Shower Filters that Remove Chlorine

I am very sensitive to chlorine. If I take a shower or bathe in chlorinated water, it gives me nausea and makes me extremely tired. I have found that shower filters remove a lot of the chlorine from the water. Recently, I discovered that if I attached two shower filters, even more chlorine is removed from the water:

If one filter removes 90% of the chlorine from the water that passes through it, then two shower filters should remove 99% of the chlorine. Of course, I'm not sure exactly how much chlorine is actually removed by the combination of two shower filters, but I have noticed a definite improvement in my symptoms. I purchased two shower filters from Amazon.com that use KDF-55 media to remove chlorine from the water:



After the filters were delivered, I put them through the dishwasher to remove any chemicals. Also, because two shower filters makes the shower head lower, you may need to raise the level of your shower head with an attachment. See this site for how to raise the shower head: http://www.instructables.com/id/Raise-Your-Shower-Head-in-5-Minutes/.

The Wikipedia article on KDF-55 explains what it is:

KDF water filtration media is a high-purity alloy of both copper and zinc, used in a flaked or granulated particulate form. Usually appearing gold or brass in colour. . . . KDF is known to kill algae and fungi, control bacteria growth, remove chlorine, pesticides, organic matter, rust, unpleasant taste and odour, hydrogen sulfide, iron, lead, nickel, chromium, cadmium, calcium, aluminium, mercury, arsenic, and other organic compounds. . . .KDF water filtration media utilize the principle of electrochemical oxidation reduction, more commonly known to the population as the redox process (Redox reaction) to eliminate a vast number of water contaminants.[1]

KDF-55 media will not remove chloramine from the water so it is important to find out whether your water is treated with chlorine or chloramine, or neither (if you're really lucky).

Whole house filters

If you want to remove chlorine from the water in your entire house, and not just from the water in the shower, you might try a whole house carbon filter. I personally cannot tolerate carbon filters, as they trigger my arthritis symptoms and make my skin burn. We had a whole house carbon filter installed and it cost about $150 to install it, and $300 per year to replace the tank with one that has fresh carbon. KDF media can also be added to the tank of carbon. Alternatively, if you cannot handle the carbon, you could use KDF media without carbon in a whole house system. KDF media is expensive, and I noticed that one site recommended adding 10 to 15 pounds of KDF media to a carbon tank. Ten pounds of KDF media would cost about $100 or more.

Gravel or some other substance could be added to the bottom of the tank so that the water does not bypass the KDF media.

I have also heard of an individual sensitive to chlorine who installed a whole house reverse osmosis (RO) filter to remove chlorine. However there are some downsides to whole house RO filters (see here), including the following:

• They remove minerals from the water and make the water more acidic.
• A lot of water is wasted.
• They filter very slowly.
• The systems are expensive.

I realized I was sensitive to chlorine more than two years before I developed full blown chemical sensitivity. I went swimming in a chlorinated pool and it gave me nausea and made me extremely tired. This is also how I feel when I bathe or shower in chlorinated water but to a lesser extent (the concentration of chlorine is much less in municipal water than in a swimming pool). While I was shopping for shower filters that remove chlorine from the water, I also came across filters that use vitamin C to remove chlorine. I have not personally tried those, however.
I have found that vitamin C is effective at removing chlorine from bathwater (use 2000 mg of vitamin C per bath).

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[1] Kdf-55, Wikipedia, available at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kdf-55 (accessed 05/06.13).