now, so good. So why’s it not up close to the highest of our record? A flimsy bathe wand with poor spray power and radius, a slight however unlucky tendency towards leakiness on the bathe connection, and unforgiving geometry which means it would not hyperlink up effectively with all showerheads as an inline filter. Nonetheless, it really works and it is lab-attested free of charge chlorine removing, and I fortunately suggest it.
{Photograph}: Matthew Korfhage
Jolie Filtered Showerhead for $165: Jolie pioneered the influencer-centric, testimonial-driven advertising and marketing mannequin that has made bathe filters so dominant within the public dialog. Its design, which appears a bit like a large Monopoly taking part in piece and is available in chrome, gold, black, or purple, is eminently likable. The system gives even water spray and a smooth, stippled faceplate that feels luxuriant within the strangest of how. However Jolie did not reply to requests for unbiased testing after we requested in late 2024, and our personal testing put it someplace in the course of the pack by way of eradicating complete chlorine from a chloramine-treated system.
Not Really useful
{Photograph}: Matthew Korfhage
Sproos! Filtered Hand Bathe for $148 ($99 with subscription): Sproos is a unusual, kicky, kooky bathe model aimed squarely at younger “renters and DIYers”—providing a rainbow of daring colours for handheld filtered showerheads. However filter testing was center of the pack. Additionally, the valve on Sproos’ heavy, side-mounted filter broke underneath its personal weight after two days after we examined in 2024, inflicting an alarming bang and a little bit of a multitude.
Kohler Cinq for $150: Kohler is a venerable Wisconsin model with quite a lot of water remedy choices for showers and taps. The Cinq filtered showerhead is admirably traditional in type, and its five-layer filter seemed equally promising, promoting specifically KDF-55 and activated carbon. Residence testing didn’t present nice outcomes with my chloramine-treated water, nonetheless, and for the worth I felt entitled to excessive expectations. Requests for unbiased lab testing knowledge in 2024 didn’t get outcomes.
Act + Acre Showerhead Filter (Out of Inventory): Magnificence firm Act + Acre’s filtered showerhead didn’t carry out in addition to others in my house testing of complete chlorine. We additionally didn’t fall in love with the showerhead itself, which appears a bit like a gooseneck desk lamp and droops awkwardly from the bathe pipe. The showerhead was listed as out of inventory after we checked in a number of occasions throughout 2025.
Regularly Requested Questions
How We Examined and What We Examined
{Photograph}: Matthew Korfhage
The marketplace for filtered showerheads stays younger and largely unregulated, and efficiency claims are solely not often backed up publicly by unbiased knowledge. We made a number of requests, however few bathe filter corporations hand over their lab outcomes. (Thanks, Aquasana, Weddell, Croix, and Curo for being exceptions.)
Some makers informed us that unbiased labs and certifying our bodies have been backed up, and that knowledge is forthcoming. Many supplied buyer satisfaction surveys or anecdotal research as an alternative. This all signifies that some skepticism is warranted.
And so I acquired out check kits at house, as an alternative. First I examined the entire chlorine ranges within the water with none filtering, a measure that features both chloramine or free chlorine that is interacted with no matter’s in your pipes. Then I examined the water filtered by the showerhead. I carried out every check a number of occasions to account for imprecision or fluctuations in testing and in municipal chlorine ranges. Generally, I did this over a number of days.
For testing, I prevented painfully unreliable house check strips, and as an alternative acquired out considerably nasty chemical indicators and used digital and chemical assessments designed for swimming pools and aquariums.
We additionally examined complete dissolved solids utilizing a TDS meter, and individually examined filters’ results on pH with a view to gauge results but in addition to confirm the reliability of chemical check outcomes.
The effectiveness of filters goes down over time, after all, relying on how a lot contamination is filtered out of the water—which is why filters at all times should be modified. As we replace this information, we’ll proceed to check the best showerhead filters to see how their efficacy adjustments over time—and add any new bathe filters we’re in a position to suggest.
What Bathe Filters In all probability Don’t Do
The perfect bathe filters I examined will enhance your water high quality. However bathe filters can solely accomplish that a lot. The upshot is that you just in all probability shouldn’t count on these bathe filters to melt the mineral hardness of your water or take away most substances. Exhausting water is extra usually solved by particular water softeners, reverse osmosis filters, and whole-house water filtration techniques.
In any case, a filter have to be comparatively small to suit right into a showerhead. And but it’s being requested to filter gallons of water every minute, pushed out at each excessive temperature and excessive strain. A showerhead filter poses a frightening engineering problem, as in comparison with countertop water filters that deal with solely a small quantity of water at a time—or a cumbersome reverse-osmosis system that may plug into your under-sink plumbing.
So what do these showerhead filters truly do, in a method we are able to measure? They filter chlorine and chlorine compounds, principally by chemical reactions. Just about each American metropolis provides low concentrations of chlorine or chlorine compounds to consuming water to kill doubtlessly dangerous micro organism. That is all effectively and good when the water’s nonetheless within the pipes. However chlorine’s not precisely nice on your hair or your pores and skin, and few folks wish to drink it. Some are additionally particularly delicate to the style or scent, or liable to pores and skin reactions.
Essentially the most outstanding house bathe filters rely partly on a zinc-copper combination referred to as KDF-55, recognized to be fairly efficient at neutralizing “free” chlorine in chlorine-treated techniques. Different widespread substances used to deal with chlorine and chlorine compounds embrace calcium sulfite and activated or catalytic carbon. The simplest filters use these in some mixture. The principle factor I used to be in a position to check and confirm was bathe filters’ capability to take away the entire chlorine content material of water popping out of your bathe.
We’ve seen little proof that the commonest forms of showerhead filters have a lot impact on the softness or hardness of water, or on calcium buildup. In actual fact, some early educational research current proof that they don’t. The bathe filters we examined additionally had little or no impact on the sum complete of dissolved solids in our water, in response to measurements with a TDS meter—i.e., the filters aren’t eradicating a considerable amount of supplies or minerals from the water.
I wasn’t in a position to check claims by some corporations that these filters take away heavy metals like lead and arsenic, which fortunately aren’t in my pipes. We solely discovered one firm, Weddell, whose filter was licensed to take away lead. Up to now, so good! Nonetheless, for those who consider you’ve gotten harmful lead or arsenic in your water, you in all probability shouldn’t attempt to repair the issue with a mail-order showerhead. Discuss to a water remedy skilled or your public well being authority.
In case you stay in a significant US metropolis, chlorine is probably going not what your metropolis makes use of to deal with the water in its pipes. New York, Chicago, Seattle, and Phoenix use chlorine, positive. However Los Angeles, Philadelphia, Atlanta, Boston, and most massive cities in Texas don’t.
Greater than half of American massive cities use a substance referred to as chloramine, a extra steady and enduring chemical that’s tougher to filter and check. That is additionally what was in my water provide. To check, I acquired out my helpful digital water colorimeter and a considerably nasty chemical indicator, after which examined the power of every bathe filter to deal with any of quite a lot of chlorine compounds within the water.
Curious whether or not your metropolis makes use of chlorine or chloramine as a disinfectant in your pipes? Examine right here for an accounting of the 50 largest municipal water techniques in the USA.
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