Is Your Shower Bad for Your Skin?

The simple solution: You might need a water filter

Michelle Mastro,

AARP

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Published April 09, 2026

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Key takeaways

Chlorine in tap water can irritate skin and worsen dryness, especially as skin thins with age.
A small, relatively inexpensive filter can reduce irritants that affect skin and hair.
Experts say certified, multistage filters with activated carbon work better than basic materials.

Martina Stiefel, 64, has always had sensitive skin, chronic dryness and thin hair — conditions that were only made worse by her shower. The culprit: the chlorine in her Indiana tap water.

“Chlorine is commonly added by municipal water treatment systems to help treat the water and minimize microbial growth while the water is transported to homes,” says Kyle Postmus, senior manager at the National Sanitation Foundation (NSF). Chlorine can also be an irritant.

The simple solution is one homeowners with hard water, or water high in minerals, have long known about. Stiefel attached a water filter to her showerhead. “I’ve noticed a huge change in my skin’s dryness,” she says, “and my hair is coming in thicker.”

A filter typically costs less than $100 and either fits behind or replaces the showerhead. Experts say it can be especially beneficial to older people. “As we age, our skin naturally produces less oil and becomes thinner and more prone to dryness,” says Dr. Geeta Yadav, founder of Facet Dermatology in Toronto. Some chemicals and minerals can break down your skin’s moisture barrier, leading to dryness and conditions such as eczema and psoriasis.

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Emmanuel Mroczka, owner of Jeffrey Paul’s Hair & Scalp Specialists in Cleveland, says he’s seen the benefits of shower filters on his older clients’ scalp health and, by extension, their hair quality. “When those irritants are removed, we see fewer issues with flaking, itchiness and hair that feels brittle or dull,” he says. “The difference in scalp comfort and hair manageability is often immediate.”

Shopping for a shower filter

Look for one that uses activated carbon, which is made with millions of tiny holes to catch contaminants. Kathy Park, vice president of operations at Weddell Water, a shower filter manufacturer, says that activated carbon can pull out all kinds of contaminants from tap water, including chlorine and PFAS (human-made chemicals commonly referred to as “forever chemicals”). Don’t buy a filter that relies on steel mesh, sand or microporous cotton, says Ngai Yin Yip, associate professor of earth and environmental engineering at Columbia University. His research published in the Journal of Environmental Engineering Science found those materials to be ineffective.
Get a model with two or more cartridge filters. A single cartridge filter won’t provide enough mineral or contaminant absorption, Park says. Those with at least a two-stage filter sequence filter the water more than once.
Check the packaging or manufacturer’s website to make sure the filter is certified to NSF/ANSI 177 standards, Postmus says. “Certification for shower filters assures consumers that the filter effectively removes chlorine from the water,” he says. Or you can check NSF product and service listings for more information on specific shower filters.
Review the product’s website or packaging to see if it removes PFAS and if this claim has been independently verified by an accredited third-party laboratory. The NSF does not test shower filters for this type of contaminant removal.
Watch out for products boasting health benefits that seem brazen or bizarre, says Yin Yip, such as improved sleep quality or calmed nerve centers. Instead, focus on substantiated claims that cover improved hair or skin health, as these are most likely to be verifiable. “Research on shower filters and skin or hair health is still emerging,” says Yadav, “but we know that water pH, chlorine levels and mineral content all influence how the skin barrier functions.”