frequently asked questions

• For each 1% of the roughly 8bn people who live on this earth that use single use floss picks each day, that is 29 billion pieces of hard to recycle plastic littering our planet each year (8bn people x 1% x 7 days x 52 weeks = 29 billion), and that is before the packaging.
• If you buy friendly floss and use biodegradable floss with it, then rather than throwing away over 1000 plastic floss picks in 3 years and all the packaging that goes with them, you are throwing away just the biodegradable floss and way less packaging.

• A toothbrush can not reach between your teeth or into your gums where plaque and bacteria is likely to build – that is why dentists recommend we floss; some say it is as important as brushing your teeth!
• General advice is to floss once per day; we like to floss at night time before brushing teeth as you really get that extra-fresh clean feel that helps make it a habit. But the most important thing is that you do floss…at any time.

• Against floss picks we think so! Here is the math/s:
• If we assume a) a single-use floss pick costs 9p (average of products with range 4p to 23p per unit), b) friendly floss £17.75 and c) 50 meters of biodegradable floss £5.50 (11p per meter average of products with range 8p to 15p), d) you floss once every day and e) with friendly floss you use 30cm of floss each time, then you break even at the end of the first year and then save over £20 each year beyond – more than the cost of buying a friendly floss for a friend or a member of your family!
  • With a floss pick every year: 9p x 365 days = £32.85
  • With friendly floss first year: £17.75 + (£5.50 / 50m x 0.3m) x 365 = £29.80
  • With friendly floss second year on: (£5.50 / 50m x 0.3m) x 365 = £12.05
  • Saving each year from second year: £32.85 – £12.05 = £20.80

• Just like a metal teaspoon you should be able to use friendly floss without it banging against your teeth
• We’ve designed the tool to be small enough to fit in your mouth with your hand holding it. The arms of the tool should fit around your teeth and your hand should protect your teeth from the handle
• However if friendly floss is banging against your teeth you probably are using it too forcefully or are using the wrong type of floss for you:
• Use a floss that works for your teeth – if it is too large you may end up forcing it through the contact points between your teeth
• The right floss should pass relatively easily through the contact points when coming both in and out, using a slight left-right sawing motion (use a second hand to help with this action – see Tips video). Once in between teeth, reduce the tension to hug the teeth into gums and floss up and down, not with a sawing motion
• If the tool still bangs against your teeth you should stop using it

• We have improved our ways to load instruction videos – all three ways now use the central horn to cross the floss over so opposing forces ensure the floss holds in place.
• For both basic way and advanced way we suggest you wrap your middle finger (not index finger) as this leaves your index finger to better control the floss; holding floss down and for basic way; twisting the floss and for advanced way; putting on central horn when you rotate floss (please see Tips video)

• Some types of floss can fray, particularly biodegradable floss and if you have close teeth this can gradually cut the floss if you continually use just one part of the floss. This is a main reason we developed the advanced way, as during use you can easily rotate to a new part and use all of the loop to floss. To rotate, just put a finger on the central horn and pull one side of the loop (see Tips video). The advanced way also gives the best control and it uses the least floss!

Please visit our shipping page for more information about how we handle shipping.

Please visit our returns policies page for more information about how we handle returns.

• No but this product is made from stainless steel with no moving parts, so should be very durable. Please see our Returns policy for additional information on what to do if you find an issue with the product.

• Stock – if we are out of stock, you can leave your email address and we will contact you when more is available.
• Region – We wanted to focus in on UK and EU first as we set off and grow. Please leave your email address and region here and we will be in touch once we have launched for you.

• Absolutely! We’d love to hear other ways to thread, the product is designed to complement human ingenuity. Please contact us at hello@friendlyfloss.com