I Went Through 6 Filtered Showerheads This Year. Only One Got to Stay.
Our Dallas Bathroom Smelled Like a Pool, So From May to October I Put Up Six Filtered Showerheads, One at a Time, About Four Weeks Each. One Is Still Up. Here's How All Six Went.
Amy TidwellSenior tester · Nov 6, 2026
I've been color-treated blonde for twenty years, and this spring my blonde was going brassy two weeks after every toner. So I bought another purple shampoo... and then another one.
Then Jen, my stylist, stopped halfway through my appointment. She said the hair itself was in good shape... it just looked coated. And she asked me what was coming out of my shower.
That night I typed our zip code into the Environmental Working Group's tap water database, a free site that shows what's in your city's water. Ours had 17 contaminants over their health guidelines, and a byproduct of the chlorine they treat it with was at 94 times the guideline. Wait... was that why our bathroom smelled like a pool?
So I quit buying purple shampoo and tested filtered showerheads instead, the way I test everything for Toned & Tested: in my own shower, about a month each. One of the six, a $25 no-name head from Amazon, leaked on day one and came down before I could judge it.
My shower caddy this spring. Every bottle half used, and the brass came back anyway.
How We Scored Them
Here's what I scored, each out of 10.
Chlorine & Metals Removed
That 94-times number is the whole reason I started. I wanted to know how much chlorine and heavy metal each one actually took out.
Water Pressure
My hair is thick, and with a weak spray the conditioner sits at the back of my head, still slick after two rinses. A head on the wall has to reach back there on its own.
What It Did for My Hair and Skin
I watched how long my toner held and how my ends felt when I combed them out wet. If my skin felt tight after a shower, that counted too.
Easy Install & Clean
Could I put it up myself on a Saturday morning, without paying a plumber? And after four weeks of Dallas water, could I wipe the face clean right there on the wall?
Price & Guarantee
What it costs the day you buy it, and whether there's a real guarantee behind it if your hair doesn't change.
One of the other five pulled away fast.
#1: eskiin Filtered Showerhead
Our top pick for 2026
4.9 / 5
The spray comes out up to 2.5x stronger, and I felt it before my hair was even wet... it hit my shoulders so hard I actually took a step back. Then I turned around, and it reached the spot at the back of my head where conditioner always sat, so for the first time in years, one rinse was enough. After four weeks there was no way it was coming down.
Chlorine & metals removed9.8
Water pressure9.7
Hair & skin results9.8
Easy install & clean9.6
Price & guarantee9.7
Black Friday Sale: $115 with 5 free gifts worth $156. Once the sale stock is gone, so are the gifts. If your old head is still on the wall, this is the week to swap it.
Canopy is gorgeous up on the wall, and for the first week the scent tablets had our bathroom smelling like a hotel spa. If your hair is short or fine, you could be really happy with it.
Mine's neither. The spray falls like a light rain and never really reached the back of my head, so after four weeks of rinsing twice every morning, it came down.
Chlorine & metals removed7.9
Water pressure7.0
Hair & skin results8.4
Easy install & clean8.8
Price & guarantee7.6
#3: Jolie Filtered Showerhead
Around $150
3.7 / 5
You've probably seen this one in somebody's bathroom tour on Instagram, and so had I. But it's tested to cut about 84% of the chlorine... and chlorine was the whole reason I was doing this.
The spray was soft from the first morning, and by week three the face had stains I couldn't scrub off. When I tried to open the cartridge, it fought me so hard I gave up. It looks great in a photo, and that's about where it ends.
Chlorine & metals removed7.6
Water pressure6.8
Hair & skin results7.8
Easy install & clean6.9
Price & guarantee7.4
#4: Hello Klean Filtered Showerhead
Around $100
3.6 / 5
This was the plain one, and I mean that kindly. It went on in a few minutes, and standing under it felt a lot like standing under my old head.
By week four my toner was fading right on schedule again, so nothing broke, and nothing changed. If your water's already decent and you just want a simple swap, it'll do.
Chlorine & metals removed7.2
Water pressure7.1
Hair & skin results7.0
Easy install & clean7.3
Price & guarantee7.0
#5: AquaBliss Inline Shower Filter
Around $35
2.9 / 5
This is the cheap cylinder from Amazon that screws in between the pipe and the head you already have. If you love your head, I get it... it's the cheapest way to add a filter.
But you're still standing under the same old spray, and mine was weak to start with. It also put one more joint up by the arm, and that joint dripped for weeks, so the water got a little better and the shower stayed just as bad.
Chlorine & metals removed5.4
Water pressure4.9
Hair & skin results5.2
Easy install & clean6.1
Price & guarantee7.2
What's Packed Inside That Head
There's one filter, and it's already inside the head when you open the box. Every drop runs through all 15 layers on its way out, with KDF-55 doing the heavy lifting on chlorine and heavy metals.
Calcium sulfite and coconut activated carbon are layered in with it, and together they take out 98.7% of the chlorine and heavy metals. From the outside, it just looks like a really nice showerhead.
It's made by a brother and sister, Wes and Maddie St. Amand, and they're real people you could actually talk to. Wes had eczema and Maddie was dealing with hair loss and perioral dermatitis, and when nothing helped, they looked at their shower water... which is pretty much how I got here too.
They went through about 30 prototypes before they started eskiin in 2023 in Beaverton, Oregon, and they still run it. Orders ship fast from their own warehouse in Idaho, where actual people pack every box.
Wes and Maddie St. Amand, the brother and sister who started eskiin.
What to Look For
Your own water report
Type your zip code into the EWG tap water database before you buy anything. It takes two minutes and tells you what you're up against.
A real percentage
A tested number like 98.7% means somebody measured it. "Reduces chlorine" on a box could mean almost anything.
Filters made for hot water
Look for KDF-55 or calcium sulfite on the label. Both keep working in hot water, which is what you're actually showering in.
Everything you need in the box
Look for a head that comes with the wrench and the plumber's tape. Mine had an install guide in there too, so I never needed a trip to the hardware store.
Putting it up myself that Saturday morning. No plumber needed.
What to Avoid
Heads that sell the look
If a listing talks more about the finish than what the filter takes out, that tells you where your money's going.
Paying for the smell
A nice smell in the bathroom doesn't tell you a thing about the chlorine in the water.
No-name bargain heads
If you can't tell who makes it, there's nobody to call when it starts dripping.
Short return windows
Hair takes weeks to show a change. If the return window closes after 30 days, you're mostly paying to guess.
The Winner Is Clear
On October 30, five weeks after my last toner and still no brass, Jen ran her fingers through my ends and stopped. "Okay, what did you change? Your ends aren't snapping."
Jen checking my ends at the salon on October 30.
Huh. All those years of changing products, and I never once thought to change the showerhead. Five of the six came down this year, and the eskiin is the one still on the wall.
Our bathroom smells like a bathroom again, and I haven't restocked that caddy since September. If you color your hair, look at your water before you buy another purple shampoo.
Black Friday Sale: $115
5 free gifts worth $156, including a Detangling Hair Brush and a Hair Wrap Towel
