Bamboo Toothbrushes – An Easy Way to Replace Plastic in Your Life

All our family have enjoyed this one and it’s such an easy switch to make. Both my husband and son were using plastic for what I call ‘manual’ toothbrushes whereas I have been using an electric one for some years now.

For them, it was an easy step to make and they were both very keen to do it. My 5yr old especially as he is very excited about our new business for “saving the planet” as he likes to tell people at random, usually at supermarket checkouts!

We tried a couple of different brands to the ones we sell by way of a little market research. My son used the Spanish ‘Brushboo’ but we have found that the quality of the wood felt a little lightweight and more than anything the handle wasn’t very comfortable to hold. Also, initially, one or two of the bristles started to come out, which didn’t bother my son too much but would have bothered me. Being a child he gets through brushes quicker than we do, and the bristles on the Brushboo didn’t last as long as the Hydrophil ones we now all use. 

The Hydrophil brushes are much more rounded in the handle and the wood feels more dense and harder-wearing. The bristles feel stronger but not hard, they are still medium-soft and the childrens’ ones are ideal for kids from age 3 years upwards.

When I ran out of the changeable heads on my electric toothbrush I decided that rather than buy more plastic heads, even though the electric base still worked, that I would opt for bamboo toothbrush instead. The rationale was that our local ‘Multiple Use’ council building in Manilva (Málaga, Costa del Sol) has a box where they collect small household electrical items for recycling. On that basis I knew the toothbrush stem and base would not just be landfilled, but recycled instead.

Now the three of us enjoy a bamboo toothbrush and feel great knowing that once they come to the end of their life we won’t be contributing to more plastic polluting the earth, but that our toothbrush handles will biodegrade into the earth from where they came. Even better is if you can add it to your home compost or garden. You can pull out the bristles with pliers and then find a use in your garden or terrace for the little wooden stick…  

Let us know in the comments if you have switched to a bamboo toothbrush, and how you’re getting on with it. You can also buy from our range via the links in the post.