Irish hair salon owner launches Universal Shower Filter

A Co Wexford hair salon owner has launched the Universal Shower Filter, which aims to combat hair and scalp problems caused by hard water.

Keara Howard, aka The Hair Doctor, began her hairdressing career at the age of 15 when she got a Saturday job in a local salon. She went on to become a hairdresser’s apprentice when she finished school, and when she was 21, she opened her Scissors Sisterz salon with her sister in Enniscorthy, a business she continues to run.

“I personally have hard water in my home, and even though we have a water softener system installed, I still had issues with my hair,” she explained.

“Hard water has always been a hairdresser’s worst nightmare, as it plays havoc with condition and colour. One day I was so frustrated with my hair, I started researching a solution to combat hard water. I came across a shower water filter, then I researched this further, and tailored the component inside the filter to give the best possible results for hair.” 

The outcome of Howard's research and developent is The Hair Doctor Universal Shower Filter, which promises to hydrate, defrizz and thicken hair, while restoring damaged hair, increasing growth and prolonging colour.

Howard said it fits 98% of showers, and the 20 stages of filtration remove dust, rust, chlorine, manganese, bacteria, smells, impurities, iron, copper and other heavy metals, while increasing the pH level of the water.

“I love challenges and learning new things, so setting up this business have been a great learning curve for me,” she added.

“Distributing into other salons in definitely in the pipeline. I have been contacted by many in the past few weeks, which underlines the fact that hard water is a major issue in Ireland. Currently, the Universal Shower Filter is my main focus, but it’s early days, and I do have a few ideas for the future, which will be aimed at improving hair condition.”