The best filtered showerheads of 2026, tested and reviewed
Do you have sensitive skin or dry hair? A filtered showerhead may help.
Hydroviv Filtered Showerhead
$undefined
$159.99
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Experts recommend considering the following factors when shopping for filtered showerheads, all of which I took into consideration while testing and creating our list of favorites.
The NBC Select staff and I have been testing filtered showerheads since July 2023. Each of the brands on this list sent us models to try, which we installed ourselves in our bathrooms. In New York, showerheads legally can’t exceed a 1.8 gpm flow rate, so for some of the models we tested, we had to install flow restrictors.
We tested each showerhead for at least a month while taking note of how easy a model was to install, whether it impacted water pressure, how it worked and any changes we noticed in our skin or hair.
All the showerheads below came with one pre-installed filter, as well as necessary installation tools like a wrench and plumbers tape. (To continue using them beyond the initial trial period, we had to buy replacement filters.) They’re all tested to meet NSF-177 standards, according to the brands' websites, and each one was easily adjustable, so we could point the water stream in any direction.
Jolie’s filtered showerhead is the first model I installed, a process I found easy and stress-free thanks to the included step-by-step guide. I love that it looks like a typical showerhead — it doesn’t look like anything special, so it blends into my space. The Jolie comes in five finishes, more than any of the other shower filters I tested: Moden Chrome, Brushed Steel, Jet Black, Brushed Gold and Vibrant Red.
After testing four filtered showerheads, Jolie’s model is the one I returned to and continue to use now. Over the past year, I’ve noticed that my skin is less dry and my hair is softer. In fact, my hairdresser says my curls have never looked or felt healthier, which she credits to my filtered showerhead. I also appreciate how easy Jolie makes managing my filter subscription online, and that it lets me skip or delay a filter delivery if I want to. For example, if I’m away for a while and don’t use my showerhead, I might want to push back the next time I swap it out.
Though it only has one spray setting, the showerhead’s stream is wide enough for my liking because it covers my whole body when I stand underneath it. The first time I replaced the filter, I found twisting the fixture’s head off its base challenging — but it got much easier with practice.
Canopy’s Handheld Filtered Showerhead gives you all the benefits of its standard model since it has the exact same filter. However, you get more convenience, control and flexibility with this one — you can remove the handle from its base to bring the waterstream closer to your body, giving you the ability to target specific areas. The handheld showerhead is also useful for cleaning kids, pets and your shower. “The handheld ability makes my shower experience so much smoother,” says NBC Select editorial projects manager Rebecca Rodriguez, who’s used it for over six months. “It not only upgrades my overall shower experience, but also makes cleaning my shower and tub a million times easier.”
Canopy’s handheld filtered showerhead comes with a mount and 5-foot, 7-inch hose. You can use it as your main fixture (so you attach it directly to the pipe built-in to your wall, like all the other options on this list) or as an attachment for your current showerhead. If you want to do the latter, which Rodriguez opted for, you’ll also need to buy Canopy’s accessories kit, which comes with a diverter and mount.
Rodriguez says the installation process took less than 20 minutes, and that changing the showerhead’s filter is very easy. “Since it’s handheld, I don’t have to reach up or stand on the edges of my tub to change it,” she says. This model also comes with a scalp massager attachment, and it’s American Disabilities Act-compliant, according to the brand.
Canopy’s filtered showerhead is the only model I tested that has three spray settings: wide, narrow and dual. You can seamlessly switch among them using a sliding notch on the bottom of the fixture. Since each person who uses the shower can choose the setting they like best, it’s great for multiperson households.
Changing the Canopy filter was easier for me than with other models — there’s no twisting or turning involved, making for a quicker process.
When shopping directly from Canopy’s website, you have three buying options: the fixture; the showerhead and a filter subscription; or the showerhead, a filter subscription and an aroma subscription. The aroma subscription comes with essential oils and hook-shaped felt diffusers to hang on the showerhead. I tried the aroma subscription and, while I liked adding fragrance to my showers, I don’t reach for it often enough to need repeated refills.
Afina’s filtered showerhead has a simple design and is available in nickel and chrome finishes. It only has one spray setting, but thanks to its square face, the water stream was wide enough to fully cover me.
Overall, installing the Afina was straightforward. However, the included directions didn’t have specific instructions for adding a flow restrictor, and I didn’t find it on the brand’s website either. Because I had installed a few other models already, I knew enough about adding a flow restrictor that I eventually figured it out. But if I’d been new to the process, I would have been very confused. Replacing the filter, on the other hand, was easy — I just twisted the face off its base.
Notably, Afina offers one of the most generous return policies of the brands we tested. You can return the showerhead within 90 days of purchase for a full refund. On average, the other brands had return policies between 35 and 60 days.
Out of all the showerheads we tested, Hydroviv’s has the longest filter lifespan at six months — in comparison, most others are about 90 days. NBC Select commerce editor Lindsay Schneider says being able to “set and forget” the filter motivated her to install the showerhead. “I didn’t want to be changing the filter all the time, even though installation is easy,” she says. “I’ll just come back to this showerhead in six months, which is nothing.”
According to Hydroviv, this fixture removes over 93% of chlorine in water and takes about five minutes to install. Schneider attached it to her bathroom’s pipe without stress or difficulty since the included instructions were straightforward, plus it came with plumber’s tape if she needed it. The showerhead has a five-year warranty, too — if something goes wrong within that timeframe, you can contact the brand for assistance.
After using Hydroviv’s filtered showerhead for about three months, Schneider says she noticed a difference in how her hair feels. “My hair is genuinely softer, and the appliance looks nice in my bathroom, too,” she says. While the fixture shouldn’t impact water pressure, according to the brand, Schneider says hers is a bit lighter since installation.
Act+Acre is one of our favorite women-owned businesses, and because I’ve had a great experience using the brand’s hair care products, I wasn’t surprised that its filtered showerhead is designed well. It has a circular face like the Jolie, but it’s smaller by about .75 inches. That means Jolie’s water stream is a bit wider than Act+Acre’s, but not by enough that I found it particularly noticeable. If you have a very small shower, you may appreciate the compact size.
Installing Act+Acre’s showerhead took me less than five minutes, and I easily twisted its face off its base to change the filter. If you subscribe to Act+Acre’s filter subscription program, you get your first replacement filter for 40% off, making it $19.20. But all subsequent filter replacements are 20% off via the subscription, making them $25.60 . (If you don’t opt for the subscription service, each filter replacement is $32.) Act+Acre’s filtered showerhead has the shortest return window (30 days) compared to the other brands I tested.
Filter type is one of the most important factors to consider because it dictates what it can remove from your water. There’s no standard filter so understanding each one can help you narrow down the model you want to buy. Brands typically include multiple types of filters in a showerhead to offer maximum purification, experts told us.
Before purchasing a filter, our experts recommend getting your water tested. Doing so tells you the exact impurities present in it and at what levels. Get your water tested by an EPA-registered lab if you can, although you can also buy at-home water test kits. Still, keep in mind that at-home kits can’t give you in-depth information and tend to be much less accurate than lab results, plus they’re prone to user error, says Anderson.
Listed below are some of the common filters you’ll see when shopping and what each one does, according to our experts:
As mentioned above, flow rate is the amount of water that comes out of a fixture (like a showerhead) during a certain period of time. States have different regulations on maximum flow rates for water conservation purposes. That said, not all showerheads are compatible with every state’s regulations — you may have to install a flow restrictor before using one. A flow restrictor reduces the amount of water that can pass through a fixture so it meets the regulatory standards in your state, says Ceja.
Here are the key rates to know:
The water that comes out of showerheads and faucets in your home is either provided by a municipality, which is a public water supply, or a private well.
Municipalities are required to filter water to some degree to meet requirements set by the EPA’s Safe Drinking Water Act, which specifies legal limits for about 90 different contaminants, says Anderson. But by the time water makes its way through pipes and onto your skin and hair, it can pick up contaminants, says Anderson. If you get water from a private well, filtering water is up to each individual homeowner.
That said, most water is not thoroughly filtered when it comes out of a bathroom showerhead. That’s where shower filters come in. They’re point-of-use filters, meaning they reduce water impurities at the point water comes out. This is different from a point-of-entry filter, which reduces water impurities as it enters the home’s pipes, says Anderson. One isn't necessarily better than the other — it’s more about what works with where you live. For example, you can't install a point-of-entry filter in a rental building because it would impact the water every resident uses. Instead, you need to install point-of-use filters for the water fixtures in your unit. If you live in a house you own, you can install a point-of-entry filter.
Luckily, filtered showerheads are typically easy to install regardless of where you live. They’re also just as easy to uninstall, so you can take them with you if you move.
When minerals like calcium, magnesium and chlorine build up on the skin, they tend to disrupt the skin barrier, leading to dryness and irritation, says Dr. Brooke Jeffy, a board-certified dermatologist and founder of Btwn, a skin care brand for teens and tweens. These minerals can also bind with certain ingredients in skin care products, like surfactants (cleaning agents) in cleansers, causing them to leave a residue behind that may lead to irritation, clogged pores and breakouts. Hard water minerals can also shift the skin’s pH, resulting in irritation, says Jeffy.
Filtered showerheads can reduce the presence of those potentially-irritating minerals in your water, preventing some of their negative effects, which people with sensitive skin, dry skin or eczema are especially vulnerable to, says Jeffy. They can also make your skin feel softer, she says.
If your shower water has high concentrations of minerals like chlorine, calcium and magnesium, the protective outer layer of the hair strand (the hair cuticle) can absorb them, leading to dry, brittle, dull and discolored hair, says Sara Hallajian, trichologist and the founder of Ame Salon in California. These minerals also make it hard for products like shampoo to lather properly, limiting effectiveness.
Filtered showerheads prevent water from leaving behind drying, irritating mineral deposits on your hair and scalp, says Jeffy. Hallajian says she sees and feels the benefits filtered showerheads have on her clients’ and her own hair. She recommends trying one if your hair is rough, hard to detangle and/or dull in color or shine.
Hard water has high concentrations of calcium and magnesium, which can lead to skin irritation and hair damage, says Ceja. It can also cause scale, which is a white film you’ll see when water dries on surfaces like dishware, faucets and countertops, says Anderson. Scale buildup can clog water fixtures and appliances, shortening their lifespan, says Ceja. While filtered showerheads can’t soften hard water, they can reduce the concentration of calcium and magnesium, making it less likely to cause these issues, says Anderson.
Hard water is quite common in the U.S., but it doesn't cause issues for everyone. There are different hardness levels, which are measured in grains per gallon. The higher the calcium and magnesium levels are in water, the “harder” it is and the more likely it is to cause problems, says Anderson.
There aren't many places in the U.S. where water is considered soft. “Soft water is hardness below one grain per gallon, and that’s pretty rare,” says Anderson. “Your typical U.S. household will have anywhere from three to 10 grains of hardness per gallon of water.”
You can determine your home’s water hardness a few different ways, according to Ceja:
Technically, no, shower filters don’t soften hard water, says Anderson. Softening hard water is a complicated process involving an ion exchange, which basic shower filters can’t do. However, shower filters can reduce the concentration of the minerals responsible for hardness in your water so long as they’re made with a filter that’s designed to do so, says Ceja. Reducing the concentration of these minerals means water is less likely to cause negative side effects like scale buildup and damaged hair, says Anderson. Generally, the purpose of shower filters is to reduce the presence of water impurities — not “soften” it, says Ceja.
Depending on their design, shower filters may slightly impact water pressure, but it’s often not noticeable, says Ceja. If you do notice reduced water pressure, check when you last changed the filter. “If you keep a filter in there forever and never change it, it’s going to get filled with debris and reduce your water pressure,” says Anderson.
At NBC Select, we work with experts who have specialized knowledge and authority based on relevant training and/or experience. We also take steps to ensure that all expert advice and recommendations are made independently and with no undisclosed financial conflicts of interest.
I'm a reporter at NBC Select whose written about home care and wellness for five years, including topics like dusters, eco-friendly cleaning products, ingrown hair treatments and razor burn. For this article, I interviewed four experts about filtered showerheads. I've been testing models for over a year with other members of NBC Select's staff.
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