5 Best Water Softener Shower Heads of 2023 – Reviews & Top Picks

Hard water can clog bathroom fixtures, leave scale deposits, and leave skin and hair feeling dried out and flaky. Unfortunately, getting a water softener system for your entire house is a significant investment. That doesn’t mean you’re out of luck, though!

Water softener shower heads will allow you to get all the benefits of soft water in your shower without spending a fortune. Your hair and skin will thank you, but you’ll also have less cleaning to do without hard water spots being left behind on your shower walls and door.

To find the best ones, we’ve tested many of these showerheads to determine which could meet our expectations. The following five reviews will share what we learned through our testing to make the decision easier for you.

A Quick Comparison of Our Favorites

Rating	Image	Product	Details
Best Overall		Pureaction Water Softener Shower Head	Softens water Removes chlorine fluoride and chloramine Saves water without reducing pressure	CHECK PRICE
Premium Choice		AquaHomeGroup Filtered Shower Head	Adds vitamins to your shower water Reduces multiple contaminants Helps soften the water	CHECK PRICE
		PureAction Shower Head Filter	Helps soften water Adds vitamin C	CHECK PRICE
		G-Promise Filtered Handheld Shower Head	10-stage filter 6 shower settings	CHECK PRICE
		Culligan Wall-Mounted Filtered Shower Head	Filters last 6 months Easy to install	CHECK PRICE

The 5 Best Water Softener Shower Heads – 2023 Reviews

1. Pureaction Water Softener Shower Head – Best Overall

Despite being one of the most affordable models we tested, the Pureaction water softener shower head delivers top-notch performance, making it our favorite overall. You’ll see the scale disappear when you switch to this shower head because it filters up to 99.9% of iron, heavy metals, calcium, and sediments. But that’s not all. Unlike competitors, the Pureaction showerhead removes chlorine, fluoride, and chloramine.

One of our biggest grievances with many of these water softener heads is that you lose a lot of water pressure when using them. No one wants to take a shower with weak water pressure, making it very difficult to rinse off. Thankfully, the Pureaction maintained full pressure while providing three spray settings.

We would have liked a few more options with our shower spray, but that’s our only gripe with this product. Altogether, it’s a great performer that does exactly what it claims at an affordable price, making it our choice as the best overall water softener showerhead on the market this year.

2. AquaHomeGroup Filtered Shower Head – Premium Choice

While all filters remove substances from your water, the AquaHomeGroup Luxury Filtered Shower Head goes one step further by adding Vitamins C and E to your water. You’ll get reduced levels of chlorine, heavy metals, rust, sand, and sediments when using this purifying showerhead. It’s on the expensive side of the price spectrum, but we think the performance merits the higher price tag.

In our testing, hard water spots disappeared, and the water from this showerhead left skin and hair feeling moist and healthy instead of dry and flaky. The pressure was excellent, and we felt no reduction from the initial water pressure when using it. Ultimately, we think the value provided by the AquaHomeGroup filtered shower head is worth the extra cost.

3. PureAction Shower Head Filter

This vitamin C shower head does more than just filter and softens your shower water. The internal Vitamin C filter cartridge infuses your shower water with healthy vitamins and a soothing citrus scent. Of course, smells are subjective, and not everyone found the scent pleasing. Many of our testers thought it had a very chemical and fruity smell that they felt was unpleasant. Beyond the scent, we did notice a reduction in scale. This showerhead filters iron, heavy metals, chlorine, fluoride, and more.

Some of our testers have pre-existing skin conditions such as eczema. Unfortunately, the additives in the Vitamin C cartridge caused these conditions to flare up in some cases. We think it’s the same thing causing the chemical smell. We like the idea of fortifying the water with vitamins, but not at the cost of skin health. This flaw kept the PureAction Vitamin C filter shower head from climbing further up this list and earning our recommendation.

4. G-Promise Filtered Handheld Shower Head

Billed as a luxury filtered handheld showerhead, the G-Promise fixture features a 10-stage filter. It reduces rust, sediment, chlorine, and heavy metals. Each cartridge lasts for about 6 months before it needs to be replaced. We appreciated having six shower settings, which was more than any other softener showerhead we tested. Of course, the G-Promise is the most expensive one we tested, so they had to earn that price tag somewhere.

Our biggest issue was that the filter leaked after replacing the filter cartridge. We realized the cartridge was clogged and backed up, causing the unit to leak. For such an expensive device, this was an unacceptable flaw. Worse, the showerhead kills your water pressure, making showering a very unpleasant experience. We suggest saving your money and getting a better performance model. For less than the cost of the G-Promise, you can get the top-notch performance of the AquaHomeGroup Luxury Filtered Shower Head that earned our premium recommendation.

5. Culligan  Wall-Mounted Filtered Shower Head

Though it’s more expensive than the model that earned our top recommendation, the Culligan WSH-C125 filtered showerhead was nowhere near as effective at softening the water or removing other substances. The hard water spots we were experiencing without a filtering shower head were only slightly reduced using the Culligan. When we tested for total dissolved solids (TDS), we saw no reduction when using the showerhead. This is especially disheartening when you see just how badly the water pressure is reduced.

Despite all the flaws, the Culligan WSH-C125 has its merits. The filters last 6 months between changes, which is respectable. It’s also very easy to install, and it didn’t leak in our testing. However, since it doesn’t provide soft water at adequate water pressure levels, it doesn’t perform well enough for us to recommend it.

Buyer’s Guide – Choosing the Best Water Softener Shower Head

We’ve discussed some of the best softener showerheads on the market, but what separates these devices? If you’re wondering exactly which traits you should be looking for, this buyer’s guide will help. Before discussing that, let’s talk about why you would even want to get one of these showerheads in the first place.

Benefits of Showering with Soft Water

So why should you invest in soft water for your shower? Hard water has many undesirable characteristics that a water-softening showerhead can solve.

Your Soap Goes Further

Because soap reacts with calcium and magnesium in hard water, it is less effective and requires more soap for the same effect. In soft water, soap lathers better and goes further. There will also be less soap scum left over in your shower when using soft water, which results in less cleanup and maintenance.

It’s Better for Your Hair and Skin

Showering in hard water can make your skin feel dry and flaky. Likewise, your hair will suffer similar consequences, being left dull and dried out. Showering with soft water, however, will leave your skin feeling moist and soft, exactly how most of us would prefer to feel after a shower.

No Scale Left on Shower and Door

If you’re experiencing hard water spots left around your shower, you know how much extra time you must spend cleaning the deposits. Some materials exacerbate this problem, such as tiles and glass shower doors, which magnify the effects of scale. By showering with soft water, you can bypass this problem entirely since you won’t have any scale spots left to clean up.

Your Shower Head Won’t Clog

In locations with hard water, it’s not uncommon for the scale buildup to become significant enough that it clogs the showerhead. You might be able to clean out the deposits and save the fixture, but it may not even be worth the effort. When using a water-softening showerhead, the hard minerals are already neutralized or removed before the water clogs the outlets.

What to Look for in a Water Softener Shower Head

Now that we’ve established all the benefits of showering with soft water over hard water, let’s discuss the traits we want to look for in a water-softening showerhead.

Spray Settings

This is a luxury feature and not critical to the function of the showerhead. However, it’s a feature we think is worth considering since it will limit your shower experience. Some inexpensive models feature just a single spray pattern. There’s nothing wrong with that, but many people would prefer a shower head with several settings to choose from. Some of the ones we tested had three to six spray settings to choose from, including settings like rain, massage, power rain, and water-saving mode.

What Does it Filter?

Most of these devices are water conditioners that work by filtering out the minerals that cause hard water and scale buildup. The best ones will filter out much more than just minerals. Some of our favorites also remove chlorine, iron, heavy metals, fluoride, chloramines, sediment, and more. This is especially nice if your water is heavily treated already and contains high levels of chlorine or other chemicals.

Does it Add Anything to Your Water?

While all of these showerheads will remove unwanted substances from your water, some take things a step further by adding minerals and vitamins back into your shower water. Depending on your point of view, this can be viewed as an upside or a drawback. This is a novel concept that we liked, though sometimes, in practice, it can be taken too far.

We tried a showerhead that added a citrus scent to the water, but it didn’t work out as well as the vitamin fortification. The smell wasn’t pleasing to many of our testers, but others liked it. We don’t recommend purchasing a product with additives since there’s no way to know ahead of time if you’ll like it or not.

Conclusion

Water-softener showerheads are the easiest and least expensive way to shower with soft water that’s better for your skin, hair, and health. With so many available on the market, you need some reviews of the best ones to help you decide which one should have a place in your shower. Hopefully, our reviews have done just that. But to be sure, we will quickly recap our top recommendations so they’re fresh in your mind.

We thought the Pureaction Water Softener Shower Head was the best overall for several reasons. Not only does it remove the hard minerals and soften the water, but it also removes harmful chemicals such as chlorine, fluoride, and chloramine. It does all that without reducing water pressure and has an affordable price. For a premium offering, we recommend the AquaHomeGroup Luxury Filtered Shower Head. It softens and filters your shower water and fortifies your water with vitamins. It won’t reduce your shower pressure but will improve your shower experience. Both of these are excellent products that we feel confident recommending.