Wash day — the two words guaranteed to spike your blood pressure. I’ll do anything to extend my wash days and save my arms from going numb from what feels like hours of washing and drying. I’ve tried everything from shower caps to adjustable shower heads, but I can’t say any of them provide a relaxing experience.
A rustling shower cap with a shower head that simultaneously sprays my face and misses half of my body really isn’t the spa-like experience I envisioned for my shower room design. But is the shoulder shower the answer to our hair-wash-free days?
Sitting at shoulder height, this shower features a long, horizontal showerhead that falls at an angle over your shoulders, avoiding your hair entirely. It’s changed the way I think about showering, and I think it might be the shower solution my blow-dry has been looking for.
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What Are the Key Benefits of a Shoulder Shower?
Available in six different finishes, there's a color to suit every bathroom design in this hansgrohe range.
While it's not the only brand to offer one, the mainstay in this arena is hansgrohe's Rainfinity Shoulder Shower (which you can actually buy from Amazon), featuring a wide showerhead design that mounts directly onto the shower wall. The water flow is designed to be deliberately gentle, mimicking the soothing effects of rainfall and avoiding the aggressive splashback you can get with other power shower heads. The practical design also doubles up as a shower shelf for your bathroom products — no more contorting yourself trying to reach the shower floor of random shampoo bottles.
The Rainfinity shoulder shower is designed to work as part of a whole shower system, including an overhead rainfall showerhead, though it can be used alone as either a shoulder shower or full body showerhead.
Emma Freeman is the Brand and Communications Manager at Hansgrohe UK, where her wide-ranging role sees her collaborating closely with the company's brand, product and project teams, and working across a host of inspirational hospitality and build schemes.
What’s Unique About the Shoulder Shower Design?
One of the stand-out shoulder shower design features is its wide horizontal showerhead. Unlike a standard adjustable showerhead with a small-ish round head and concentrated water flow, the shoulder shower has a much longer shape designed to cover your entire body. The hansgrohe Rainfinity shoulder showerhead measures 50cm wide by 8cm deep – a whopping five times longer than your average handheld showerhead!
Brand and Communications Manager at hansgrohe, Emma Freeman says, “The hansgrohe Rainfinity shoulder shower can be positioned at neck height to deliver an alternative showering experience that can either refresh or relax, depending on your need.”
“It’s ideal for days when you want to keep hair dry. Having water land softly at shoulder height gives that flexibility to avoid trying to dodge an overhead spray without compromising your showering experience.”
What Are the Benefits of a Shoulder Shower, as Opposed to a Regular Showerhead?
Combined with an overhead showerhead, the shoulder shower is perfect for keeping your hair dry on non-wash days.
Precision really is the headline feature of the shoulder shower. Unlike a regular showerhead design, which easily causes water to rebound and spray your hair, the shoulder shower provides a more controlled and relaxing experience for your shower room.
Expert Emma explains, “Unlike traditional rainfall showers or overhead showers that wet the entire body, including hair, the shoulder shower is positioned at neck height to provide targeted coverage and keep hair dry. The broad PowderRain spray envelops the user in either refreshing or calming warmth, depending on their needs, perfect for post-sauna invigoration or pre-bedtime relaxation. This makes it an ideal choice for those who want the luxury of a spa shower experience without the hassle of drying and styling their hair afterwards.”
A spa-like experience with no hair washing? Music to my ears.
What Are the Pros and Cons of a Shoulder Shower?
Let’s start with the pros. In terms of user experience, it’s ideal. The rainfall design limits splash and is undoubtedly soothing. The biggest pro? The wide shower head design. As a stereotypically cold girl, a scorching hot shower is my go-to for relaxing, and the wide horizontal shower head really envelops you in comparison to a handheld showerhead. The minimal hair splash is just the cherry on top.
The shelf design is also a big positive. It’s not often we see multipurpose showers, so a design that tackles shower clutter while looking great will always get a gold star from me.
Onto the cons. The big one is its height restriction. What is shoulder height for you may not be shoulder height for your partner or other family members, and the fixed shower head makes it quite a concrete decision. In consideration of this, it really needs to be used in conjunction with at least an overhead showerhead, ideally a handheld shower as well.
If you have a larger shower space and budget to do so, it’s a great addition to your shower room. But if space is restricted, you might find the full shower system a bit overwhelming. It’s also worth bearing in mind that the shoulder shower is limited to a PowderRain spray effect. For me, it’s ideal and super relaxing, but if you like to switch up your showers to a more invigorating shower experience, it may not be for you.
What Are the Best Showers for Not Getting Your Hair Wet?
Though the shoulder shower has a pretty distinct design, some alternative products can achieve similar results and save your good hair days
AXOR’s ShowerComposition is a great alternative system that combines a smaller shoulder-height square shower head with a larger overhead shower head in one sleek design. Designed by the iconic Philippe Starck, the product features a super-slim L-shaped design (just 10mm deep) that fits flush to your wall – a great choice for smaller cubicles. The ShowerComposition is customisable too, with the full configuration including an overhead shower, shoulder shower, thermostatic module, and a hand shower. The rose gold colour has certainly caught my eye, but if that’s not your vibe, there are nine other colours to choose from.
Body jets are another great shower solution for keeping your hair dry. Placed in the walls of a shower space, body jets deliver a horizontal stream of water that hits your body, as opposed to falling from an overhead shower head.
Expert Emma says, "The hansgrohe body jets offer an excellent alternative for users who want to keep their hair dry while enjoying enhanced showering indulgence. These universal jets can be strategically positioned around the shower area to target the body at various heights, providing focused spray coverage."
Though they may not cover the area that the shoulder shower does – body jets are designed to have a smaller and more focused water flow – they’re a great compromise that will keep your hair dry. Most body jets feature a head that can swivel at small angles, too, so you can slightly adjust the direction of flow depending on the shower user.
If it was the width of the shoulder shower that intrigued you, look for the Kohler Statement showerhead.
Measuring 20cm wide and 14cm high, the Statement design is around twice the width of a standard handheld shower head and is designed to fully cover your shoulders. It’s ideal for users who want to switch up their showers, too, with three spray options available: full coverage, deep massage, and cloud. Use Full Coverage for wash days when you need maximum water flow. The Deep Massage option is great for a post-workout shower; the stream twists to create a soothing effect on your muscles. Then, for full relaxation, opt for the Cloud Spray experience with its super-fine water droplet effect.
When it comes to keeping your hair dry in the shower, our old shower designs have certainly been working harder, not smarter. With the addition of shoulder showers and wider showerheads, non-wash days will become a little bit easier and still deliver that all-important spa experience. The only trouble you'll have is picking the perfect finish.
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