Firstwater Filter Catridge
It was never your products. It was your water.
Takes the chlorine out. Keeps the pressure. Opens by hand.
$29.00
2 founding extras included
In stock
Free US shipping · arrives between October 11 and October 13
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Cartridges are $29 when you need one. Autoship is optional, off by default, and cancels in one click.
You're looking at the founding batch: the first 200 heads. Nobody has had one for 60 days yet, so there is nothing to review, and we'd rather show you that than borrow stars. What you get for being early: a second cartridge free, the guarantee counted from the day it arrives rather than the day you order, and a phone number a person answers. Reviews from this batch go up here, unedited, as they come in.
- Firstwater head, brushed nickel, cartridge installed
- Founding cartridge (free), boxed
- Thread tape, two washers, flow restrictor for CA/NY (1.8 gpm fitted; 2.0 gpm supplied)
- Free-chlorine test strips (2) and a test-before-and-after card
- Prepaid return label. Install card. No tools needed.
Three media that work in a hot, fast stream. Calcium sulfite takes out free chlorine and gets faster as the water gets hotter. KDF-55 (copper-zinc) handles heavy metals such as lead and copper, and keeps the cartridge from going sour. Coconut carbon catches the rest, including the smell. Rated 3,000 gallons, about 90 days for a household of two; closer to 60 on very hard water. Independently tested by SGS to the NSF/ANSI 177 method: [__% free-chlorine reduction at rated life · report no. ____].
- Fits any standard ½-inch NPT shower arm (the pipe out of the wall). Not for handheld hoses.
- Flow: 1.8 gpm (CA/NY compliant) · 2.0 gpm restrictor supplied
- Body: stepped brushed-nickel finish, knurled spray ring, 3 spray patterns
- Cartridge: calcium sulfite · KDF-55 · coconut carbon · 3,000 gal / ~90 days
- Tested to the NSF/ANSI 177 method by SGS · report no. [____]
- Weight [__] oz · Face Ø [__] in · Length [__] in
Free shipping in the US, 1–2 business days to leave our warehouse, 3–5 to arrive. 60 days from delivery to decide. If it isn't for you, the return label is already in the box. Full refund, no restocking fee, no questions beyond "how can we do better".
What the people who look at hair and skin all day say
See what a chlorine-free shower does
Their photos, their words. Nothing edited.
The water, by the numbers
What's in a shower before Firstwater, and what comes out after.
of US homes
have hard water, which makes chlorine's stripping effect on skin and hair worse.
Source: U.S. Geological Surveyof chlorine
is what the EPA allows in tap water. Most swimming pools run at 1–3 mg/L.
Sources: EPA MRDL for chlorine · CDC pool guidancefree chlorine removed
by the Firstwater cartridge at rated life, in an independent SGS test to the NSF/ANSI 177 method.
SGS report no. [____] · published in full on this pageFrom $119 · Free US shipping · 60 days from delivery
Why people switch to Firstwater
Example product title
$19.99
Firstwater vs a regular shower head
The other column is the typical plastic head sold for around $30, not a specific brand.
| Firstwater | Regular head | |
|---|---|---|
| Takes out chlorine | Lab tested | Cotton pad |
| Heavy metals and rust | KDF-55 + carbon | |
| Pressure after 30 days | Flow-tested | A trickle |
| Cartridge cap at month 3 | Opens by hand | Seizes |
| Body | Brushed nickel | Plastic |
| Subscription required | Never | No |
| Guarantee | 60 days | 30 days |
| Support | Phone, a person | Email form |
How it works
The easiest upgrade in your routine is the one before your routine.
Four things Firstwater does differently, in the order you'll notice them.
WHAT'S IN YOUR WATER
Every US city adds chlorine. Your skin gets it hot, at full pressure, every day.
Chlorine keeps tap water safe to drink. In a hot shower it strips the oils that keep skin supple and hair smooth. That's the tightness when you towel off, the flakes, the frizz, the colour that fades early.
- Free chlorine out from the first shower
- Lead, copper and rust from old pipes, out with it
- The pool smell goes the same day
INSIDE THE CARTRIDGE
Three media that work at shower temperature. Not cotton.
Most filtered heads under $40 are a cotton disc and coloured beads. They catch grit and do almost nothing to chlorine in hot water. Firstwater uses the three media proven to work in a hot, fast stream.
- Calcium sulfite — fastest medium there is at free chlorine, better as water gets hotter
- KDF-55 — copper-zinc alloy for heavy metals
- Coconut carbon — catches the rest, including the smell
THE HEAD ITSELF
Built like the ones that cost $165. Opens like none of them.
A stepped body in brushed nickel with the weight of a real fixture, not a plastic egg. A knurled ring turns through three spray patterns. And the part nobody else gets right: the cap opens by hand at month three, when limescale has welded every other brand's shut.
- Brushed nickel — matches the taps you own, no fingerprints
- Knurled ring — three sprays, turns wet
- Hand-open cap — 20-second cartridge change, no pliers
PRESSURE
Most filters choke by week four. We tested ours with an old cartridge.
The most common complaint about filtered shower heads is the trickle: the cartridge clogs, the pressure dies, the faceplate blows off. So we don't quote pressure with a fresh cartridge.
- Rated 1.8 gpm, 2.0 gpm restrictor in the box
- Flow at day 30 / 45 / 60 on hard water: [__ / __ / __ gpm]
- No "3× pressure" claims. The physics doesn't allow it, and you'd notice.
Install
Better water in three steps
No tools, no plumber, under three minutes. Everything you need is in the box.
1
Unscrew your old head
By hand, anticlockwise.
2
Twist on Firstwater
Hand-tight is enough. Tilt the ball joint to aim it.
3
Shower
Run it for 30 seconds first. Dip a test strip if you want to see it work.
Try Firstwater for 60 days. The clock starts at your doorstep.
Skin and hair take a few weeks to show it, which is why the guarantee counts from the day it arrives, not the day you order. If it isn't for you, the return label is already in the box. Full refund, no restocking fee.
Free US shipping · 60 days from delivery
Unedited, in their own words
What the founding batch says
Reviews from the first 200 heads go up here as they come in.
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Frequently asked questions
No, and neither does any filtered shower head. Softening means removing calcium and magnesium, which takes a whole-house softener with salt. Firstwater removes chlorine and heavy metals, which is what makes hard-water showers feel harsh on skin and hair. If you're in a hard-water area you'll still feel the difference; you just won't see less limescale on the taps.
It is. A TDS meter counts dissolved minerals. It cannot detect chlorine, and it doesn't see heavy metals at the levels that matter. Calcium sulfite can even nudge the TDS reading up slightly as it works. Use the free-chlorine strips in the box instead: unfiltered water turns the pad; Firstwater water doesn't.
If your current head unscrews from a pipe in the wall, yes. That's the ½-inch NPT shower arm used across the US. It won't fit a handheld hose or a ceiling rain arm without that thread.
It's rated at 1.8 gpm, the California and New York standard, and shipped with a 2.0 gpm restrictor if your state allows it. We publish flow with a used cartridge, not a new one, because that's the shower you'll actually take at week five.
3,000 gallons. For most two-person households that's about 90 days. On very hard water plan on 60. Flow dropping is your signal, and the day-75 reminder email is ours.
No. Cartridges are $29 whenever you want them. Autoship at $25 is a toggle you switch on yourself, pauses or cancels in one click, and only ever ships cartridges, never another head.
Firstwater is tested by SGS, an independent lab, using the NSF/ANSI 177 test method, and we publish the number and the report. We don't call it "NSF certified" because it isn't listed by NSF, and we'd rather show you the test than borrow the badge. The media inside carry their own NSF/ANSI 42 component certifications.
Hardness minerals, fluoride, nitrates and PFAS pass through at shower flow rates. It is not a drinking-water filter. It's for the water that goes on your skin and hair.
Unscrew the cap by hand, lift the old cartridge out, drop the new one in, screw the cap back on. About 20 seconds, no tools. The cap is designed not to seize, even after months of hard water.
Free in the US. Orders leave our warehouse in 1–2 business days and arrive in 3–5. You get a tracking link the moment it ships.
You have 60 days from delivery. Stick the included return label on the box and we refund the lot. Skin and hair take a few weeks to show it, which is why the clock starts when it arrives, not when you order.
Ready to start with the water? Try Firstwater risk-free today.
2 founding extras included
Try Firstwater risk-free todayFrom $119 · Free US shipping · 60 days from delivery