How to choose a shower head: a practical UK guide

To choose a shower head, start with your shower: its type, and whether the head sits on a hose or a fixed arm. Then check flow and pressure, the spray patterns you'll use, the size and weight your holder can take, how easy the head is to clean and what it costs to run.

An electric shower adds one more check, because its manual may allow only the maker's own head. This guide takes each decision in turn, with the checks to make before you buy any head, ours or another.

We sell a handheld filter shower head, so every rule and figure here links to its source.

How to choose a shower head: the short answer

Choosing a shower head is a short run of checks, and the first two decide what will fit before looks come into it. Work through them in this order.

1. Shower type. Electric, mixer, power, pumped or digital. An electric shower's manual may limit which heads it takes.
2. Connection. A handheld head needs a hose outlet; a fixed head screws onto an arm from the wall or ceiling.
3. Flow and pressure. Match the head to your system, because no head adds pressure.
4. Spray patterns. Count the ones you would use, not the number on the box.
5. Size, weight and finish. Check the head against your holder, your space and your cleaning routine.
6. Cleaning. In a hard water area, scale builds up on any head, so choose one you can clean easily.
7. Filter or not, and running costs. A filter head needs replacement cartridges, so add them to the price.

Renting? Ask your landlord before you change anything, get the answer in writing and keep the original head to refit.

What type of shower do you have?

The type of shower you have decides which heads are even an option, so identify it before you compare anything else. Showers in UK homes are usually electric, mixer, power, pumped or digital, and each has its own clues.

Electric showers need the most care, because flow at the outlet affects the temperature. What electric shower manuals say about replacement heads sets out the reason and a five-minute check for your model.

Not sure which you have, or what sits behind it? Our guide to the types of shower in the UK explains gravity-fed and combi systems, pumps and what each shower needs.

Handheld or fixed: what does your connection allow?

A handheld shower head screws onto a flexible hose and rests in a holder or on a riser rail; a fixed head screws onto a rigid arm. The connection you have now decides whether a new head is a simple swap or a bigger job.

• Handheld on a hose: usually the simplest swap. The hose usually unscrews from the outlet by hand, so a new head and hose can go on if the connection matches.
• Fixed head on an arm: another fixed head is usually a like-for-like swap. A handheld one needs a hose outlet first, such as a riser rail kit, which may mean drilling.
• Both: some showers feed an overhead head and a handheld from one valve, with a control to switch between them.

Hose connections and holders vary, so look at yours before you buy. A heavier or differently shaped head may not sit securely in an old holder, and a loose holder lets the head droop or slip.

Hose length matters too. Water Regs UK treats a shower whose hose handset can reach into a toilet bowl or bidet as a fluid category 5 backflow risk. Backflow is used water flowing back into the supply pipes, and this risk needs extra protection unless the hose is permanently restrained or shortened. So a new, longer hose should still leave the head clear of the toilet.

For the everyday differences, from rinsing the bath to seated showering, see handheld and fixed shower heads compared.

Flow and pressure: what matters when choosing a shower head?

Flow and pressure are different things: pressure is the push behind the water, and flow is how much arrives each minute. A shower head shapes the flow your system delivers, but it cannot add pressure the system doesn't have.

Discover Water is backed by Water UK, Ofwat and the Drinking Water Inspectorate, among others. It describes the minimum pressure standard as 10 metres head at a boundary stop tap, with a flow of 9 litres per minute. That is the same as filling a 15-litre bucket in 100 seconds. It adds that some modern heating appliances and showers will not work below certain pressure levels.

For scale, Approved Document G, the building regulations guidance that covers water efficiency in new homes in England, sets a maximum of 10 litres a minute for a shower under its fittings approach. Where a tighter optional target applies, the maximum is 8 litres. That is a design rule for new homes, not a limit on the head you buy.

What to look for

• Low pressure, for example a gravity-fed system with a tank in the loft: choose a head its maker describes as suitable for low pressure, and check any minimum pressure it states. We don't yet state a minimum pressure for Waterhush.
• Mains pressure, for example a combi boiler: pressure is less often the limit, and some heads include a flow restrictor that caps the flow.
• Electric showers: Living Made Easy, the Disabled Living Foundation's advice site, notes that the temperature from an electric shower may fluctuate if the flow is reduced. The manual's rule on heads comes first.

To measure your own flow, time how long the shower takes to fill a bucket of known size. Divide the litres by the seconds and multiply by 60 to get litres a minute, and keep the figure: a plumber or a head's maker may ask for it.

Spray patterns, head size and finish: what makes a difference?

Spray patterns, head size and finish are where shower heads differ most on the shelf, but they matter less than fit and pressure. Choose them for how you shower and clean, not for the longest feature list.

Spray patterns

Many handheld heads offer several spray patterns, changed by turning the face or pressing a switch. More patterns give more choice, not a stronger supply, so count the ones you would use each day. Check too that you can change pattern easily with wet hands.

Head size

A wider face spreads the same flow over a larger area, so the spray can feel gentler, especially at low pressure. A large overhead rainfall head suits a fixed position and a good flow; a compact handheld head is easier to hold, aim and clean.

Materials, finish and weight

Shower heads are commonly made of plastic, often chrome-plated, or of metal, in finishes from polished chrome to matt colours. Weight varies with material and size, so check it against your holder or arm, which has to hold the head without slipping. Whatever the finish, a quick wipe after use keeps water marks down.

How easy will the shower head be to keep clean?

A shower head is easy to keep clean if you can reach its face and wipe the nozzles easily. In a hard water area this matters more, because scale builds up on any head over time.

The Drinking Water Inspectorate (DWI) explains that hardness is dissolved calcium and magnesium, and that water with a hardness of 200 mg/l or more, measured as calcium carbonate, will produce scale. For an accurate figure where you live, it suggests asking your water company, because hardness varies locally.

• Follow the cleaning instructions in the head's leaflet. For Waterhush, follow the leaflet in the box; if in doubt, use warm soapy water and a soft cloth, and rub the rubber nozzles. We don't suggest vinegar, descaler or other acid soaks for the Waterhush head.
• Nozzles you can wipe clean make the routine quicker.
• A handheld head can come down to the basin to be cleaned; a fixed overhead head is cleaned where it hangs.

Waterhush doesn't soften water or stop scale forming in hard water. Softening is a job for a water softener, which changes the water itself.

Do you need a filter shower head, and what should you budget?

A filter shower head makes sense only if you want less free chlorine in your shower water, the job a filter head like ours is designed for. Ours doesn't soften water or stop limescale, and its cartridge needs replacing, which adds to the running cost.

Chlorine is in UK tap water by design. The DWI's guide to chlorine says water companies typically keep the residual disinfectant, as free or combined chlorine, at 0.5 mg/l or less. At the very low levels used, it adds, chlorine is perfectly safe. Wanting less of it in the shower is a preference.

What filter heads contain, what they don't do and how to compare them are covered in our complete guide to filter shower heads in the UK.

What to budget for

• The head: prices vary with material, size and features, so compare like with like.
• Fitting: swapping a handheld head on an existing hose outlet is often a by-hand job if the connection matches; a new rail, outlet or valve may need a plumber.
• Running costs: a plain head needs only cleaning; a filter head needs replacement cartridges on its maker's schedule.

For a filter head, add the kit price to every refill you would buy in a year. Our guide to what a shower filter costs per year sets out the sum line by line.

The Waterhush Shower Kit is one option: a round handheld filter head with 10 spray patterns, numbered 01–10, on a 1.5 m hose. It needs a shower with a hose outlet, and its thread size isn't confirmed yet, so contact us if you're unsure it will fit. It is not for electric showers unless your shower's manufacturer confirms in writing that a filter head can be fitted to your model. Waterhush reduces free chlorine; that is the one claim we make.

Is it right for your shower? Check in three questions.

What this guide can't tell you

What this guide can't tell you is how a particular head will work in your bathroom. It can't see your outlet, holder, pressure or manual, and those decide more than any feature list.

• Your manual comes first. If it conflicts with a guide or a product page, follow the manual.
• Our own kit: we don't yet have a confirmed thread size, minimum pressure or flow figure for the Waterhush head, so contact us before you buy if you're unsure it will fit.
• Electric showers: our kit is not for electric showers unless your shower's manufacturer confirms in writing that a filter head can be fitted to your model.

If a plumber installed or services your shower, ask them what it will take before you order anything.

The bottom line

Choosing a shower head starts with your shower, not the catalogue: its type, connection and manual set the shortlist. Then match the head to your pressure, the spray patterns you'll use, your holder and your cleaning routine, and add cartridge costs if you want a filter. The main limit: only your shower's manual can confirm what it takes. Next step: check your shower type and connection before you compare heads.