How To Buy Shower Heads (Overhead, HandShowers & Body Showers) — A Complete India Guide (2020)

Everything You Need to Consider Before Deciding All The Different Water Outlets/Showers you Want In Your Shower Area

For a lot of people, the time you spend in the shower or bath is one of the best times of the day. You can forget about the stresses of everyday life and come out feeling clean, refreshed, and relaxed. This is an experience that can be achieved with the most basic and ordinary showers, but just imagine how much better this experience can be if you select the right shower and its components.

When it comes to buying a new shower head, you have a wide range of choices to consider to help you find the best fixture for you. These options will range from basic, affordable faucets that get the job done, to high-end models that can really make your shower experience feel like the ones you’d have at a 5-star hotel.

There are various types of Shower Heads to choose from. You can have one or multiple of these to be part of your shower experience.

Types of Showers

1. Overhead Showers (Regular, Rain & Waterfall Showers)
2. Hand Showers
3. Body Showers
4. Sliding Rail Showers
5. Shower Panels

Overhead Showers

A shower head has a vital role in every modern bathroom. Like any other item in your home, showerheads also have varieties types, sizes, prices, and functionalities.

Depending on your needs, it could be easy or challenging to choose a new showerhead for your bathroom. Most of the showerheads may look the same, but their functions may differ from each other.

If you are looking to buy the best shower head without compromising functionality, aesthetics or prices, you would get a lot more benefit from knowing what you are choosing and why.

There are mainly two types of Overhead Showers Regular Fixed Shower Heads and Rain Shower Heads

Regular Fixed Shower Heads: This is one of the most common types of shower head, and simply comes straight out of the wall and points down at a fixed angle. It’s no-frills and is typically smaller in size, with diameters from 5 inches or less. For those of you who just want a shower head that doesn’t have a ton of features, and just gives you solid pressure, this is the way to go.

This style is usually best for smaller shower areas. They are affordable as well.

If you want to get a little bit fancier, you can look for a multi-function fixed shower head. The multi-function option allows you to change the spray patterns, usually ranging from a very concentrated massage setting to a more gentle wide spray setting. Read More Below

Wall Mounted Regular Fixed Shower Heads

Rain Shower Heads: While rain shower heads are essentially fixed shower heads, they are much larger in size. Ranging from 6 inches and up, you can really increase the coverage in your shower. They are large, flat heads that are suspended directly above the user and direct the spray straight down.

Coverage refers to how wide the water spray is, leaving you with a warmer feeling in the shower.

Wall Mounted Rain Shower Head

Waterfall Shower Head: These aren’t mounted the same way as standard overhead showers. Rather than shooting a stream of water out at an angle, they are mounted overhead to provide a top-down drenching effect. Not surprisingly, this is like standing under a waterfall or natural downpour.

Water Fall Shower with Overhead Rain Shower

Mounting of Overhead Showers from Wall or Ceiling

Rain shower heads can be mounted from the wall or from the ceiling. You can use a Shower arm for both cases.

Wall mounting is easier than Ceiling, which will require consultation with the plumber. Alternative to ceiling mounting is to use a Overhead Shower Arm (As shown in the above picture)

These shower arms extend between 12 and 16 Inches from your wall and make it possible for you to stand underneath the rainfall shower as if it were coming from the ceiling.

Ceiling Mounted vs Wall Mounted Shower

Hand Showers

These feature a single head sprayer attached to a flexible hose, good for washing hair and those hard-to-reach places. Hand-held showerheads are particularly useful for those with limited mobility, and those who might shower in a sitting position.

Hand Shower

Body Showers

These are multiple spray heads installed into the shower wall. The heads themselves are either compact nozzles, or are flat and nearly flush to the wall surfaces. You can install a set of 2, 3, 4, 6 or even more body shower nozzles.

The possible configurations are limited only by your imagination and your home’s water pressure.

They are concealed in the Wall hence a decision to have them has to be made during construction.

Set of 6 Body Showers being used with the Ceiling mounted Rain Shower

Sliding Bar/Rail Showers

Slide bar shower fixture is mounted on the wall of the shower and can be used to adjust the height of the showerhead easily. This type of showerhead can work well in situations where you might need to customize the height of the showerhead for the different members of the family. They are also handy when you want to keep the water low to avoid getting your hair wet. In most brands you can separately buy a Sliding Rail with the Handshower.

Shower with a Sliding Rail

Shower Panel

Shower Panel is a vertical column which includes an Overhead shower, Hand Shower, Spout, Body Jets altogether very suitably placed on it.

The overhead shower is usually very wide so that it can offer a drenching shower experience. Usually, functions such as rainfall and waterfall can be chosen for the above overhead shower.

Shower Panel

Other Factors to Consider with the Shower Heads:

Single Function Vs Multi Function Shower Head

Many shower heads offer just a single setting. Their only function is to spray water. This may be all you need in a shower head, and if so, that makes your decision rather easy. But if you like the idea of variety, then you should look for an option that offers multiple settings.

There is no shortage of multi-function shower heads that offer a range of spray settings to choose from. With options like mist, rain, and massage, it’s never been easier to customise your shower experience to satisfy your mood at that moment.

If you are going to mount your rainshower from your ceiling, go for a single function. That’s because it will likely be hard to change the settings if your shower head is mounted 3–4 feet above

Water Saving Shower Heads

Some showers have an aerated design to save water, which means they insert air into the water to reduce the amount of water used. Other eco shower heads feature a flow regulator instead. Some water saving showers use only 7.5L of water per minute while some use 9L; regular showers use around 20L.

Larger the Diameter, Weaker the Pressure

The decision of the size of the Shower head is a trade off between Coverage and Pressure. With Shower Heads in general, the more you increase one of these factors the more you decrease the other. That’s why it’s so important that you have an idea about what it is you want out of your Shower Head.

Coverage: is how much area the Showerhead covers with its spray.

Pressure: is how strong the flow feels on your skin.

Ideally, for Indian Bathroom 4-5 Inch Shower Head are considered best but if you are looking for an immersive experience then an 6–8 Inch Shower Head provides the right balance between Coverage and Pressure. (You need to consult your Plumber on use of a Pressure Pump).

With immense Coverage and drenching Rainfall spray, the 12 Inch is optimal when installed as a Ceiling Mount or using a Wall Mount Overhead Shower Arm.(You will definitely need to install a Pressure Pump)

The Shower Head Finish

There are many different finishes of shower heads, and their fixtures are available in the market. You may find brass or nickel, polished chrome, brushed chrome, nickel or bronze, hammered nickel, stainless steel, black and white. You should choose depending on your bathroom interior, faucets, and bath fixtures. If you want an elegant look, the polished finishes might be a good option for you, but they might require regular maintenance to keep them spot-free. If you would like to be hassle-free from maintenance, you can choose matte or brushed finishes as they are good at hiding the water spots and fingerprints.

The Material of The Shower Head Nozzles

When you are looking for your best shower heads, you should pay attention to the nozzles of the showerheads. There are many types of shower nozzles that can be made from silicone, plastic and even rubber.

Compared to the rubber, plastic and rubber nozzles, the metal nozzles are less receptive to bacteria build-up.

However, metal nozzles tend to grow limescale than other types of shower nozzles. If you live in the hard water areas, then shower head with metal nozzles could be an annoying issue.