When you discover a product you love is not actually vegan!! OML!

I recently came across a post by the owner of a local vegan specialty store announcing they will no longer stocking Go Bamboo toothbrushes due to discovering the product used an animal product based wax to coat the wooden toothbrushes.  What the eff! I was dismayed! This was my favourite, NZ-designed environmentally friendly toothbrush and then to find out that it wasn’t even vegan – never has such a seemingly minor additive to a product caused such uproar than in the vegan community. Possibly the biggest bust since vegan cheese company Daiya sold to a pharmaceutical company that tests on animals (shock horror! But wait doesn’t the entire medical industry test on animals! Seriously, so I suppose you won’t take Panadol for a headache either or antibiotics the next time you get an infection? C’mon now! Where do we draw the line! At least this company is willing to back a vegan cheese company…).

But I digress. Ahhh, where was I? Go Bamboo toothbrushes and the shocking discovery that they contain a non-vegan wax coating. Of course I wasn’t going to take this one person on the Internet’s word for it so of course I went straight to the source and messaged the companies Facebook page to ask them directly. I also wanted to check if the issue expanded to other Go Bamboo products as I also love their wooden pegs. They also make the only fully biodegradable cotton buds I have found so far! Thankfully these two products are vegan safe!

I'll still support the company because I do like Go Bamboo’s other products like the bamboo clothes pegs and the biodegradable cotton buds since these are vegan friendly and I like that the company owners are from Gisborne, a town that is still one of my favourite spots in New Zealand and a former home town.

Now though I am on the look out for a new biodegradable toothbrush brand and open to suggestions on good companies to support.

What other brands of biodegradable toothbrushes are there available in NZ and Australia?