Our Verdict
Australian brand Piksters has made its bamboo toothbrush a very affordable environmentally friendly alternative to plastic toothbrushes.
The brush is part of its eco range which also includes interdental brushes, floss, and floss picks.
Pros
- Available from plenty of places
- Cheap to buy
- Multipack
- Kids option available
- Multiple colour options
- Handle can be composted
- Eco-friendly and sustainable product
- Plastic free packaging
- Vegan
Cons
- Bamboo not easily recyclable for everyone
- Difficult to grip handle
Where to buy the Piksters bamboo toothbrush
The best place to buy these toothbrushes is online, although some shops may also have them in store in Australia.
They are available directly from Piksters, from Amazon, House of Mouth and Ebay.
Other brushes to consider
If you want an alternative bamboo toothbrush, consider Brush with Bamboo, which is available from Biome or Let’s Go Natureal.
I go into more detail about the various options in my best bamboo toothbrush post.
There are other options if you are looking for an environmentally friendly option – as I explain in my guide to best eco-friendly toothbrushes.
Other eco-friendly options are replaceable handle toothbrushes, such as the Radius Source toothbrush or the Colgate Infinity toothbrush.
Finally, we include some more options in our best manual toothbrush post.
Piksters bamboo toothbrush in-depth review
The Piksters bamboo toothbrush stands out as a very affordable option and the brush itself is a more environmentally friendly alternative to plastic toothbrushes.
It has the added bonus of bio-based bristles. This well known brand is widely stocked, so is easily available.
The brush is part of the Piksters eco range, but the website lacks information about wider sustainability policies.
It also advises to bury the whole toothbrush, but we would advise removing bristles first. The downside with this brush is that the cheap price does come at a cost in terms of how comfortable the brush is to use.
The thin flat handle is difficult to grip. And the bristles are arranged so that they are flat, which are safe but isn’t the most effective setup for cleaning effectiveness.
Variants of this toothbrush
Piksters bamboo toothbrushes come in individual boxes or as a box of six adult toothbrushes.
Medium hardness bristles come in a number of different colour bristles: white, blue, and pink. The 6 pick contains two of each colour.
There is an option for soft bristles, although these are not as widely available. They come in two tone bristles with white and either pink, green, or blue.
Children’s toothbrushes are also available in single packs or as a duo (two) pack. The soft bristles are available in blue, green, or pink. The duo packs have two of the same colour.
What’s in the box?
This is a simple manual toothbrush. It comes in a recycled cardboard box, printed with plant based inks.
Note that some newer products come in card and bio-based plastic packaging.
The box will contain one, two, or six toothbrushes, depending on the option you have chosen.
The toothbrush doesn’t come with any other items.
Key Features
- Manual toothbrush
- Bamboo handle
- Handle engraved for grip
- Bristles made from bio-based plastic
Design, usability, clean & general use
The exact design and colour of the Piksters Bamboo toothbrush depends on the variant selected, but for this review I have been testing one of the brushes from the adult six pack with medium bristles.
Refer to the variants section of this review to see the other designs.
The handle is made from “panda safe bamboo”. They explain on a blog post that this is moso bamboo, which pandas do not eat. Piksters select this bamboo, but do not give information on where this is grown, or if there is any certification about sustainable growing practices. Piksters has very little information available about sustainability and manufacturing processes.
The flat handle is engraved with a Piksters design to help grip. But the narrow/thin handle will be more of a challenge for some people, depending on their manual dexterity. It is more difficult to grip than most plastic based toothbrushes, which have a round handle.
The bristles are made from a bio-based plastic instead of conventional oil based plastic. This is a more environmentally friendly option as being made from plants (corn starch oil) is more sustainable long term than using fossil fuels to produce plastics.
The bristles are arranged on a flat plane, in about 34 tufts of about 50 individual bristles. They have blunted ends. The medium bristles feel about right — not too soft, not too firm. The brush head is a comfortable size.
Summary of design, usability, clean & general use
- Bamboo handle
- Flat handle
- Bio-based plastic bristles
- Bristles on a flat plane
- Reasonable cleaning ability
Reliability & long term use
I used this brush twice daily, for two minutes, for a week.
I didn’t continue to use it beyond this as there are numerous other brushes to test.
But it worked well over the week and there is nothing to suggest there will be any problems over three months in terms of cleaning ability.
There is one potential problem is my experience – if bamboo isn’t thoroughly dried between uses it can start to get a bit mouldy. Make sure you allow it to air dry after use to avoid this.
About Piksters as a company
Piksters are a leading Australian brand. They have been making oral care products for a long time, but have only recently started their eco range.
It is good to see a mainstream company making efforts to improve their sustainability, but other than the information about the different materials, there is little evidence about company wide changes or policies to encourage sustainable manufacturing.
Without more evidence or transparency from the company, these products might be a classic case of greenwashing. For example, the packaging says to bury the toothbrush whole as it is biodegradable, but we would advise against this and that you should at least remove the bristles first.
How to recycle Piksters bamboo toothbrush
Piksters don’t give the best advice about the disposal of this toothbrush. They do not provide a recycling system, so you could consider using a Terracycle scheme (but check that they take the bamboo handles)
Piksters recommendation is to bury the whole toothbrush, which is what is written on the box the brush comes in. On their website they go on to say their bamboo handle will break down in the following time scales:
- Industrial composter – just a few weeks
- Home compost – up to six months
- Buried in the garden – 3 years
- On top of the soil – 5 to 10 years.
We would advise removing bristles first before putting the bamboo in a compost pile or burying it. You can do this using tweezers or cutting of the head of the toothbrush. The bristles then need to be disposed via a specialist recycling scheme or in general waste.
The handle could be cut into smaller pieces to speed up the breakdown process.
Conclusion
An affordable bamboo toothbrush, which is a more eco-friendly alternative to conventional plastic brushes. You will need to make your own decision about the ethics and sustainability of the company themselves.
Available in multipacks and different sizes for families, there is nothing bad about this toothbrush from a brand familiar to most Aussies.
It is available to buy directly from Piksters, from Amazon, House of Mouth, Ebay and various other places.
Size Guide
- Height – 7 inches / 17.5cm
- Handle Width (widest point) – ½ inch / 1.3cm
- Weight – ¼ oz / 8g
All are approximates
Your Opinions
Do you own or have you used the Piksters bamboo toothbrush?
Are there certain features that you really like or dislike?
Let us know what you think about this brush and let others who may well be considering purchasing one know your opinions before they do.
