Singing in the Rainshow’r
Photo by Silvestre Machado/Getty Images
(Part of my Green This House program.)
I’m usually disinclined to order anything off the Internet these days because of the additional fuel and pollution burden this extra route creates, not to mention the typically unecological packaging the product is embalmed in. (Amazon.com, I’m looking at you.) Yet, possibly at this moment, a low-flow dechlorinating shower head that you can pause mid-lather is trucking its way to us from California—a genius of an attachment that has been on my to-buy radar forever. (I’ve been pretty crummy at conserving water in the shower because I’m loathe to “lose my place” once I’ve found the right delicate balance of hot and cold water, which makes me feel like a giant jerkwad.)
An article in Care2.com section on skin-care also had this to say:
“The chlorine in tap water assaults your skin,” [Kat] James [author of The Truth About Beauty: Transform Your Looks and Your Life From the Inside Out] says. It’s irritating, it causes free radical damage, and it destroys the skin-nourishing vitamin E in your body. “A shower-water purifying filter eliminates chlorine and will give you the biggest skin-care bang for your buck,” she says. “You’ll notice changes in your skin that you couldn’t get with even the most expensive product regimen.”
I e-mailed Rainshow’r, the only company I was able to find that manufactured this mystical low-flow, pausable, dechlorinating wonder, to find out if any retailer in my area sold its products. No dice. I had to go the online route.
Then I came across Green Home Environmental Store, an e-tailer based in California that doesn’t have a brick-and-mortar store, or any physical warehouses it keeps stocked. Instead, any goods you order are shipped directly from the vendors. The rationale behind this is, surprisingly, pretty green, which made me take heart in my decision:
Green Home takes the shipping of its products and the impact that we have on the environment quite seriously. When you order from most companies, the product you receive has been shipped twice—once from the manufacturer to the warehouse, and then again from the warehouse to you—and in many cases three times as it is moved from warehouse to warehouse. Green Home’s products are shipped directly. So although there can be an added environmental cost in having two shipments vs. one, Green Home’s model often cancels out—or improves on—existing wasteful shipping processes. Although more than one package may go to you, we saved on multiple shipments having to arrive at a centralized warehouse, where they would perhaps sit on shelves and need to get thrown out, or sent back. Also, we strongly encourage our drop-shippers to use a minimum of packing materials, and always try to sell our products in as large a grouping as possible.
Plus, Rainshow’r claims its shower head will reduce water usage up to 50 percent, and that’s probably not even taking into account the gallons I’ve been wasting while I soap up. So long, shower guilt, hello purdy skin!
Erica said,
June 22, 2006 at 11:55 pm
Oooh, I look forward to your review of this product once you have a chance to use it. It looks very promising.
lauren said,
June 23, 2006 at 9:06 am
I’m also looking forward to hearing how you like it before I add it to my own “Must Buy” list. :)
meranie said,
June 23, 2006 at 9:13 pm
In the summer, I tend to take completely cold showers. It makes me turn the water off while soaping up and it means less need for other cooling devices. (i hate A/C)
The Worsted Witch » Updates & Miscellany said,
August 14, 2006 at 6:14 pm
[...] Rainshow’r shower head Mentioned previously here, suffice to say, we love it. The hub marvels at the higher water-jet pressure despite the shower head being lower flow (due to its great many pinhole perforations). I love the pause switch that saves gallons of water during lathering, but doesn’t lose your carefully calibrated balance of hot and cold water. Plus, the dechlorinating filter, which is supposed to last six to nine months for a family of four, can be mailed to a company that will recycle it at the end of its life. [...]
The Worsted Witch » It’s Getting Hot in Here: Act Now said,
July 6, 2007 at 10:37 am
[...] 3. Use compact fluorescent light bulbs (CFLs). CFLs use 75 percent less energy, swapping one incandescent bulb for a CFL reduces carbon dioxide by 500 pounds a year; replacing 17 has the equivalent effect of taking one car off the road for a year. And since you’re up there unscrewing things, why not switch to a low-flow shower head, as well? [...]