Consultation
The shower & bath consultation
Most households filter their drinking water. Almost none filter their bath or shower water. And yet for many people, shower exposure to chlorine and chloramine is higher than drinking exposure, because heat and steam change the equation entirely.
What hot water does to chlorine
Municipal water is treated with chlorine or chloramine to keep it safe through the distribution system. By the time water reaches your tap, those disinfectants have done their job. The problem is what happens next.
Hot shower water volatilises chlorine and chloramine into vapour. In an enclosed shower, that vapour is inhaled for the full length of the shower and absorbed through skin that has been opened by heat. For someone who showers daily, this is a daily cumulative exposure—one that filtered drinking water does nothing to address.
Dechlorination at the point of entry removes these compounds before they volatilise. No whole-home system required.
The Anespa DX
The Enagic Anespa DX is an inline shower and bath system. It installs on the water supply line feeding your shower or bath, not at the showerhead, and processes the water before it reaches you.
It does two things:
Removes chlorine and chloramines
Through a two-stage cartridge combining activated carbon and ceramic filtration. Both compounds are removed before the water is heated and volatilised.
Remineralises
Through a Futamata hot spring ceramic cartridge, the same stone used in Japanese onsen (hot spring) therapy. The output is mildly alkaline (pH ~7.5–8.0) and soft, with the slightly mineralised quality of natural spring water rather than treated municipal supply.
The external cartridge is replaced annually. The internal Futamata ceramic cartridge lasts approximately 3 years.
~$3,420 USD · Annual external cartridge ~$120
Who benefits
Eczema and sensitive skin
Chlorinated water is a documented aggravant for eczema. Dechlorinated, slightly alkaline water matches the skin's natural barrier (pH 4.5–5.5) more closely than heavily treated municipal supply. Many eczema-affected households report meaningful improvement within weeks. More in the Anespa DX review.
Hair health
Chlorine strips natural oils from hair, contributing to dryness, breakage, and colour fade in treated hair. Filtered shower water is measurably gentler. The slightly soft, mineralised Anespa output is closer to what water from a natural spring feels like on hair.
Athletes
Daily training means daily showering. Reducing cumulative chlorine exposure is a marginal gain that compounds over time, particularly relevant for skin integrity in swimmers and daily trainers.
Parents bathing young children
Children's skin absorbs proportionally more relative to body weight than adult skin. Bath water dechlorination is low-cost relative to the Anespa's total value and high-impact for this specific use.
Anyone who showers in heavily chlorinated municipal water
You can usually tell: shower water that smells faintly of pool, hair that feels stripped after washing, skin that feels tight after a hot shower. These are chlorine signals. The WaterHealthCheck report shows the chlorine disinfectant levels in your specific municipal supply.
The shower consultation
The shower and bath consultation covers your local water treatment data (chlorine vs chloramine—the Anespa addresses both, but the distinction matters for understanding your exposure), your household composition, and whether the Anespa DX is the right fit versus a simpler showerhead filter for your situation.
We sell the Anespa DX as an authorised Enagic distributor. If a basic showerhead carbon filter does the job for your household, we'll say that; it costs a fraction of the Anespa and addresses chlorine adequately for households without skin conditions or specific skin health goals.