When I went looking for a toothbrush without plastic, I mostly found marketing. So I decided to build the shop I wanted to buy from myself.
I was looking for one thing: bristles without plastic
When I realised that plastic bristles wear down and shed microplastics into your mouth every morning, I wanted a toothbrush with real natural bristles. It shouldn't have been hard. It was.
Almost everything I found was a bamboo handle with nylon bristles. The packaging said "eco-friendly", "biodegradable" and "bio-based". But bio-based nylon is still nylon. It is plastic, just made from plants instead of oil, and it wears down in exactly the same way. And "biodegradable plastic" doesn't actually break down in your compost. It fragments into smaller and smaller pieces: microplastics.
The handle gets swapped. The part that is actually in your mouth stays, and keeps shedding microplastics. That is greenwashing, and it was everywhere I looked. I explain the difference between the bristles in Boar bristle vs nylon bristle.
The shop I wanted
I wanted a shop where:
- Every product is chosen by one person who uses it himself. No range padded out to look big. I only sell what I have in my own bathroom.
- The materials are explained. I study chemistry, and I want you to understand why the bristles are natural and not nylon, and where there is still plastic left. That is why I explain the materials here on the site and have a separate materials section on the packaging.
- The prices are fair. Plastic-free shouldn't be a luxury for a few. A 6-pack costs 230 kr today, about 38 kr per toothbrush, and a 4-pack with horsehair is coming soon at a lower price. As BambooBrush grows, the goal is to lower prices further.
- The goal is for as many people as possible to cut down on plastic and microplastics in everyday life. Not to sell as much as possible to as few as possible.
Honest about what isn't perfect
I'm not going to do the thing I criticise. So here it is:
- The electric toothbrush head has a small plastic coupling at the base. Without it the vibrations don't reach the bristles. It is the only plastic in the brush head, and I explain why in Is there an electric toothbrush without plastic?
- The toothbrush has a small copper staple that holds the bristles in place. It is there because I don't want to use glue. The staple is metal and is sorted as metal when you compost the toothbrush.
- Natural bristles aren't vegan. The boar bristles in the 6-pack and the horsehair in the brush head and the new 4-pack are both keratin, the same protein as in your own hair, and they come from animals. Boar bristle is a by-product of the meat industry. The horsehair is a by-product from farms, when the horses are clipped. Horsehair is softer than boar bristle and suits you if you want a gentler brush. I haven't found a vegan bristle without plastic that I can stand behind.
I would rather you know this before you buy than find out afterwards.
Small swaps that last
Plastic and microplastics come into everyday life from many directions. I don't believe in replacing everything at once. I believe in small swaps you make once and then don't have to think about: the toothbrush, the brush head, the floss.
That is why the range grows slowly. Next up are silk floss and a fluoride-free toothpaste with hydroxyapatite. They will only come out once I have used them myself for long enough.
What you can count on
- No claims I can't stand behind. I refer to the research on microplastics and say when it is uncertain.
- Only products I use myself.
- A real answer when you email. I am the one who replies, at info@bamboobrush.se.
- 1% of every purchase goes towards developing technology that permanently removes carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, via Stripe Climate.
You don't have to do everything. Start with what you put in your mouth every day.
— Dmytro Kostiuk, founder. My full background is on the About page (in Swedish).