Heads up, folks. If you're not using a shower filter, your daily shower includes chemicals, toxins, chlorine and heavy metals. The chlorine in most municipal water systems can form carcinogenic compounds, such as trihalomethanes and chloroform. If you can't pronounce it, you probably don't want it on your skin. The pipes that carry the water many miles to your house are typically not clean and are full of heavy metals from things like solder joints.
Furthermore, these volatile organic compounds (VOC's) vaporize in a hot shower so you are inhaling chemicals during your shower, too! They vaporize at a much faster rate than the water itself, meaning the steam in a shower has a much higher concentration of chemicals than the actual water. Chemicals that are inhaled make their way into the bloodstream faster than ingested chemicals, because they don't go through the digestion process.
You're probably asking yourself, how much chlorine could be in the water? Tap water often contains at least as much, if not more, chlorine than what you'll find in most swimming pools. You can absorb more chlorine through your skin and lungs in one shower than you'd get in all the tap water you could drink in a day. Skin pores widen while showering, practically welcoming dermal absorption of chemicals. Chlorine not only dries your skin and hair and causes fatigue, studies show that long-term exposure is linked to increased risk of asthma, bronchitis, miscarriage and various cancers. Women with breast cancer all showed at least 50 percent more chlorine in their breast tissue than women without cancer.
Using a shower filter is one of the easiest and most effective ways to reduce harmful exposure to chemicals. A chlorine-free shower makes your skin softer, healthier, and younger looking. There'll be no more skin rashes and wrinkles will diminish. You'll also have less fatigue, and the air in your house will be cleaner. Hair is able to preserve its natural moisturizing oils, so it will become softer and healthier when chlorine is removed from shower water.
Start using a shower filter as part of your skin care routine now and reap the benefits of overall better health for years to come.
Katrina Price is a nine-year veteran of the skin care and cosmetics industry. Her website is located at
http://www.skincareteacher.comand contains information on various topics related to beauty.
