Your Shower Head Could Be the Culprit of Bad Hair Days and Dry Skin—This $29 Water Filter Is a Total Game Changer

I live and work in a 500-square-foot apartment with a boyfriend and a dog, which means that my daily shower routine is often the only semblance of “me” time I ever get (that is, when the dog isn’t peering around the curtain and trying to jump in with me). Because of this, I’ve taken great pains to make those few solo moments as luxurious as possible, which most recently has meant outfitting my shower with a Voesh Water Filter ($29).

The filter is basically a skin and hair-care product that I don’t actually have to apply. Its primary role is to remove chlorine and other impurities—like calcium and magnesium—from hard water. “It’s been noted that contact with hard water can lead to disruption of the protective epidermal barrier, which may aggravate atopic dermatitis, dry skin, and cause resultant itching,” David Lortscher, MD, a board-certified dermatologist and the founder and CEO of Curology previously told Well+Good. “If you have hard water, you’ll often end up using more cleansers with heavier surfactants to clean your skin and hair, since you won’t see the same lathering effect. This leads to precipitation of the surfactant—or leaving a film of residue on the skin—which could lead to more irritation and even clogged pores.”

Voesh Water Filter — $29.00

This particular tool is jam-packed with skin-friendly ingredients that go above and beyond your standard shower filter. It’s got brightening vitamin C, barrier-reinforcing vegan probiotics, and soothing oatmeal powder, which counteract the drying and damaging effects that hot shower water tends to have on your skin and hair. Since using the filter, I’ve noticed that my whole body has felt visibly softer.

Though it may seem simple, taking a spa-grade shower—the way this filter has allowed me to—can actually be a pretty powerful self-care practice. “Time in the shower also gives you a few minutes alone to focus on your breathing and mindfulness, both of which can reduce feelings of stress and support your self care,” health coach Jim Curtis, CRO at The Institute for Integrative Nutrition, previously told Well+Good. “How you wake up and what you do when you wake up can drastically set the tone for how you will think and feel throughout the day, so the way you integrate a shower into your morning routine can make or break your mood for the rest of the day.”

The filter comes in five different scents: Ocean Mist, Blossom Bliss, Lavender Land, Citrus Crush, and Rainforest Mist. My shower is outfitted with the rainforest-inspired fragrance, which gives off an oh-so-subtle natural scent—almost as if I’m surrounded by a bunch of plants during a rainstorm (or, ya know, in a rainforest). Pros note that using aromatherapy in your shower can help you “breathe deeply, release muscle tightness and let go of stress,” and after trying it out for myself, I can confirm that this advice checks out.

Though my “me” time may be limited to a few minutes a day in a small, cramped studio apartment shower, this filter makes the experience feel nothing short of special.

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