Hydrophil Toothbrush bamboo

Making a toothbrush out of bamboo seems unusual at first, but the material is predestined for this use. As a rapidly renewable, natural resource, bamboo is an excellent alternative to traditional plastic handles and helps to stem the tide of plastic in the home and, by extension, in the trash. What's more, you can simply dispose of your old bamboo toothbrush on the compost heap or bury it in the garden - the handle will have rotted away after about a year and a half. To do this, all you have to do beforehand is break off the head and dispose of it in the normal household waste. The paints for handles and bristles are environmentally friendly, biodegradable and therefore harmless to humans and nature. The bristles are made on the basis of castor oil.

Bamboo is the largest species of sweet grass, at the same time also the fastest growing plant on earth: some species manage up to one meter a day. More than a third of the over 1,500 bamboo species are native to China. The wood for these toothbrushes, which are manufactured directly on site, also comes from there. When growing bamboo, there is no need for watering, fertilizers or pesticides, as the plant itself has natural antibacterial substances, making it extremely resistant. Toothbrushes made of bamboo meet the local hygiene standards and are ideally suited for oral hygiene.

The three founders of Hydrophil – Christoph Laudon, Wanja Johannes Weskott and Sebastian Bensmann – call themselves “water lovers”. And that’s what the name of their company means, since the name comes from the Ancient Greek, “hýdor” meaning water and “phílos”, loving. Their common interests and a blog post by Sebastian on “Water consumption in textile production” gave rise to a joint idea in 2013: They wanted to bring their own products to the market – fair-trade and vegan products manufactured in a water-friendly way. Water-friendly products are products whose components of natural origin have been cultivated without artificial irrigation and which, when composted, leave no harmful residues in the groundwater. Hydrophil’s first product – a T-shirt – proved enormously popular and prompted the founders to expand the range. The company now specialises in the manufacture of hygiene and personal care products – because, what better place to save water than in the bathroom?

By the way: Hydrophil donates 10% of the profits to the non-profit association Viva con Agua de Sankt Pauli e.V., which is committed to providing access to clean drinking water and sanitary facilities for people in countries of the global south.