7 Reasons People Are Switching to PRIMALS Electric Toothbrushes
Microplastics, a motor an inch from your brain, glue, mold, and a "plant-based" fix that isn't one. Here's what a million people found out about their electric toothbrush, and why they switched to the first natural bristle electric toothbrush, in boar or horse bristle.
What Clinicians Say After Putting It in Front of Their Patients
Shared by 1,000+ clinicians with their patients. Evaluations powered by FrontrowMD. Larger-scale research is still developing.
Every Nylon Bristle Sheds Microplastics Into Your Mouth, and a Sonic Motor Speeds It Up
A 2025 study measured nylon toothbrush bristles shedding about 3,000 particles per use, up to 2.3 million a year per person. On a sonic brush, tens of thousands of strokes a minute wear that nylon faster than any manual brush could.
- 🔬About 3,000 particles per useMeasured on nylon toothbrushes. Twice a day, every day. (Ecotoxicology and Environmental Safety, 2025)
- 📅Up to 2.3 million a year, per personShedding rises fast with fresh bristles, then keeps going for the life of the head.
- ⚡Sonic motors wear nylon fasterFriction, flex, and recovery, 62,000 times a minute, on a plastic filament.
- 🩸Gum tissue absorbs, it doesn't rinseParts of the mouth are over 20 times more permeable than skin, so particles don't simply wash away.
Castor Oil Bristles Are Still Nylon. Just Partly Made From Beans.
If you bought a castor oil brush to go plastic-free, the bristle never actually changed. Castor beans are processed into nylon-11, a synthetic polymer in the same family as standard nylon. "Plant-based" describes the feedstock, not the material in your mouth.
- 🫘Castor oil is the feedstock, not the materialThe bean goes in. A plastic filament comes out. Nylon-11 is still nylon.
- 🔬Still a plastic polymer, still sheddingA nylon-11 bristle wears down under a sonic motor like any nylon bristle. Shedding from castor bristles hasn't been quantified, but it's plastic, and plastic bristles shed.
- 🧲Same motor problemThe castor oil electric read 70 µT magnetic on our meter against 88 µT for the leading sonic brush. A lower-plastic label, not a lower-EMF motor.
- 💧Same hollow plastic head underneathSwap the bristle and the cavity that traps water is still there.
The Microplastics Don't Stay in Your Mouth. Researchers Keep Finding Them Inside the Body.
Once particles get past the gums, they travel. In the last few years researchers have found microplastics in blood, in artery plaque, in placentas, and in brain tissue, and they don't travel alone: nylon carries BPA and phthalates with it.
- 🧠In brain tissue, and climbingBrain samples from 2024 held about 50% more plastic than samples from 2016. (Nature Medicine, 2025)
- 🫀In artery plaque, with a risk signalPeople with plastic in their artery plaque had a 4.5x higher risk of heart attack, stroke, or death over three years. (NEJM, 2024)
- 🧬Linked to hormone markers in men and womenMicroplastics found in every human testis sample tested; phthalate exposure associated with lower testosterone in men and women. (Toxicological Sciences 2024; JCEM 2014)
- 🤰In placentas and bloodDetected in human placentas in 2021 and in the blood of most people tested in 2022. (Environment International)
These studies report where particles were found and statistical associations. They are not proof that a toothbrush causes any condition. They are a reason to stop adding to the load where you easily can.
Every Electric Toothbrush Runs a Motor an Inch From Your Brain. Almost None Tell You What It Gives Off.
EMF is the electromagnetic field every powered device gives off. It has two parts: an electric field from the voltage and a magnetic field from the current running through the motor. Both fall off fast with distance, which is why distance is the whole game, and why a toothbrush is the one device you can't hold away from your head.
- 📏Fields drop with distance, a toothbrush gets zeroYou keep the phone off your body and the router out of the bedroom. The brush sits on your jaw, four minutes a day, for years.
- 🧲The magnetic field is the one that matters hereIt comes from the current in the motor, and on a mainstream sonic brush it sits far closer to the international public-exposure reference level than most people would guess.
- 🌱The castor oil "eco" electric is no betterThe bristle label changed. The motor underneath didn't.
- 🤐No leading brand prints a readingBattery life is on the box. The EMF number isn't. So we put every brush on the same meter and filmed it.
All electric toothbrushes emit some EMF, and the brushes we tested stay within the international public-exposure reference level (ICNIRP, a scientific body, not a government safety limit). No brush here is unsafe. PRIMALS simply runs low, for anyone who wants to cut the exposure they press to their head twice a day. Not a health claim.
Plastic Heads Are Molded Hollow. Water Sits Inside and Mold Grows Where You Can't Clean.
Every click-on plastic head has a cavity between head and shaft. It never fully dries, and the motor drives whatever grew overnight straight back into the mouth.
- 💧A cavity that holds water between brushesMolded hollow to save plastic. You can't rinse it, and you can't see it.
- 🌙Damp, dark, twelve hours at a timeSolid-head brushes carried significantly less microbial contamination than hollow heads in 8 of 10 comparisons. (J Dent Hyg 88(4):237)
- 🔁The motor sends it backOn the next brush, it's driven into the mouth, including toward the throat.
- 🎋PRIMALS heads are solid bambooHeat-carbonized, no hollow chamber, and boar and horse bristle are naturally antimicrobial, so the head dries instead of breeding.
The PRIMALS Electric Toothbrush: Zero Microplastics, Hand-Woven, No Glue, Low EMF Engineered
The first natural bristle electric toothbrush. Real boar or horse bristle hand-woven into solid bamboo, on a motor engineered for low EMF: roughly 30x less electric field and 11x less magnetic field than the leading sonic brush, measured on the same meter and filmed. Still a full 62,000 movements per minute.
- 🐗Boar bristle for a firmer, deeper cleanThe sturdier natural bristle, for healthy gums that want a thorough scrub. Zero nylon.
- 🐴Horse bristle for sensitive gums and dental workThe softest natural bristle, for receding gums, crowns, implants, or aligners. Zero nylon.
- 🧲Why it runs low EMFThe field comes from the motor's current, not its speed. Less current, no Bluetooth, no app. 8 µT and 10 V/m on the meter.
- 🧵Hand-woven into solid bamboo, no gluePlastic heads staple nylon into glue wells an inch from your gums. Ours are set by hand. No staples, no adhesive, no hollow chamber.
- ⚡Full sonic power62,000 movements per minute, five modes, three intensities, up to 365 days per charge, IPX7 waterproof.
- 🎁Free gifts with every bundlePick from the oral and body care range. Ships next day from California.
PRIMALS vs the Leading Plastic Electric vs the Castor Oil Electric
| What you're brushing with | PRIMALS Electric | Leading plastic electric | Castor oil electric |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bristle material | Real boar or horse | Nylon | Nylon-11 (castor-derived) |
| Sheds microplastics | No | Yes, up to 2.3M a year | Yes, still plastic |
| Magnetic field on the meter | 8 µT | 88 µT | 70 µT |
| Electric field on the meter | 10 V/m | 300 V/m | 100 V/m |
| Head construction | Solid bamboo | Hollow plastic | Hollow plastic |
| How bristles are set | Hand-woven, no glue | Stapled in glue wells | Stapled in glue wells |
| EMF reading published | Yes, filmed | No | No |
| Movements per minute | 62,000 | Comparable | Comparable |
"Leading plastic electric" refers to a leading plastic sonic toothbrush as a category; "castor oil electric" to a castor-oil-bristle sonic toothbrush as a category. Microplastic figures are published research on nylon-bristle brushes as a category; castor bristle shedding has not been quantified. EMF readings are PRIMALS' own, same meter, same distance, same mode.
Over a Million People Have Switched to PRIMALS
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One Low EMF Handle, Two Natural Bristles
Same motor, same solid bamboo head, same zero-nylon promise. Choose how it feels on your gums.
🐗 Boar Bristle Electric
The firmer natural bristle, for a deeper, thorough clean on healthy gums.
- ✅ Real boar bristle, zero nylon, zero microplastics
- ✅ 8 µT magnetic, 10 V/m electric on the meter
- ✅ Hand-woven into solid bamboo, no glue
- ✅ 62,000 movements per minute, 365-day battery
🐴 Horse Bristle Electric
The softest natural bristle, for sensitive or receding gums, crowns, implants, and aligners.
- ✅ Real horse bristle, zero nylon, zero microplastics
- ✅ 8 µT magnetic, 10 V/m electric on the meter
- ✅ Hand-woven into solid bamboo, no glue
- ✅ 62,000 movements per minute, 365-day battery
Founded in Hawaii by a Woman Who Was Done Reading Labels
Lauryn started PRIMALS because every product she picked up turned out to be plastic, synthetic, or both, and the clean version didn't exist. It began with one boar bristle toothbrush. Now it's more than 20 products, and over a million people. The electric was built to the same standard: remove a toxin, don't add a feature.
Everything You Might Be Wondering
Is the PRIMALS Electric EMF-free?
Why does it run lower EMF than other electrics?
Is 88 µT dangerous?
Does a natural bristle clean as well as nylon?
Boar or horse, which should I get?
Are castor oil bristles really plastic?
How is the head different from a plastic one?
What's in the box, and how long does the battery last?
Zero microplastics. No glue. No hollow head. 8 µT on the meter. Boar or horse.
The first natural bristle electric toothbrush, low EMF engineered, for anyone who wants to cut the exposure they press to their head twice a day. Every restock has sold out.