Bushwalk Australia

Bought a couple of these today- Colgate wisp

http://www.colgatewisp.com.au/wisp/HomePage

They are designed as single use toothbrush- thought it would be great for overnight or bring along a bit of baking soda for use on multi-day... they are tiny and hardly weigh a thing (give or take a gram- lol). 9cm long and very slim.
Cheers
Lizzy

Hi Lizzy,
Great idea. They would be good if you could re-use them a fair bit - otherwise not so good. Have you seen the little finger pads that you use instead of a brush to clean teeth. Super weight saving. Still need to carry a small tube of paste though. Quite a while ago I saw them in the supermarket, but didn't purchase any at the time and now they either don't stock them or they are a discontinued product . Maybe they are easy to make - like a little finger sock of some type and if you could put some small bristles on it, you would have a new lightweight toothbrush. Now there's a thought.
Cheers
Andrew

I use a toothbrush from an airline toiletries bag, along with a small sample tube of toothpaste the dentist gave me. Weighs 30g total. When I use up my stock these wisp could be the way to go.

From other reports I have seen , they are pretty much single use.
You can get children's toothbrushes lighter and smaller than standard.
A little bit of baking soda goes a long way.
Franco

You could cut a proper toothbrush down to 9cm get its weight down to around 5g use it for years and reduce you carbon footprint by not using disposable ones
corvus

corvus wrote:You could cut a proper toothbrush down to 9cm get its weight down to around 5g use it for years and reduce you carbon footprint by not using disposable ones
corvus

hell, just cut it down so only the head remains!

Macca81 wrote:

corvus wrote:You could cut a proper toothbrush down to 9cm get its weight down to around 5g use it for years and reduce you carbon footprint by not using disposable ones
corvus

hell, just cut it down so only the head remains!

Trim the head too. Ten bristles is enough.

corvus wrote:You could cut a proper toothbrush down to 9cm get its weight down to around 5g use it for years and reduce you carbon footprint by not using disposable ones
corvus

better yet chew on a stick....

Don't worry about the bristles, just use your finger and a dab of powder!

Here's a quick picture next to a regular toothbrush.... and while you can certainly cut down a toothbrush, not use one, chew on a stick, yada yada yada- just thought someone may be interested... Having tried it out, the bristles are not super robust but it could definitley be more than single use. Anyway- all you gear freaks out there can hardly talk about carbon footprints
Cheers
Lizzy

Hahaha this thread got sillier and sillier.

I agree with Corvus. A cut down normal toothbrush is lighter than a small disposable, and better long-term for the environment.

I've never taken a toothbrush walking, and don't plan to start now. I figure that with all the BO, nobody is going to notice bad breath. And it's lighter than any of the other options mentioned so far*.

If I ever do start taking a toothbrush, I wouldn't bother using either toothpaste or bicarb or anything else with it. Even at home, I used a toothbrush without toothpaste for about 10 years, and had much less trouble during those 10 years that the previous 10 years, or the subsequent 8 years.

* the real reason though has nothing to do with weight - I'm just lazy

Can't stand furry teeth. So I always carry toothpaste on overnight walks. Can use a finger as a tooth brush if needs be, but I think I would give up walking altogether the day a tooth brush was too heavy to carry.

I manage to fit all of my toiletries into a plastic soap box... disposable shaver head one without the handle for the end of the walk , cut down toothbrush, cut down comb (for the kids... i have a hairdo like a tennis ball), soap, mirror, cotton buds, toothpaste, etc...I even have taken a piece of deoderant stick in a tiny snaplock in this kit(don't bother now)... wrap a large face washer around it as a towel etc... cant get crushed when jumpin on your pack in the mornings... and it can be easily lifted.... even by ill pigmies!

Liamy77 wrote:cant get crushed when jumpin on your pack in the mornings

I was starting to think that my camp site morning routine was a lot more mundane than yours... but then I figured that you're probably talking about the kids.

Son of a Beach wrote:I was starting to think that my camp site morning routine was a lot more mundane than yours... but then I figured that you're probably talking about the kids.

..... Oh er... yeah, the kids... yup that's it... so long as it isn't followed up with more questions?!

Truthfully: Yeah my kids like the "sack race" method of compression packing.... when ya get hollered at to hurry up so ya throw it all in.... and do an impersonation of a drunk sack-racer....