SURI Toothbrush review

Over the last few years, I have been moving to achieve a lower environmental impact from my day-to-day activities. So far, the list includes: having a solar-powered house; reducing paper use at work and moving entirely to digital; buying a laptop that adheres to the Right To Repair; using toothpaste tablets instead of tubes; and buying an electric car. I aim to make most things in my life both sustainable and low-impact environmentally.

SURI or Sustainable Rituals is a London-based company that designs sustainable toothbrushes that recently appeared on my radar thanks to a Facebook advert. I'm glad they did, because the toothbrush I want to talk about here is more than an ordinary one and has something few other toothbrushes can boast.

The boast I mention here is its positive environmental impact. As they point out on their site:

Each year 4 billion toothbrushes are thrown away; enough to circle the earth 12 times.

Not many toothbrushes can boast that the entire product is meant to last or be 100% recyclable. Sure, you get more environmentally friendly choices like bamboo toothbrushes, which eliminate the need for plastic, but their durability is finite, and they eventually need replacing. With electric toothbrushes, only the head needs to be replaced. Most toothbrushes use plastic for the head. This means more waste and more landfill. I always felt quite sick with chucking toothbrush heads, and I'm happy that I no longer worry as the SURI toothbrush has plant-based heads, making it more sustainable and better for the environment.

The toothbrush cost me £80, which is steep compared with other manufacturers, and it seems like the 'green tax', where you pay more for a product that is better for the environment, is the reason for this.

Design and specifications

Firstly, the design of the toothbrush is both lightweight and comfortable to hold. Secondly, compared with the toothbrush it replaces, it feels both modern and well-designed. One thing I do think the toothbrush is missing is magnetic induction for charging, rather than relying on two charging pins on the bottom (which are likely to wear).

The brush heads are easy to remove and feel very secure on the brush.

In terms of specifications, the battery that is featured seems to last quite a while. I have yet to charge it after three weeks of two minutes in the morning and two minutes in the evening, so it's doing well. The brush is a sonic brush rather than a rotating brush head. Research has shown that these are more effective than manual brushing, and other research has shown that they are more effective than rotating brushes. I personally prefer sonic brushes because they are easier to use, and I see a more noticeable difference. 

SURI also includes a magnetic mirror mount, so when you are done, you can immediately hang it on the mirror - neat!

The charging dock (pictured) is very basic. It uses a USB Type-A connector, so you can plug it into any USB power adapter and forget about it. I'm happy that SURI gives you one of these as I plan to charge my toothbrush in my bathroom cabinet when I get it installed.

However, one of my favourite features of the brush is the fabulous case (pictured). The case is optional, but I'd recommend it to anyone. When I go away say camping or on a holiday (when I wrote this I was on my way to York) all I do is pick up my case and stick it in my backpack and I'm ready to go - no longer do I need to hunt down a resealable bag from my kitchen to include all my toiletries - no, I just grab my toothpaste tablets and toothbrush case and I'm ready to go. And if the toothbrush battery runs low, it charges via USB-C through the case. 

I haven't mentioned the other added benefit of using the case - UV cleaning. Whilst the toothbrush is in the case, it not only charges but also emits UV light to clean it. How cool is that?!

Conclusion

The SURI toothbrush is one of a kind, and I'm very happy to have bought it. My main criticisms are of its own mission - if SURI's toothbrush is to become a sustainable toothbrush, I feel it needs to sell its replacement toothbrush heads to retailers across the country such as Boots, as I foresee myself ordering one month and then another the next month, whereas if Boots had a large stock of them here, there would be less transportation required. I see this all the time, the amount of CO2 released by transport for small items is quite substantial and we need to look at better ways of sending or distributing products. 

I am absolutely in love with the design of this brush - it's not often I have a lot to say about a brush, but the charging case and the feel of the brush are definitely some of the best features I have ever seen in a toothbrush. They've thought of everything!