Best showerhead for 2021 – CNET [CNET]

When it comes to starting off your day on the right foot, a good showerhead can make all the difference in the world. If I’m feeling groggy in the morning, need to relax after a workout, or if I’m trying to get a boost of energy midday, a hot shower tends to be the solution to a lot of what ails me. On the other hand, a bad shower can leave me feeling grouchier than when I started — especially if the water pressure is weak or the spray pattern provides disappointing coverage.

It can be a tall order to find the best showerhead, but a great one can transform your bathing experience. You can find dozens of options at online retailers and hardware stores. Most look similar and many offer the same general combination of features — which may include a full-coverage rain shower setting or a narrower, more intense massage stream with a very robust flow rate.

The price, finish and materials can vary wildly, and you can also look for a showerhead with a lower gallons-per-minute rating if you’d like to save water. You can get a fixed showerhead, which is attached to the wall, or one that includes a handheld sprayer. There are also showerheads that offer a wider variety of spray pattern settings (you don’t have to be limited to a rainfall shower head if you want to switch your spray setting).

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After testing a wide variety of showerheads, the following models rose to the top as the best showerheads. Each one features easy and noninvasive installs — which was important for my rented apartment. All are reasonably priced between $50 and $200. All are relatively efficient with water — with ratings between 1.5 and 2.5 gpm. Otherwise, all of the showerheads I tested are highly regarded in terms of both customer and industry reviews. 

If you’re looking for an affordable showerhead that you can install yourself, here are my picks for the best options you can find. I update this periodically and just added Kohler’s unique Moxie Showerhead to the list. Once you make your purchase, here’s a guide to installing a showerhead yourself, and here’s how to keep your showerhead clean. 

Honorable mentions

Kohler Forte 22169: Kohler’s $75 showerhead provides nice coverage. The main setting strikes the necessary balance between feeling firm but relaxing. You can easily switch to a concentrated massage mode or a fine mist. Overall, it’s a solid, well-balanced fixed showerhead option that you should consider if you like the look or the brand. It even saves water with a 1.75 gpm rating. It simply didn’t stand out as much as the ones above and the concentrated massage stream is too narrow to be useful. 

Delta In2ition Two-in-One: This $133 Delta showerhead features a clever adjustable showerhead design in which a handheld shower is nested within the main showerhead. The main shower provides the full coverage option, and the handheld shower offers a more intense stream. You can also run both the main and handheld shower at once, though the water pressure expectedly dips a bit, and I’m not a fan of low water pressure. The handheld showerhead easily pulls free or you can leave the shower arm in place for a stationary massage stream. All of the settings are functional but the main coverage option is a little too weak for my tastes. The main showerhead is also a little hard to pivot. That’s definitely a minor nitpick. This is a competent shower that’s worth your consideration but the little drawbacks took away just enough to prevent it from ranking higher for me. 

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Not recommended

Speakman S-2252-E175: None of the showers I tested were outright bad, but this $85 model from Speakman doesn’t have a strong enough stream for my tastes. The main mode is fine if underwhelming. The alternate nozzle setting basically just lets water pour straight out without any added water pressure or water flow at all. Overall it was a low water pressure shower experience.

Culligan WSH-C125: This affordable $36 model from Culligan includes a shower filter and has a bunch of different settings. Changing between the nozzle settings is a pain. The main shower works well enough, but none of the alternate modes are inspiring. Again, this is a competent bathroom shower, but you have plenty of better options.

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Testing and cleaning

I’ve taken a lot of showers over the past couple of weeks. When testing a showerhead system, I look at a lot of factors: The diameter of the face, the gallons-per-minute output, the number of settings, the materials, the design and more. We also run an anecdotal test on the water flow, water pressure and power of the spray pattern with dried egg yolk. More than anything, though, I showered and noted how each shower experience felt.

I leave each model installed for a couple of days so I can take a variety of showers. During the first shower with a new shower system, I’m paying close attention to each spray pattern and how they feel, but I also want to shower when I’m not thinking about it as much. With each model, I shower when I’m groggy in the morning and do a post-workout shower to cool down. 

After every shower, I take notes on the shower experience. Was it firm, relaxing or both? Was the showering experience intense enough to get the soap and shampoo off quickly or did I have to change settings? Is it easy to change settings? 

For the egg test, I brushed egg yolk onto a cutting board and let it dry for 24 hours. Then I held the board 20 inches from the showerhead while it ran for 10 seconds and noted how much yolk was removed. I ran this test for each setting on each showerhead. Most only removed a little yolk if any, but a few settings proved weaker or stronger relative to the rest.

Different showers check different boxes, but at the end of the day, what mattered most to me was the actual showering experience. None of the models I tested were terrible, but a few rose above the rest and cleaned up the competition.

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