Well, you heard it here first folks (assuming you did hear it here first), shower filters are a thing.
Earlier this week I posted about our shower filter arriving (as I welcomed it into my home as if it were a child the stork left on my porch) and the response on Instagram was basically a whole bunch of people very bewildered that a shower filter was even something to consider on a journey to improved health.
And I'll tell you something; I felt similarly. But upon further inspection, it just makes sense. We know, at present, our water and air are heavily polluted with pathogenic bacteria, pesticides, hormones, chemicals, heavy metals and microplastics, so how could filtering our water only apply to drinking water? Whether we (or our dogs) bathe in water, drink it or wash our produce with it and then consume that produce, we're absorbing the water and everything in it.
Our (and our dogs') skin is our largest organ and soaks up everything we put on it so, while filtering your drinking water is great, it's only a portion of the water you actually take in.
And while this is slightly more important for the hoo-mans who shower far more frequently than their fur babies (at least I hope that's the case), this still applies to them. Our water source is heavily laden with chlorine which "has a very low boiling point and vaporizes quickly in hot water. This causes the steam in the shower to become concentrated with as much as 20 times the level of chlorine that’s coming out of the tap and is being inhaled directly into the lungs.
Most concerning is that unlike drinking chlorinated water, both inhalation and absorption allow the chemicals to go directly to the bloodstream bypassing the body’s natural filtration systems (the kidney and liver)."- Ethicalh2o
The good news (FINALLY!) is that purchasing a quality shower filter is a relatively low initial cost and even lower to maintain. You change the filter once a year and voila, clean water you don't have to worry is cleaning you and your pooch and silently trying to kill you at the same time.
Check out Berkey Filters in Canada or Crystal Quest in the states and bathe easy.