Purifying my Shower Water

I just bought a really expensive Brita filter for my shower. Well, a Jonathan Product Shower purification system, and it wasn’t really that expensive since I bought it from the Bath & Body Works semi-annual sale for 75% off. But basically, it’s just a filter for your shower water.

This purchase is part of my obsession for improving my well-being. Just like Brita, it eliminates metals and chlorine and other harsh chemicals from your water. Jonathan goes one step further to replace the heavy metals with healthy potassium ions to balance pH and pre-condition the water with neutralizing oxidants. Supposedly, showering and washing your hair with pure water will soften hair and skin, and helps preserve hair color. I will have to try it before I can testify that claim.

Upon speculation, it might work. Typically, we shower in hot water, thus opening the pores on our skin and our hair cuticles. They become more vulnerable to its surrounding environment and moisture loss will also occur.

When you go to salons to color your hair, they usually apply hair softeners to open up the cuticles for more effective penetration of the coloring. Chlorine is a bleaching agent, so following logic, removing chlorine helps preserve hair color. Metals and other harsh chemicals can get trapped in the hair shaft preventing the cuticles from closing properly, thus moisture will be lost causing hair to be dull. On a side note, there is a test to determine if your cuticles are healthy or not.

I don’t know what this whole business of “pre-conditioning the water with neutralizing oxidants” and adding “healthy potassium ions to balance pH” is about. According to a homemade experiment done by some homebrewers, the pH of tap water and Brita filtered water is ~8.0 and ~5.5, respectively. Human skin has a pH value between 4.5 and 6. The results of this experiment are pretty interesting. You can see the full results here.

Depending on where you live, water quality varies. Water in polluted areas may contain Volatile organic compounds, or VOCs. VOCs are gases or vapors emitted by various solids or liquids. Inhaling these gases may have adverse health effects.

I still can’t determine if this was a good buy or if I just got suckered into their marketing scheme.