What Is It & How Does It Get Into Water?

Chlorine is a chemical disinfectant added to municipal water supplies to kill bacteria and pathogens. While essential for safe drinking water, chlorine doesn't distinguish between harmful microbes and your skin and hair.

Water treatment plants add chlorine at 0.5-4.0 ppm. Residual chlorine reaching your shower typically ranges 0.2-2.0 ppm — enough to cause noticeable effects on skin and hair.

Health Effects From Shower Exposure

• Skin absorption: Your skin absorbs chlorine during a 10-minute shower — research suggests more chlorine than drinking 8 glasses of the same water
• Inhalation: Hot showers vaporize chlorine into gas. In an enclosed shower, you inhale chloroform and other volatile byproducts
• Skin barrier damage: Chlorine strips the lipid layer protecting your skin, causing dryness, irritation, and sensitivity
• Hair damage: Chlorine breaks disulfide bonds in keratin, causing dryness, frizz, and color fading
• Microbiome disruption: Chlorine kills beneficial skin bacteria, potentially contributing to eczema and acne

Regulatory Standards & Health Guidelines

Filtration Methods That Remove It

How Afina Shower Filtration Can Help

Afina's multi-stage filtration system uses activated carbon and KDF-55 media to reduce chlorine, heavy metals, and other contaminants — helping protect your skin, hair, and overall health.

Cities Most Affected

While this contaminant can be found in water systems nationwide, these areas tend to have higher levels:

• Los Angeles, CA
• Houston, TX
• Phoenix, AZ
• Jacksonville, FL
• Las Vegas, NV

Check your local water quality at the EWG Tap Water Database by entering your zip code.

Related Reading

• color-treated hair fading from shower water
• why your shower smells like chlorine
• water quality in Houston, Texas
• water quality in Phoenix, Arizona
• water quality in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania