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Sources for natural toothbrushes?
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Since we’ve been talking recently about natural toothpaste recipes, I decided to look for places to purchase plastic-free toothbrushes. I am in shock….I looked on one website that offered a 10-pack of wooden toothbrushes with pig-hair bristles, and the pack sells for $67.50. That’s nearly $7 per toothbrush….times 3-4 toothbrushes per year….times the 4 of us in the family….I now officially hate math!
Okay, now that I’ve regained consciousness and peeled myself off the floor, does anyone know of a less expensive source for plastic-free toothbrushes? Or do I just have to start handing my kids a new toothbrush instead of their allowance every 90 days?
And actually, the cost goes up when I considered the fact that whenever one of us has the flu, that person’s toothbrush is replaced once they are well. I have boiled the plastic ones to sterilize them on occasion, but I don’t know if you could do that with natural toothbrushes, or perhaps pour peroxide over them and rinse well. I’m not too sure if that is truly effective anyway.
I don’t know about the wooden ones, though I would think it would be effective, but you can place your toothbrush head down into a small cup and pour peroxide over it and let it sit for a bit allowing it to bubble. Then rinse. It will kill the germs. If you don’t like the idea of the peroxide, you can always use a drop of grapefruit seed extract on the bristles and add a touch of water, allow to sit, then rinse.
We have those wooden-handled, pig bristle brushes and they are not that great. You have to be really careful not to brush too hard. They are much different from regular brushes, potentially more damaging to teeth and gums. We used 4 or 5 of them and now they just sit in their box unused. (But they are great for cleaning window tracks and screeens!)
If you are a die-hard non-plastic user (like I was before the cancer and chemo arrived and I decided I had bigger fish to fry), you could get some chewing sticks like neem (available on that same website), but then you’d have all that extra toothpaste… hmm. Maybe you could find brushes that are compostable? completely recycled?
I’ve been puzzled about this one for a while so I’ll be interested in more replies. I’ll post if I find anything promising. Great question; Good luck Sue! 🙂
I came across this blog with diffferent choices:
http://myplasticfreelife.com/2011/05/eco-friendly-toothbrush-review-and-giveaway/
Sue – why do you want a natural toothbrush? I realize that plastic is not ideal, but it’s in your mouth for such a short time, for me there are better ways to spend my money, but then again, I still have a LONG way to go on the road to natural. We ARE loving Corrie’s toothpaste recipe though!
I think the previous blog that I posted talked about a toothbrish called The Environmental Toothbrush. It’s less than the one you mentioend, Sue. If you by a pack of 12, they cost 36 + 12 s/h.They also come in different bristle softenesses (is this a word??). So for you 4 people, you could change it once during the year; at the 6 mth. mark. I think that’s $4 a brush.
Here are some compostable ones: http://worldcentric.org/biocompostables/toothbrushes
Looks like they all come with a travel case which is annoying if I’m not going anywhere.
Rachel – thanks for the link to Beth Terry’s site. She was very instrumental in getting me started on my road to less plastic consumption.
But the book that started it all for me was http://slowdeathbyrubberduck.com/USA/
Beware, though: once you read it, you can’t “unknow” it.
If your kids are LEGO fans, do not read this book.
Thanks Jenni for the heads up. Lego fans here! 🙂 I just got done reading organic Body Care recipes by Stephanie Tourles. She had some really good ones in there. I don’t think I could do the organic toothbrush thing though. 🙂 I sort of like my cheaper toothbrushes… I also watched food Inc. that movie changed the way I think and we stopped eating in fast food restraunts too. Like you said, To much knowledge. I can’t “unknow” now that I know. Maybe someday I will read that book. (maybe when the kids are grown… 🙂 I am still cringing for sort of reading the parasite book that I had to put down. It was either that or put the dog down. 🙂 and the rest of my animals…. I guess this is why I wash my hands so much… tehe he…
Sounds like a good book!! those are the ones that really motivate you to change. 🙂
BLessings!
almost forgot! Bacteria can’t live in honey. Maybe you could put them in a little lemon juice and every once in a while douse them in some honey… Just a thinkin’ out loud! I am sure that would be yummy on the tooth brush.. 🙂 tehe he
All things considered, I probably will stick with the plastic toothbrushes. I have to find a really, really soft one that doesn’t quite look like a baby/toddler toothbrush for ds who can’t stand the feeling of brushing his teeth, and there are just so many other things to portion out the money we have. As Rebekahy said, they’re only in your mouth for a short time. I guess I was just thinking….and hoping….that they wouldn’t be horribly expensive.
So, about the Legos….is it really harmful just to touch them while playing? Are they emitting chemical fumes we’re not aware of? Or is it mainly a concern that the end up in kids’ mouths? We’re planning on starting a Legos club at our church, but we’re not going to have really young kids that still chew on things.
I can’t help with the Legos issue, though when my son was little, there was the problem with lead in the paint of his Thomas the Tank Engine. I didn’t throw them away because he wasn’t one to put them into his mouth-he just didn’t and I made him was his hands more. If it had been my dd however, that’s woldn’t have worked as she pputs everything in her mouth (still puts pencil erasers in her mouth to chew on at age 11).
Anyway, what I chimed in to say was though I am going to stick with the regular toothbrushes, I am going to get some of those Neem chews to use when traveling. We travel a lot in the car-our Congregation is 1 hr. 15 min. away as well as other places we go and these would be very convenient for travel adn good for their gums. They wouldn’t be used daily so they’d be more economical due to lasting for a while.
These Tom’s of Maine toothbrushes are BPA-free and recyclable (and reasonably-priced!)
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