This ShowerClear Design Fixes the Mold Problem All Showerheads Have

There is an inherent problem with the design of shower heads. Not some of them, all of them. The problem is that their very design creates the ideal circumstances for mold to thrive within them, internally, in areas that you cannot access for cleaning.A bathtub faucet or kitchen sink tap is simply just a shaped pipe that allows water to flow through them. When you turn the water off, the pipe mouths quickly dry, thanks to their relatively wide shape and local airflow.Showerheads, however, are complex workings of intricate inner channels and nozzles, designed to break the water flow into spray patterns that end users find desirable. These channels are all inside the showerhead and get little airflow. The channels can never really dry out completely, and over time, that interal dampness allows bacteria and mold—including the dreaded black mold--to thrive. In this shot of a showerhead that has been cut open by a saw, a lot of what you see is the detritus of the cut plastic, but you can also see the brown stuff. And deeper inside the head, you find this: The mother of Steve Sunshine, an inventor, was suffering from respiratory issues. Sunshine disassembled her showerhead and found it was filled with mold. He subsequently designed this ShowerClear: This ingenious design pops open, so that after a shower you can let the shower head's innards dry out. It also makes it easy to clean, so you can eliminate mineral build-up. (This eliminates the mild hassle that many of us undertake to clean our showerheads, which is soaking them in a vessel filled with vinegar for a few hours.) The ShowerClear heads come in a variety of finishes and run $140.

Jun 14, 2025 - 01:55

This ShowerClear Design Fixes the Mold Problem All Showerheads Have

There is an inherent problem with the design of shower heads. Not some of them, all of them. The problem is that their very design creates the ideal circumstances for mold to thrive within them, internally, in areas that you cannot access for cleaning.

A bathtub faucet or kitchen sink tap is simply just a shaped pipe that allows water to flow through them. When you turn the water off, the pipe mouths quickly dry, thanks to their relatively wide shape and local airflow.

Showerheads, however, are complex workings of intricate inner channels and nozzles, designed to break the water flow into spray patterns that end users find desirable.

These channels are all inside the showerhead and get little airflow.

The channels can never really dry out completely, and over time, that interal dampness allows bacteria and mold—including the dreaded black mold--to thrive. In this shot of a showerhead that has been cut open by a saw, a lot of what you see is the detritus of the cut plastic, but you can also see the brown stuff.

And deeper inside the head, you find this:

The mother of Steve Sunshine, an inventor, was suffering from respiratory issues. Sunshine disassembled her showerhead and found it was filled with mold. He subsequently designed this ShowerClear:

This ingenious design pops open, so that after a shower you can let the shower head's innards dry out. It also makes it easy to clean, so you can eliminate mineral build-up. (This eliminates the mild hassle that many of us undertake to clean our showerheads, which is soaking them in a vessel filled with vinegar for a few hours.)

The ShowerClear heads come in a variety of finishes and run $140.