I tried a sustainable electric toothbrush and it cleaned like a dentist's polish
There has been a lot of hype online about Suri's sustainable electric toothbrush. Billed as the "last toothbrush you'll ever buy" and endorsed by clean-living Goop queen Gwyneth Paltrow, we decided to put its green credentials - and the quality of its clean - to the test.
"Every toothbrush you’ve ever owned still exists." According to Suri, four billion toothbrushes are thrown away each year - enough to circle the earth 12 times. It is for this reason that the brand has developed a repairable and recyclable electric toothbrush. Pledging to do away with "needless innovation, outrageously wasteful packaging, and millions more plastic components and batteries that will never be recycled", Suri is a brand on a mission, promising "a design that delivers an exceptional clean for your teeth with a minimal impact on our planet".
Compared to my trusty old Oral-B Vitality Pro toothbrush, which usually retails at £50, and is currently half-price at just £25 from Boots, the Suri is in a league of its own. The Oral-B has given me a consistent clean over the years, but the battery life is starting to dwindle, and now more or less lives on its charging stand, or requires a full charge every two days.
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Disappointingly, you cannot replace the battery in Oral-B electric toothbrushes. According to Oral-B, the battery is contained within the electronics of the toothbrush handle and the unit is sealed to keep it watertight, so its time had unfortunately come to an end and I was in the market for a new toothbrush. The idea that, if the promised 40-day battery life on the Suri starts to flag, I will be able to send it off for repair rather than replacing the whole unit is a massive plus.
According to the Suri website: "Many electric toothbrushes are sealed and horrible for landfills (or worse oceans) so we designed ours in a modular way so we can easily repair them for customers or recycle the components at end of life. If your brush is under warranty we will fix it for free otherwise we will share a reasonable fee to repair it. "
The Suri toothbrush handle is about a third of the size of a traditional electric brush (Reach plc)
The Suri toothbrush handle is about a third of the size of a traditional electric brush (Reach plc)The green credentials don't stop there - Suri brush heads (£14.40 for a pack of three on Amazon Subscribe & Save) are made from plant-based corn starch and the bristles are made from castor oil, reducing reliance on petroleum-based plastics. Suri even recycles the heads for free in the UK through its in-house recycling scheme - simply return the used heads in a pre-paid post bag that comes in the box when you order direct from Suri. Boots shoppers can recycle electric toothbrush heads through the in-stoe Recycle at Boots scheme.
Suri arrived packaged entirely in FSC-certified cardboard (Reach plc)Packaged entirely in FSC-certified cardboard, there is not a plastic blister pack in sight - a major peeve of mine - so we were off to a flying start. The body of the brush feels lighter and thinner than your average electric toothbrush, but sturdy thanks to its aluminium casing. It arrived in a beautiful sage green colour (Winter Fern) and looks incredibly sleek and off the counter on its magnetic mirror mount. Unsightly toothpaste stains on the counter beneath my toothbrush appear to be a thing of the past - bonus! Suri is also available in three other colours - Midnight Black, Morning Waves, or Sea Mist.
While it looks stylish and boasts an impressive number of eco-friendly features, the most important task of any toothbrush is to clean your teeth to a high standard, keeping your oral health in top condition. I was sceptical when fitting the head and feeling how soft the castor bean oil bristles were - I've always opted for a medium or firm brush head in the past to achieve a more thorough clean. While I would have preferred the option to buy brush heads with a firmer bristle, I had underestimated the cleaning power the brush would have to offer.
Suri's sustainable electric toothbrush in Winter Fern (Reach plc)
The magnetic mirror mount adds a stylish touch to your bathroom (Reach plc)The motor produces 33,000 powerful sonic vibrations per minute, but is surprisingly quiet compared to traditional oscillating-rotating models. The two-minute timer switches the toothbrush off automatically and delivers haptic alerts every 30 seconds, so you know how long to spend on each quadrant of your mouth. While the sensation of a sonic toothbrush can feel unusual at first if you are used to traditional brushes, after first use it felt as if I had just had a scale and polish at the dentist.
Currently retailing at £75 for the brush-only, or £95 for the brush and UV charging case from the Suri website, and is the same price at Boots, but you can currently save 10 per cent when you spend £60 on selected Electrical Beauty, making it £85.50 for the full package with charging case. The price point sits comfortably alongside its competitors - you can expect to pay well into three figures for the higher-end Oral-B and Philips models, which are packed with extra features.
If you are in the market for a brush with all of the latest bells and whistles, this is not the brush for you - Suri designers proudly state that they have pared back on "gimmicks" in a bid to make the brush simpler to repair. With this in mind, you do forego common features on other higher-end brushes like Bluetooth connectivity and pressure sensors. It does have two settings - everyday clean and a polish mode, with a simple function to memorise your preferred setting, indicated by the colour of the LED light on the handle.
The days of searching for a shaver socket or adaptor to charge my toothbrush appear to be a thing of the past - Suri's USB 2.0 charging cable means you can plug in and charge with most standard phone USB charger plugs you'll have lying around the house. A real selling point for me with Suri is the UV cleaning travel case, which boasts a built-in UV-C cleaning light that kills 99.9% of bacteria. Suri recommends using the UV cleaning cycle around once a week, so after a few days of use, I popped the brush in the case and gave it a go. The cleaning cycle takes just one minute which is indicated by a blue light on the top of the case which turns off when complete.
The UV case cleans the brush in 60 seconds (Reach plc)The case itself does not contain a battery, to avoid wasteful additional batteries, so the case will need to be plugged in to work, but the good news is, the case also doubles up as a charger for your toothbrush - a feature that I imagine will come in handy while travelling. You could even charge your toothbrush on the go if you have a USB power bank to hand. The case does not come with the Suri toothbrush as standard - it's an optional extra which will add around £20 to the total cost of the bundle, or £25 when purchased separately if you think you will make use of it.
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Overall, I was really impressed with the quality, clean, style and eco-friendly features of the Suri toothbrush. Yes - it's a bit pricier than other models available right now, but in my opinion, the sustainability of the build, and the idea that this truly could be the last toothbrush I ever need, makes it well-worth the £95 price tag.
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