Before you choose bamboo make sure you have a compost bin. Putting the wooden brush in the general waste bin can do more harm than good.

I thought choosing a plastic free bamboo toothbrush would be easy.  A toothbrush is a toothbrush, right?  Well, no, unfortunately not all plastic free toothbrushes are made the same.

To help you work out which toothbrush to spend your money on, I have personally tried and tested the them for you and ranked them below.

My regular toothbrush is one of a pack of 3 Colgate brushes for £1. I was never going to be able to get the same value of brush, but my intention is to find one that cleans the same to replace it.

Colgate Toothbrush

1. Planet Emporium

Price: £2.05
Materials: Bamboo Handle and Nylon Bristles
Disposal: Compost the handle, pull the bristles out and put in general waste
Packaging: Cardboard box – Can be composted or recycled
Care Instructions: Care as you would a plastic toothbrush
Health: BPA Free
Sustainability Guide Rating: 9/10
Bu

Comments: This bamboo toothbrush was my favourite. comes in a variety of colours and was one of the most affordable one. There was the novelty of half charcoal bristles – which apparently prevented bacteria on the brush. The bristles were firmer than other bamboo toothbrushes, which I preferred. It also had a longer brush head than most of them with shaped bristles. This was the only toothbrush that was able to effectively clean the hard to reach places and I would recommend purchasing. However I can no longer find this toothbrush, which is a bit of a shame.

2. The Environmental Toothbrush

Environmental Bamboo Toothbrush

Price: £2.85
Materials: Bamboo Handle and Nylon Bristles
Disposal: Compost the handle, pull the bristles out and put in general waste
Packaging: Cardboard – Can be composted or recycled
Care Instructions: Care as you would a plastic toothbrush
Health: BPA Free
Sustainability Guide Rating: 8/10

Comments: This was my second favourite brush. The toothbrush has similar dimensions to a traditional plastic toothbrush and gave a good clean – my teeth felt nice and shiny afterwards :-), but it was difficult to get to the hard to reach areas of the mouth. I think this one gives you best value for money and I like how this one was developed by a Australian Dentist.  The only downside is that it does not come in pretty colours or have contoured bristles like the Bam and Boo toothbrush, but that does not stop it doing its job.

3. Blue Rock Toothbrush


Price: £3.95
Materials: Bamboo Handle and Nylon Bristles
Disposal: Compost the handle, pull the bristles out and put in general waste
Packaging: Cardboard box – Can be composted
Care Instructions: Care as you would a plastic toothbrush
Health: BPA Free
Sustainability Guide Rating: 7/10

Comments: This bamboo toothbrush can be bought on its own or as a subscription. The subscription makes it up to 40p cheaper per brush. You can also purchase them in family packs and the company gives 10p per brush to Marine Life Conservation Charity. You can choose from a variety of different coloured bristles.  The handle was nice to hold and ergonomically shaped.  The bristle head is of a similar length to a standard plastic toothbrush and they were shaped, but softer than my normal brush.  It was an overall pleasant experience using the toothbrush and cleaned reasonably well, but was unable to reach the hard to reach places.

4. F.E.T.E Toothbrush

Price: £3.99
Materials: Bamboo Handle and Nylon Bristles
Disposal: Compost the handle, pull the bristles out and put in general waste
Packaging: Cardboard box and paper insert – Can be composted or recycled
Care Instructions: Care as you would a plastic toothbrush
Health: BPA Free
Sustainability Guide Rating: 7/10
Bu

Comments: This bamboo toothbrush comes in a variety of colours. I liked the round handle, it was nice to hold- a smoother hold compared to the other brushes.  The bristles were  similar to a standard plastic toothbrush and they were shaped.  It was an overall pleasant experience using the toothbrush and cleaned reasonably well, but it was difficult to reach the harder to reach parts of my mouth – the wisdom teeth didn’t feel overly clean.

5. The Bam and Boo Toothbrush

The Bam and Boo Toothbrush


Price: £4.99
Materials: Bamboo Handle and Nylon Bristles
Disposal: Compost the handle, pull the bristles out and put in general waste
Packaging: Paper and biodegradable plastic – Can be composted
Care Instructions: Care as you would a plastic toothbrush
Health: BPA Free
Sustainability Guide Rating: 7/10

Comments: This bamboo toothbrush works on a subscription basis.  You sign up for a subscription for a toothbrush and they send them out as per the subscription. You can choose from a variety of different coloured bristles.  The handle was nice to hold and is a little longer than your standard toothbrush.  The bristles were  similar to a standard plastic toothbrush and they were shaped.  It was an overall pleasant experience using the toothbrush and cleaned reasonably well, but perhaps a little pricey compared to your plastic alternative.

6. Save Some Green Bamboo Toothbrush

Save Some Green Toothbrush

Price: £2.47
Materials: Bamboo Handle and Nylon Bristles
Disposal: Compost the handle, pull the bristles out and put in general waste
Packaging: Paper – Can be composted or recycled
Care Instructions: Care as you would a plastic toothbrush
Health: BPA Free
Sustainability Guide Rating: 5/10

Comments: This was my least favourite bamboo toothbrush. The bamboo handle was fine it was easy to hold and ticked the sustainability boxes.  The bristles however were really pointy, which was not a pleasant experience when cleaning your teeth.  The brush was also very soft.  I am normally used to a medium plastic brush, so I thought I would keep an open mind.  However, I found after a few weeks of using the brush that despite my best cleaning efforts the brush didn’t feel that effective.

In the end, I decided to stick with my plastic toothbrush. The Environmental Toothbrush was my favourite, but none of the toothbrushes I tried gave the results I wanted. I have opted to use the Colgate recycling scheme run by Terracycle to recycle my toothbrush instead.

Let me know your experience with bamboo toothbrushes.  Are there any out there that you guys like or would like reviewed?


1 Comment

Review - Natural Deodorant Effectiveness- Sustainability Guide · 5th June 2019 at 6:08 pm

[…] I would love to know your experiences of natural deodorants and if there are any you would like me to test out.  If you enjoyed this then Check out our review on Bamboo Toothbrushes. […]

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