Best Beauty, Hair, and Health Investment!

I’ve heard all of the above said about my latest purchase. And no, I'm not getting commission (though maybe I should).

I thought I was late in the game on shower filters, but apparently not because when I needed advice on which one to choose, everyone looked at me blankly.

So, why a shower filter? I think the health stuff is more important, and it’s what drew me in, BUT we’ll start with the beauty perks, then the health, and then the explanation. I was pleasantly surprised by the beauty perks as I did my research on which filter to buy. I had read an article about fluoride in water and how you absorb more tap water chemicals into your body during a 10 minute shower than you do from drinking 8 glasses of tap water, and immediately started researching shower filters. In the process, here are the beauty perks that came up:

BEAUTY-

-One of the biggest issues with tap water showers is chlorine, and shower filters get rid of chlorine. Chlorine strips the natural protective oils from your skin and hair causing excess drying. Dry skin= aging. Dry hair= damage. And if you have dyed hair makes your color fade.

-The good shower filters guarantee you softer skin and hair in one week. And have a 90 day money back guarantee.

-Voted "Product of the Year" by Cosmetology Today Magazine. (the Aquasana filter).

- "The AQ-4100 Aquasana Shower Filter a truly amazing product, offers dramatic health & cosmetic benefits."

-L.A. Times honest review: “My hair is lustrous, full bodied, glossy. My skin is smoother and my eyes clearer… An absolutely smashing product.” http://www.latimes.com/features/la-hm-majordomo28-2009mar28,0,3783853.story


-Dr. Oz on Oprah: Best thing you can do for your hair- get a shower filter: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FWRau8LAfD8


-And there are tons of reviews stating the above over and over. Fitness and beauty sites and blogs, etc. Here’s the last one I clicked on as a sample of how much people appear to love these filters:
http://www.beautystat.com/site/hair/review-jonathan-product-beauty-water-shower-purification-system/


-Another example which I thought was interesting because it wasn't directly about filters. People were reviewing a beauty book on Amazon mentioning how effective the shower filter beauty tip given in the book (first 2 reviews are the ones I read): http://www.amazon.com/Truth-About-Beauty-Transform-Inside/dp/1582701008


So I got pretty excited about my filter. This was all on top of the health stuff.


HEALTH:

-Dr. Oz short clip on some of the stuff below w/some tips: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bjgHqkP4_sk


- You can easily absorb as many toxins in one shower as you would by drinking tap water all week long. (all this below is cut and pasted from mercola.com articles. It’s in a lot of other places, but it was just easier to go there).

-American Journal of Public Health- up to 2/3 of harmful chlorine exposure can be due to skin absorption and inhalation while showering.

-Studies show that after a 10-minute shower in chlorinated water, your blood levels of THMs (common disinfection byproduct – DBP) can potentially increase by as much as a staggering 700%.


Wait, why is chlorine dangerous?

- A study published in the Journal of Environmental Sciences last year found that swimming in a chlorinated pool presented an unacceptable cancer risk.

- Some of the most common disinfection byproducts that form from the reaction of chlorine and organic matter are trihalomethanes (THMs). THMs are classified as Cancer Group B carcinogens… meaning they’ve been shown to cause cancer in laboratory animals.

-American Journal of Public Health – Linked chlorine absorption and inhalation exposure to increased cancer, asthma, and skin irritation risks.

-U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) – When chlorine vaporizes in steam in your shower, it converts to chloroform gas. Chloroform can be a strong respiratory irritant and cause fatigue.


But why doesn’t the chlorinated water just bounce off your body and go down the drain?

The problem is… a hot steamy shower…
-Triggers your skin pores to open, which in turn…
-Spikes a high absorption rate of chlorine and other chemicals directly into your system and…
-Helps create a ‘free pass’ of foreign chemicals into your body fluids and bloodstream – unlike drinking tap water where your digestive processes at least get a chance to filter out some of the harmful contaminants.

The other issue most people don't think about in that hot, steamy shower they enjoy so much… is inhalation.

-Dangerous chemical vapors quickly form in the hot, steamy environment – 70% to 90% of the chemicals in your shower water vaporize before the water ever hits the shower floor.


*Just found some more stuff: “The American Journal Of Public Health, in 1992, published the results of a ten-year study that showed how chlorine in our water caused significant increases in certain types of cancer. The study proved that up to 2/3 of our harmful exposure comes from inhalation of steam while showering. The U.S. EPA recently released a report saying, “Virtually every home in America has a detectable level of chloroform gas in the air due to chlorine and showering.” The National Breast Cancer Fund has published many recent reports on the “Chlorine Connection”, and has documented that the one common factor among women with breast cancer is that they all have 50 to 60% higher levels of chlorine byproducts in their breast tissue than women without breast cancer."

-And aside from just chlorine… Apparently a Ralph Nader study found 2100 toxic chemicals in tap water. ( http://www.aquasanastore.com/water-facts_b05.html ). Being a healer/serious meditator, I can be sensitive to toxic chemicals (I don't even drink coffee), so I was immediately all about getting a shower filter.


SO WHICH FILTER?

I was pretty confused at first. I mean with 2100 toxic chemicals… I spent some time doing research and in the end, for myself, I narrowed it down to Aquasana or Jonathan’s Beauty Water, and ultimately chose Aquasana. I spent a lot of time because I wanted one that filtered out fluoride too, since that’s what had originally triggered my shower filter search. But apparently the fluoride is dangerous thing being confirmed is pretty new so most shower filters don’t filter it out. And I read somewhere that fluoride isn’t as easily absorbed in the shower as chlorine. I only really found one shower filter that eliminated Fluoride and it looked a little questionable, so in the end I decided to nix my fluoride criteria.

Once I got rid of the fluoride criteria, I easily narrowed it down to Aquasana or Jonathans.

Here is a nice little comparison table you might want to look at if you’re thinking of purchasing a shower filter:
http://www.waterfiltercomparisons.com/shower_filter_comparison.php


So, Jonathan’s seems to perform the best since it gets rid of more lead and copper than Aquasana…. BUT Aquasana seemed to be certified by more boards and be more established.

They’ve both been rated Consumer Digest “Best Buys” for multiple years though and product reviews for both are really great across the board. Really my final decision was kind of arbitrary. I didn’t what the guy that makes my hair styling products to make my water filter. *shrugs* And Aquasana had all this as an established water filter company:

“The Aquasana filtration system meets all of the qualifications of a high quality filter: it is certified by the California Department of Health, it removes all of the above contaminants and impurities, and it leaves all of the natural trace elements so you are guaranteed pure, healthy drinking water.
Aquasana is consistently rated the #1 home water filtration system in America, and was rated a 2003-2008 Consumer Digest Best Buy. One of the most important elements is California Certification. The California Department of Health has the strictest criteria for certifying water filters, ensuring maximum performance and efficiency.”

Also, Aquasana is cheaper and you only have to replace the filter every 6 months whereas the Jonathan filter said 3-6 months. It’s also the one installed in most top spas (I can't find the link to where I read that now, but it was by someone on Team Jonathan, which made me feel like it was reliable).

So, I went with Aquasana. Definitely feel free to explore since there are quite a lot of shower filters out there. I just wanted to give a little starting point since I got confused by all the options when I first dived in.



I also want to include a longer clip of the Dr. Oz show where he gives tips more tips on water, for those who want more info or who can’t buy a filter at the moment:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8i6HQCNe-aA


I had already gone to my water company’s website to look at all the stuff in my water when I saw this (I got pretty enthralled while researching filters- I'M easily absorbed). So you don’t even need to write in to get the report. Many water companies post their reports online. And if you’re interested in that kind of stuff, you can also visit www.epa.gov to check out info on water and pollution in your area.

Hehe, and I even found a nice, little, easy “Green Tip” while playing on there: “Refuel cars and trucks after dusk,when emissions are less likely to produce ozone.” I can totally do that. :-D