Verdict : Hype

A friend of mine recently gushed that she was forking over an extra few thousand rupees for a hotel room which has a vitamin C shower. According to her, the hotel told her it would give her radiant skin and thick, flowing locks by the end of her stay. So with World Water Day just last week, I figured, why not look into this?

A vitamin C shower is brought about through the installation of a bright orange cartridge which is fixed to your showerhead. Said cartridge is filled with vitamin C crystals. Turn your shower on and the water gets treated by the crystals, ultimately dechlorinating the water, making for a relatively ‘squeaky clean’ shower or bath... but can a quick shower really do that much?

Vitamin C comes in various forms, and in skincare, serums and at-home chemical peels are where the market is today. Sucker for skin and haircare that I am, I decided to test the veracity of these showers. Here’s what I found.

Opinions across the medical community are clear. Dr Jaishree Sharad, Director at Skinfiniti Aesthetic Skin and Laser Clinic, Mumbai, says, “Unfortunately, Vitamin C showers, which are supposed to neutralise chlorine and chloramines from water are not proven medically. There is no scientific data or controlled study by medical researchers; only some vague reports by the manufacturing companies, making tall claims. It sounds exotic, but that is all that it is. No, it does not cure eczemas or make your hair less frizzy. Besides, our water has less chlorine and more of fluorosilicic acid, aluminium sulphate, calcium hydroxide, sodium silicofluoride. Let’s assume it works, but vitamin C only neutralises chlorine. So what happens to the rest of the chemicals? They are pretty much present and are equally responsible for frizzy hair, dry skin etc in people who are prone to it.”

“If you find it there in your hotel room, go ahead and enjoy it — sometimes when you feel pampered, you may feel emotionally better. Also, the skin doesn’t absorb everything, so its true effect on the skin is really unknown,” says Dr Renita Rajan, Chennai-based dermatologist. Is it absolutely necessary? “I don’t think so,” she says. While there’s much to be said for vitamin C skincare, there’s way too much doubt around the showering aspects of it, and it simply isn’t enough to completely rejuvenate the showering experience.

In this column, we decode health trends and decide if it’s all just ‘hype’ or actually ‘happening’