Five things that are better off brown
People always comment on the brown loo rolls. We’re all so conditioned to seeing bright white toilet rolls that the brown and beige tones of the environmentally friendly toilet rolls, kitchen rolls, and tissues we make here at Naked Sprout can come as a bit of a shock.
But we love our products and we’re proud to cut the bleach, so we think of the gentle tones they come in as a feature rather than a bug.
In a previous post we made the case for why natural, neutral shades are actually extremely fashion-forward and chic. If you’re still not convinced, here’s our round up of five things that are better off brown!
Bread
First up, bread. Obviously we all love a good slice of white bread now and then. Baguettes are great for sandwiches, plain bagels do very well with cream cheese, and if you want a chocolate and banana toastie that will truly make you question your life choices, white bread is the way to go.
But brown bread is where it’s at if you’re looking for something with a bit more substance. If you want to make white bread flour you need to remove the elements of the wheat grain that contain the most nutrition, the bran and the germ. These are packed with fibre, vitamins, and minerals that are just stripped away, and they’re packed with taste and texture too.
The extra processing for white bread has always meant that it’s more expensive to make, so for centuries paler loaves were thought of as having higher value and being a bit more posh. But nothing, for our money, beats the sheer bready brilliance of a slice of brown toast with butter. If that’s not brown enough for you, throw some marmite on there as well!
Sugar
Okay so that’s the toast, how about a cup of tea to wash it down with. One lump or two?
Sugar is one of those things we know we should consume in moderation, and it’s worth thinking of the impact of sugar on the environment, as well as on our bodies. But when we do indulge, brown sugar is our preference. Unrefined brown sugar, the kind that still has its natural molasses content, is richer and more flavourful than white sugar. That molasses gives brown sugar a hint of caramel and a slightly moist texture, making it perfect for baking, especially in puddings and cakes.
And it’s not just about taste. Brown sugar also retains more of the natural minerals found in sugarcane, like calcium, potassium, iron, and magnesium. While we’d hesitate to call it more healthy, (we’re still talking about sugar here), why not go for the option that brings a little extra to the table, and requires less processing as well?
Hair
Okay so the following only applies to people who have naturally brown hair. In the UK, that’s about 48% of us! The sheer normalness of brown hair works against it - compared to the more eye-catching shades of blonde, black, and red, brown hair can seem a bit dull. Lots of us are tempted to go for brighter, lighter locks instead, and who can blame us? But before you reach for the bleach it’s worth thinking about the effect that peroxide has on the environment.
We’ve actually written about this before, peroxide-based bleach is often favoured by toilet roll manufacturers because it’s supposed to be more gentle than chlorine, but “better than chlorine” doesn’t mean “environmentally friendly”, and there is still an environmental impact even the most gentle bleaching process.
Additionally, maintaining bleached hair often requires frequent touch-ups and additional products, meaning more and more plastic bottles and more damage to your hair as well! So if you’re one of those people who hasn’t seen their natural hair colour in a while (like our content manager Rosie from the age of about 14 to 34) we reckon it’s high time you let your natural shade shine through - your hair and the planet will thank you!
Dog poo
Right, this might sound a bit odd, but stick with us - lots of dog poo used to be white. Yep, you heard that right. Back in the 1970s, it wasn’t uncommon to see dried, chalky white dog poo littering parks and pavements in the UK. If you google “white dog poo” you’ll see plenty of posts and questions from people reminiscing about these ghostly droppings, and wondering what happened to them.
Why was all that poo lying about in the first place? Well, people used to be less good about picking up after their furry friends. In the UK the Dogs (Fouling of Land) Act wasn’t passed until 1996, and that, combined with campaigns like 2010s “There’s no such thing as the dog poo fairy” have led to a steep decline in dog fouling. Things are so much better now that it’s easy to forget that dog poo bags and bins to drop them in are a relatively recent improvement to public life.
So there were more messes about in general, but why were some of them white? It comes back to diet; right up until the 1990s dog food was often made with a huge amount of bone meal, resulting in a high calcium content. Once the resulting poo dried out (and, given the more relaxed norms about picking up dog waste it might be left for quite some time), it would turn white due to the calcium.
Not the most glamorous trip down memory lane, but that’s the reason! The quality of dog food has vastly improved since the 1970s, so the dogs are probably happy to see the back of the pale poops as well.
And finally, toilet roll…
Alright, we’ve covered bread, sugar, hair, and even dog poo - now for our favourite topic, toilet paper. If you’ve been using that ultra-white, super-bleached toilet roll, it’s time to reconsider.
Think of all the hundreds of millions of cardboard boxes transporting goods around the world every day. Now imagine all of them bleached. Every single box would need extra chemicals, extra processing, and the packaging and transport of bleach, for a purely cosmetic alteration that wouldn’t make a blind bit of difference to the function of the boxes themselves.
Maybe you can see where we’re going with this; this is exactly how we feel about toilet rolls. Wood pulp, bamboo pulp, and recycled paper come in lots of different shades, but none of them come naturally white. If you’re seeing a bright white roll, you’re seeing one that’s been chemically altered to bring it to that shade. What’s the point? Unbleached toilet roll requires less processing, less chemicals, and less wasted water. The natural colour doesn’t affect its performance at all, so why not skip the bleach?
And on the subject of those brown cardboard boxes, after they’ve finished their lives in transportation we actually recycle them to make our recycled rolls - keeping that lovely brown shade in tact.
Wrapping it up: embrace the beige
We rest our case. Blue is cool, and green’s a dream, but brown, in many cases, is the most wholesome shade of all.
Whether it’s the bread or sugar in your kitchen, the “gifts” left by our furry friends, or the everyday paper and tissue products that surround us, brown, beige, and sandy shades often signal that something is more natural, less processed, and better for the environment than unnatural alternatives.
Want to add a pop of wholesome, natural beige to your life?
