There are a lot of different shower heads on the market, making what might be a bog-standard shower that little bit fancier. However, most will be geared toward sensation (like this vibrating effort), and not safety. To make sure we're not damaging our skin with a too-hot shower, we check out the Insignia Digital Hand Shower.
If this seems familiar, its because we ran a competition for one of these shower heads just a couple of weeks ago. However, at that time we weren't able to test one for ourselves, but have now spent the past week showering with a far better idea of what is safe. The Insignia Digital Hand Shower screws onto standard shower cable fittings, and, despite lighting up and featuring a digital display, does not require batteries.
You see, this thing is powered by the flow of water through the shower head itself. That means that as soon as you switch on the shower, the Insignia Digita will spring to life, both with lights from within where the jets spray from, and from a digital readout in the centre.
The lights will change from blue, to green, to red, depending on the temperature of the water, and the display will show exactly what that temperature is. The reason for this is very simple; although hot showers can feel exceptionally relaxing, especially in the winter or after a long, hard day, they can be very bad for your skin. Hot water can strip your skin's oil barrier, meaning moisture is easily lost. This causes dry and itchy skin, and also makes you seem unhealthy.
Ideally, the water you shower with shouldn't be any warmer than your core body temperature itself, so about 34 to 37 degrees Celsius. That is why as soon as the temperature reaches 40 degrees, the Insignia Digital Hand Shower's lights will change from green to red as a warning. This you certainly won't miss, so even if you aren't paying attention to the temperature display, you'll notice the colour change and lower the heat.
Apart from that very useful feature, the shower head itself looks great and comes in reflective silver, so will match with most pre-existing showers. Also, the little circular dial below the temperature display will open and close the jets, changing to a more powerful and focused stream.
And after just a week we have noticed a difference. Being able to actually know how hot the water is has meant we've been able to keep it on the cooler side, helping our skin to retain the moisture it needs to stay healthy. Because of it, we no more feel the strange tight-skinned sensation that you get after a piping hot shower, and that is definitely a good thing. Plus, y'know, it looks damn cool.
£37.99
Available from www.amazon.co.uk