Things with our planet are getting a little hairy. If you think the wads of hair you clean out of your hairbrush every week is gag-worthy, just imagine all the plastics and microplastics filling landfills, oceans, and even our own stomachs.
Planet aside, our hair deserves better than plastic hair brushes that damage hair follicles and do a poor job of spreading natural oils. Eco-friendly hair brushes to the rescue! Proving good hair days just got a lot more mindful.
Now, speaking of good hair days let’s hair-ness our top sustainable hair brush brands.
Our Fave Eco-Friendly Brushes
With FSC-certified beechwood and super-soft goat hair bristles, Zefiro’s brush options comb just about every type of haircare need.
Redecker’s sustainable boar bristle hair brushes, combine plastic-free materials with durability for a lifetime of brushing.
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Index: Sustainable Hair Brushes
- Redecker Jump to section
- Brush With Bamboo Jump to section
- Zefiro Jump to section
- Saya Designs Jump to section
- Bristle Brush Co. Jump to section
Redecker
About Redecker’s Wooden Hair Brushes
If you’re looking for a sustainable hair brush—or any type of brush for that matter—Redecker can help.
Both their round and vegan brushes are plastic-free and made with all-natural materials like sustainably harvested beechwood or thermowood (wood treated with heat and steam to be resistant to decay).
For bristles, choose between one with Tampico plant fiber bristles or boar bristles (a byproduct from the meat industry).
To kill two birds with one brush and snag some eco-friendly pet products at the same time, they also have eco friendly cat and dog brushes.
We also love to see a diverse range of eco-friendly hair products breaching the sustainability space, so we’re thrilled to see they offer a wooden afro comb, too.
Redecker’s Ethical & Sustainability Practices
Friedel Redecker made his first handcrafted brush in 1935 and the company’s commitment to quality, durable brushes hasn’t wavered.
The Redecker family wants to curb our throwaway tendencies, which is why their brushes are designed to last, but can still be composted at the end of their lives.
Brush With Bamboo
About Brush With Bamboo’s Brushes
No surprise here, Brush With Bamboo makes eco-friendly bamboo hair brushes.
Both the comfortable pins and the handle are made with bamboo coated in a Carnauba wax finish. The cushion base is made from natural rubber, making the hair brush fully vegan and compostable.
They also have a smaller sustainable hair brush and a mini version of the same brush.
Brush With Bamboo’s Ethical & Sustainability Practices
Brush with Bamboo is probably most well-known for zero waste toothbrushes. For several years, they were the only ones with a totally plant-based toothbrush on the market.
This Green America Certified Business sends their products in environmentally friendly packaging.
Zefiro
About Zefiro’s Hair Brushes
Zefiro is another brand with brushes aplenty.
Between bottles, beards, and bodies, they’ve got a brush for almost every need.
In particular, they can help with little ones. After washing with organic baby shampoo, you can brush that barely-there hair with their soft eco friendly baby hair brush.
It’s made from FSC-certified beechwood and super-soft goat hair bristles.
Zefiro’s Ethical & Sustainability Practices
Zefiro uses all-natural materials across its entire line, meaning everything is compostable at the end of its life.
Their packaging is recycled and recyclable, too.
Saya Designs
About Saya Designs’ Hair Brushes
Saya Designs makes zero waste wooden hair brushes using FSC-certified wood from Germany.
All materials—including the bristles, made with natural wild boar bristles or vegan plant-based tampico fibers—are biodegradable.
They’re finished with natural wax and oils.
They also offer hair combs, hair forks, and hair oils.
Saya Designs’ Ethical & Sustainability Practices
Saya Designs is committed to connecting customers with nature, which is why all of their products are based on the natural shapes found in Indonesia.
They source some materials from waste, like wooden roots left over when the rest of the tree is used commercially.
The brushes are fully biodegradable and their packaging is made locally and recyclable.
Their small team of artisans in Germany are paid living wages and receive days off for religious holidays and cultural ceremonies.
They’re also a climate-positive company, member of 1% for the Planet, and partner with The Eden Reforestation Project to plant trees in countries like Madagascar, Nepal, Kenya, Haiti, and Indonesia.
Bristle Brush Co.
About Bristle Brush Co. London’s Hair Styling Brushes
Bristle Brush Co. London uses sustainable materials for their take on the best eco-friendly hair brushes: wood, cork, and ethically sourced boar bristle (so note these aren’t vegan).
Some of the brushes have nylon bristles – a vegan alternative but nylon is of course plastic.
They have several different styles available including styling brushes.
Bristle Brush Co. London’s Ethical & Sustainability Practices
The brand was founded by professional hairstylist Sophie Wiltshire—so you can experience spa-level haircare from the comfort of your home.
The brushes are lovingly handmade in a small coastal village in Spain.
By the way, these brushes have been chosen by the likes of Kate Middleton and actresses Ruth Langsford and Abbey Clancey!
Why Buy A Sustainable Hair Brush?
Why is it important to look for a sustainable hair brush for thick hair, thin hair, or anything in between?
Aside from the fact that plastic is having some hair-raising consequences for our planet, it can be considered hair’s worst enemy, too.
Plastic hair brushes are known to damage hair cuticles, irritate the scalp, and harshly impact thin hair.
Not only that, but they do a terrible job at distributing your scalp’s natural oils, making hair look greasier.
Wooden and bamboo brushes discourage frizz and static, and are far more gentle on thin, dry, or damaged hair. They also do much better at distributing natural oils, detangling and gently massaging the scalp.
Plus, in most cases, wooden or ethical bamboo hair brushes are made with 100% natural materials, meaning they can be composted at the end of their life—not take thousands of years to release dangerous microplastic or chemicals in landfills.
