# Where can I find a good water softening shower head?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-can-i-find-a-good-water-softening-shower-head/412650>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [July 21, 2007, 8:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-can-i-find-a-good-water-softening-shower-head/412650 "2007-07-21T08:47:19Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Dunawake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/85f322/32.png) [@Dunawake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dunawake)\
**Post date:** [July 21, 2007, 8:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-can-i-find-a-good-water-softening-shower-head/412650/1 "2007-07-21T08:47:19Z")

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The water in my area has the bad tendency to really, really dry out my skin - my face in particular. I’m in a rented apartment so I don’t have the option of putting in a “real” water softener, so I’m wondering if anyone knows of any good products that can do the softening right at the shower head?

If anybody has actual, real-world experience with one of these, that would be even better.

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**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\
**Post date:** [July 21, 2007, 8:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-can-i-find-a-good-water-softening-shower-head/412650/2 "2007-07-21T08:58:54Z")

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I just bought one (cheap) from Target, it has a filter to take out chlorine and stuff. I haven’t installed it yet.

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**Author:** ![Bill\_Door](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/50afbb/32.png) [@Bill\_Door](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bill_Door)\
**Post date:** [July 21, 2007, 1:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-can-i-find-a-good-water-softening-shower-head/412650/3 "2007-07-21T13:29:24Z")

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I’d be surprised if such a thing was available. Water softening uses an ion-exchange medium to replace calcium and magnesium cations with sodium or potassium. The sodium or potassium in the media is exhausted by use, so has to be regenerated on a regular basis by displacing the bound calcium and magnesium with a concentrated salt solution. The process for doing this is pretty darn complicated for a simple shower head device.

You can get filters to take out particles, and activated carbon filters for things like chlorine and other organics, as well as metals.