From The Buddha who chewed sticks into fluffy-ended scrubbers to clean his teeth and the giddy early days of plastic innovation to our 21st century bamboo toothbrushes: if you like, this going to be an informative read, thanks to a great National Geographic article to accompany your cup of coffee this morning.
But first: as you probably know, being all grown-up and responsible and all, dentists recommend using toothbrushes at least twice a day and changing them every three months. As a result, it is estimated that 3.6 billion plastic toothbrushes are used every year. That huge pile of toothbrushes is not being recycled and ends up in landfills or the ocean, polluting our environment.
So why don’t we make something we should change every 3 months from a compostable or recyclable material instead of plastic? Our lovely low-waste lifestyle inspiring brand BAMBAW made these awesome bamboo toothbrushes. Interestingly: the activated charcoal bristles serve as a natural teeth whitener. Made and shipped CO2 neutral all the way!
Do you find it a bit weird using bamboo on your teeth? It’s really not. For centuries, the basic toothbrush was made from natural materials.
National Geographic wrote an interesting article about the evolution of the toothbrush (from the Egyptians and Buddha to Chinese emperors and the World War I soldiers) and how your toothbrush became a part of the plastic crisis.
Interested in reading a bit about the history of tooth brushing this relaxed Sunday morning? Enjoy: nationalgeographic.com/story-of-plastic-toothbrushes.