In my minimal waste journey, I’ve been looking for areas where I could reduce my carbon footprint. One of the ways I found was switching over to a bamboo toothbrush instead of plastic. From the moment I saw a bamboo toothbrush, I was intrigued and wanted to give it a try. In this post, I will focus on the two brands that I tried:

1) Brush With Bamboo and 2) WooBamboo.

Those who know me know I am borderline obsessed with taking care of my teeth. I had changed up my toothbrushing routine to include the occasional (diluted) hydrogen peroxide rinse and activated charcoal powder for whitening. I wanted to see if these bamboo toothbrushes could keep up with my

#1. BRUSH WITH BAMBOO (BWB)
I tried this brand first and I really enjoyed using it. It felt sturdy in my grip as I brushed my teeth and I could angle it to get to hard to reach areas of my mouth. I had been worried that the bamboo would be too hard and potentially knock out a tooth with my rigorous brushing., Thankfully, the wood was lightweight and doesn’t clank around on your teeth. I have a bad habit of biting down on the bristles when I’m distracted with tasks like putting on mascara or something else, so the bristles quickly got bent out of shape. However, they didn’t shed from the toothbrush. The bristles did a good job of leaving my teeth clean without irritating my gums. One of the downsides was that the toothbrush was a bit porous so if you left it in a wet cup, it had a weird moist texture when you picked it up. After making the mistake once, I made sure to keep my tooth brush in a dry place. When I was done with the BWB toothbrush (after about 3 months of use), I snapped off the head of toothbrush and threw the head of it away. I saved the handle of the toothbrush for composting later.

Overall, I really liked this toothbrush…so much so that I’ve gifted it to a few people.

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#2. WOO BAMBOO

If we were voting by design alone, Woo Bamboo toothbrushes are definitely killing the toothbrush game! They have different bristle types (super soft, soft, and medium), different handles (for kids, for adults, regular, and slim). I loved that I had those options. I went with the soft, slim handle combination. The slim handle was a cool design, but using it was an interesting experience. I’m not sure how to explain it but you have to hold it differently and getting used to that takes a little time. This handle was more compact than the BWB, so it didn’t have the same porous issue that the other toothbrush had. The bristles on the Woo Bamboo toothbrush were the detail breaker for me. On several occasions, the bristles came out while I was brushing. Once I almost gagged on a bristle that went astray. It was like that feeling you get when you almost swallow a piece of hair. I’ve been using the toothbrush for a little over two months but because of those flyaway bristles, I’m going to have to give up on this otherwise perfect toothbrush.

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Overall, I love that both toothbrushes are biodegradable. The Brush With Bamboo toothbrush is the winner in my book because it does it’s job without trying to do too much. Anyone transitioning from a plastic toothbrush to bamboo will find this to be a good transitioning toothbrush. Also Brush With Bamboo’s packaging is mostly cardboard, with the toothbrush wrapped in a compostable wrapper. Woo Bamboo’s has a plastic cover with a paper backing. I’ve found my go-to bamboo toothbrush and I can’t wait to get my next one!

You can buy Brush With Bamboo toothbrushes online on Amazon.com or on their website.

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If you’d like to see more great reviews about Bamboo toothbrushes, check out these great blog posts:

1. Trash is for Tossers: I Brush With Bamboo, Do You?

2. The Plant Strong Vegan- Brush With Bamboo Review