My OperaToothbrushes
Thursday, August 13, 2009 5:25:16 PM
I bought a new toothbrush today! It is the Colgate max-fresh with a scented handle. It smells of mint, yummy. At first glance it is quite simple, but stop and take another look. It is half made of hard blue stuff, and then the white mint smelling rods in there, and then some soft green stuff where I would be gripping it. There are also white areas in the border between the blue and green areas. They have a special bumpy area of green stuff for where my thumb goes. It has loads of parts all put together, it has multi length bristles, bendable neck, et cetera.
According to Wikipedia, people have cleaned their teeth for millennia, using mostly plant fibers or animal hair. The first toothbrush that looked like a toothbrush was made in China more than 600 years ago, from hogs hair. Then, wen the toothbrush was mass produced for the first time in 1885, the hair used was from siberian boars. That's not too much development for half a millennia of toothbrush design, do you think..? The handle had however evolved from bamboo to animal bones. I would have preferred the former. The plastic fibres were first brought to the toothbrush in 1938, so they have been around for less than 100 years, and a lot of development has occured in that period. So fast compared to the 500 years of pig hair. By the way they made pig hair look quite awesome as well, somehow:
And look at all these different toothbrushes from long ago (but after they started with plastic fibers)
I actually find the whole subject very interesting. And I wonder how many people make a living out of designing toothbrushes... Then and now. they vary them so much now adays, although not as much as the above picture, but still they have so many different qualities and finesses. Who thinks of all this? Now wiki again tells us that Colgate-Palmolive (since when were they the same company?) has 36 thousand employees, but they don't just make toothbrushes, a whole lot of other stuff as well. And I would think that most of the people working for them work in the factories or in advertising, and not so many in research (finding a newer cleaner hand soap, or toothpaste) and design (the toothbrush, the bottle of soap, etc.) But this is just speculation. Apart from Colgate you have dozens of other companies also, I guess, doing the same stuff. My conclusion is it must be a lot of people alltogether. What an interesting job it must be. And the sad thing is people don't really appreciate it. Toothbrushes are completely awesome, but nobody stops and thinks over how much work is put into the design of them, how many smart people are thinking hard to come up with ways to make them even better.
So remember that, when you brush your teeth in the evening, that a lot of people have worked to give you this dental privilege.
The end
According to Wikipedia, people have cleaned their teeth for millennia, using mostly plant fibers or animal hair. The first toothbrush that looked like a toothbrush was made in China more than 600 years ago, from hogs hair. Then, wen the toothbrush was mass produced for the first time in 1885, the hair used was from siberian boars. That's not too much development for half a millennia of toothbrush design, do you think..? The handle had however evolved from bamboo to animal bones. I would have preferred the former. The plastic fibres were first brought to the toothbrush in 1938, so they have been around for less than 100 years, and a lot of development has occured in that period. So fast compared to the 500 years of pig hair. By the way they made pig hair look quite awesome as well, somehow:
And look at all these different toothbrushes from long ago (but after they started with plastic fibers)
I actually find the whole subject very interesting. And I wonder how many people make a living out of designing toothbrushes... Then and now. they vary them so much now adays, although not as much as the above picture, but still they have so many different qualities and finesses. Who thinks of all this? Now wiki again tells us that Colgate-Palmolive (since when were they the same company?) has 36 thousand employees, but they don't just make toothbrushes, a whole lot of other stuff as well. And I would think that most of the people working for them work in the factories or in advertising, and not so many in research (finding a newer cleaner hand soap, or toothpaste) and design (the toothbrush, the bottle of soap, etc.) But this is just speculation. Apart from Colgate you have dozens of other companies also, I guess, doing the same stuff. My conclusion is it must be a lot of people alltogether. What an interesting job it must be. And the sad thing is people don't really appreciate it. Toothbrushes are completely awesome, but nobody stops and thinks over how much work is put into the design of them, how many smart people are thinking hard to come up with ways to make them even better.
So remember that, when you brush your teeth in the evening, that a lot of people have worked to give you this dental privilege.
The end
