4 Eco-Friendly Hair Brushes: Good Hairdos Without Environmental Frizz

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.

Note: Our brand rating system assesses brands based on multiple sustainability-related criteria, including things like climate action, biodiversity impact, and ethics in the supply chain. Brands need to opt in to be rated. You can find rated brands in our directory.

Price: 11.99

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.

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.

Price: $21.99

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 is probably most well-known for sustainable 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.

Price: $11

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 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.

Price: $50 – $80

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.

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 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.

Here is the criteria we used to come up with this list:

Materials:

Much like our criteria for zero waste shampoo and conditioner, materials (or ingredients) matter!

Wood, bamboo, and cork handles are great, even better when they’re sustainably sourced or FSC-certified and finished with natural waxes and oils.

Bristles are a little tricker. On one hand, boar hair (or softer goat hair for a hair brush for a zero waste baby) is very eco friendly because it’s totally natural. On the other, it does conflict with veganism, so we leave that one up to you.

If brushing with part of a boar turns you off, we tried to include vegan options such as plant-based cellulose bristles and bamboo bristles.

To attach the two together, a natural rubber cushion base is best.

Supply chain and green business practices:

Good hairdos should come with artisans earning living wages, planted trees, inclusivity-minded business practices, or donated profits through organizations like 1% for the Planet.

Carbon offsets and eco friendly shipping materials make for extra good hair days.

What is the purpose of the article?
We’re highlighting a selection of hair brushes that meet higher sustainability criteria — such as plastic-free designs, sustainable materials, ethical manufacturing and durability — so that readers can choose eco-friendly hair brushes while maintaining good hair-care habits.

What defines an “eco-friendly hair brush”?
An eco-friendly hair brush is one made from renewable, natural or recycled materials (e.g., FSC-certified beechwood, bamboo, natural rubber cushion, plant-fibre or boar bristles), avoids single-use plastics, is durable and often compostable or recyclable at end-of-life.

Why should someone switch to an eco-friendly hair brush?
Because many conventional hair brushes are made from plastic and synthetic components that contribute to landfill waste, microplastics and often lack durability — switching to a sustainable hair brush reduces environmental impact and can also be gentler on hair and scalp.

What materials and design features should a buyer look for in a sustainable hair brush?
Key features include handles made from FSC-certified wood or plant-based materials (like bamboo), bristles made from natural fibres (plant-fibre tampico, boar bristles) or reusable vegan alternatives, a cushion base of natural rubber, minimal packaging and preferably plastic-free components.

Are eco-friendly hair brushes suitable for all types of hair?
Yes — many sustainable hair brushes are designed for a variety of hair types (straight, curly, thick, thin) and often deliver performance comparable to conventional brushes while offering better environmental credentials.

We’ve evolved from the idea that we need to “treat” our hair to 100 brush strokes a day (this is nothing more than a myth according to the American Academy of Dermatology).

But once your hair brush can brush no more, or when you’re fed up with the breakage and damage caused by a plastic hair brush, you’re now equipped with the knowledge of what makes for the most eco friendly hair brushes.

Don’t forget: If you prefer wearing your hair up, make sure you’re styling it with something equally gentle. Check out our list of sustainable accessories for some eco friendly hair ties that won’t break the planet with our plait.

As much as we love a good sustainable hat, we hope this list inspired you to show off those luscious locks. Spread the good word and inspire others to do the same!

Editor’s note: This article was originally published in November 2021 and updated in November 2024 to include new images, refreshed copy, and an expanded FAQ section.