Natural Deodorant
The bamboo is the part in the photograph
Here's the open secret of the bamboo bathroom aisle. The handle is bamboo, which is the bit you see. The rest of it — the bristles on a toothbrush, the tip on a cotton bud, the motor inside an electric handle — gets a good deal less attention.
Toothbrushes are the clearest case. The bristles are usually nylon, and the instructions quietly tell you to pull every one out with pliers before the handle can go anywhere useful. Nobody does that. So a product bought to avoid plastic goes in the bin with its plastic still attached, and everyone feels better anyway.
We're not going to pretend every component we sell came from a plant, because across ten different products that isn't true. What we will do is name the parts that didn't, on each product page, so the decision is yours rather than an assumption you were nudged into.
Against the plastic one
The plastic version works fine. That has never been the argument. The argument is what it's made of, what happens to it afterwards, and whether anyone told you the truth about either.
| Zaremora | The plastic version | |
|---|---|---|
Does the job properly |
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Costs a few pounds and lasts months |
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Handle from a plant rather than petroleum |
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Every non-bamboo component named on the page |
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Care instructions, so it doesn't go mouldy in a month |
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No vague "eco" badge standing in for the details |
Made from what grows back
Zaremora started with a simple question: what are the things you use every day actually made of? The bathroom is where that question gets least attention and matters most — a shelf of objects you touch every single morning, nearly all of them moulded plastic, nearly all replaced within the year.
Bamboo is a grass. It regrows from the same root system after cutting and reaches full height in a few years rather than the decades a tree needs. For a handle you hold twice a day and replace twice a year, that's a far better starting point than oil.
We publish what things are made of, including the parts that aren't plant-based. Bristles, cotton, motors, packaging — if it isn't bamboo, the page says so.
Questions
Will the bamboo go mouldy?
Only if you leave it sitting in water, which is the single most common way people ruin a bamboo bathroom item. Bamboo is a plant, and a wet plant in a warm humid room will eventually grow something. Shake it off after use and stand it upright so it drains and gets air — not face-down in a puddle at the bottom of a cup, and not lying flat on a wet sink. Do that and it lasts as long as it should.
Which parts aren't bamboo?
It varies by product, which is exactly why we put it in each description rather than making a blanket claim. On brushes it's the bristles — some of ours are genuinely plant-based, using miswak or sisal, and others are nylon because for certain jobs nothing else performs the same way yet. On cotton buds it's the cotton tip. On an electric handle it's the motor, the battery and the seals. Check the description on the item you're looking at; it'll tell you plainly.
Can I compost it when I'm done?
The bamboo handle is plant material, and that part is the straightforward bit. Whether it breaks down in a garden heap or needs an industrial facility depends on your local service, and those vary enormously. If the bristles are nylon they need to come out first, and we'd rather tell you that than let you bury a mouthful of plastic in the vegetable patch.
How often should I replace it?
For a toothbrush or a brush head, every three months or so, or sooner if the bristles start splaying outward — splayed bristles stop cleaning properly long before they look worn out. Combs, body brushes and soap dishes last years with reasonable care.
Will it splinter?
Not in normal use. Bamboo is sanded and sealed before it ever reaches you, and it's a dense, tight-grained material to begin with. Repeated soaking is what raises the grain and eventually roughens the surface, which brings you back to the same advice: let it dry out between uses.
How do I clean it?
Rinse and dry. For brushes, pull the hair or debris out regularly rather than letting it pack down into the base. Don't put bamboo in the dishwasher and don't soak it — heat and prolonged water are what split it.
Does it work as well as the plastic one?
For most of these, yes — a comb is a comb and a soap dish is a soap dish. Where there's a genuine difference in feel or performance we say so on the product page rather than glossing over it. Switching materials shouldn't mean accepting something that works worse, and if it did, we wouldn't sell it.
What if it arrives damaged?
Get in touch and we'll sort it out. Have a look at it when it arrives rather than a month later.