Silicone grooming tools with eco-friendly function

I don’t know about you, but in the run-up to Father’s Day and Christmas, my Instragram adverts are overwhelmed by products aimed at the ‘difficult to buy for men’ in one’s life. Foremost among these for me is Tooletries. This is a strongly male-marketed line of silicone grooming products, mostly for showering and bathing. The website looks a bit like a wasp, with yellow and black predominating, and not a single drop of pink in sight. It’s certainly not a particularly modern take on masculinity, but are the products any good?

I’ve written before about how some companies will use targeted advertisements to reach audiences aside from their primary one. In particular Dollar Shave Club, which went through a phase of marketing itself as a feminist company in targeted adverts, while still being aggressively ‘bro-centric’ in all of its primary marketing and actual output. It was a similar effect which finally got me to buy a product from Tooletries. For, shocking though it may be, I did not buy Tooletries for a man, but for myself! In between the big holidays, I’d been seeing adverts similar to the one below. Now, I have always loved these netting loofahs (I wouldn’t really call them a loofah but we’ll go with it for simplicity’s sake). I far prefer them to sponges, flannels, etc. But they are also made of plastic, and don’t last very long at all. I shudder to think how many of them I have got through in my lifetime. So the offer of something that feels the same and works just as well, but which I won’t be replacing several times a year, had me intrigued. Like so many of us, I am trying to reduce my consumption of plastic (especially given the state of recycling in Australia), so I thought it’d be worth giving this product a go and seeing how I got on.

The Products

I ended up buying a Silicone Body Scrubber, and a Silicone Back Scrubber, the former in a burgundy colour, the latter in black. I’ll admit that the back scrubber is not in the least bit replacing an essential item in my current arsenal of tools – I just thought it might be fun and feel nice! I think I made use of a 10% off introductory offer, so the Body Scrubber cost $25.95, and the Body Scrubber $39.95. This is obviously a lot more expensive than a plastic loofah (perhaps even a year’s worth of them), but they are advertised as lasting longer, so it should pay off on a cost per use basis. I can’t really speak the skin-improving qualities they claim for their products – I haven’t really noticed any difference, but this wasn’t what I was buying them for, so can’t complain!

Body scrubber

This is the item that was actually going to help me reduce my plastic consumption – so what did I think of it? On first inspection, it doesn’t really feel like it’s going to do the same job as the loofah. The silicone is sturdy and it feels well-made, but it doesn’t have a very similar texture to loofahs. The main difference is that it feels less abrasive, so you’re not going to get the same slight exfoliating effect. When I first used it I couldn’t get it to lather very much, so again it felt a little disappointing. However, my disappointment did not last! I soon got used to it, and realised that with a bit more water and if you work it in your hands a little, you can get a good amount of lather. It still doesn’t exfoliate quite like a loofah, it is more of a massaging feel, but it generally does a great job of replacing the loofah. The silicone bristles are quite short and stiff, which stops it from just feeling like you’re wiping yourself with a plastic cloth. I have been using it for many months now and it hasn’t degraded at all, so I think it has already earned its place as a swap. It has a little hook, and I’ll admit it took me embarrassingly long to realise that the handle can also be used as a suction cup to stick it to your shower wall. They do offer a hook you can buy in a bundle, but I didn’t find it necessary. I would have got through probably two or more loofahs in the time I’ve been using the body scrubber, so it’s working out well.

Back scrubber

As predicted, this has not become the essential item it might have. It looks pretty much identical to the body scrubber (just stuck on a long handle), but the texture of the bristles is actually quite different. They’re much softer, with more rounded ends. So you don’t get quite as much of a scrub with this one, but it’s still effective. After the initial novelty, I didn’t find myself reaching for this on a daily basis. Until a change happened which is slightly ironic given the marketing of the product: I got pregnant! Well, to be more precise, I reached the latter stages of pregnancy. Anyone who’s gone through it will tell you that it gets more and more difficult to move as your baby gets bigger. You start waddling, and bending over becomes a thing of the past! (You can read some of my thoughts on being pregnant here.) Moving about and reaching down in the shower was becoming very uncomfortable, so the back scrubber came into its own! Suddenly I was using it all the time, and finding it incredibly helpful. This will maybe ignite the question of whether you wash you legs (I think it’s bizarre not to!) – I certainly found the scrubber helpful for doing this in my heavy third-trimester body. The hook they offer would be slightly more useful with the back scrubber, as it doesn’t have a suction cup. But I have managed perfectly well just propping it against the wall in the corner of the shower. So this item unexpectedly ended up being really useful, and even now, post-pregnancy, I use it more than I used to.

Are they worth it?

Overall I think these are a really good option for anyone (of any gender!) who is trying to reduce their plastic consumption. I’ve found them to be effective, last really well, and be easy and comfortable to use. The initial investment is higher than a lot of more standard items, but their longevity makes it worth the cost. I’ll leave you to judge whether they make the perfect gift for the dads in your life, but I for one would be happy to receive them.

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Have you tried Tooletries? What did you think of them? It turns out that I’m a bit of a sucker for Instagram adverts, and seem to often purchase things that I, thankfully, end up liking! Perhaps this is just a sign that, at least in one way, the algorithm works? What have you bought based on an Instagram advert, and was it worth it? I hope this review was useful if you’ve seen Tooletries pop up in your own adverts!