The Best Broom (Makes You Want To Sweep)
I like to like the objects in my life. Not just the kinds of things we buy because they go out of their way to dazzle and entice us, but ordinary, mundane, and, yet, often necessary things. Maybe it's the fact that the digital age gives us practically an infinite variety of subtle variations on the same product. Maybe it's the fact that so many of them are lousy, flimsy junk. Maybe it's just a certain type of personality, a kind of neurosis even, that makes someone Google things like "best broom," and "best broom reddit."
Another thing about me is that I don't necessarily like to buy things I already have, and I had a broom. Once upon a time, I had no broom, and the quickest way to rectify this had been to buy the first one I encountered at the store. But I did not like this broom. Its (plastic?) bristles got bent out of shape. They frayed. They had this elasticity that made them fling little bits of dust and grit clear across the floor instead of collecting them in a tidy line. Sweeping was such a chore. I mean, it is a chore, right? It's one of the iconic chores! But golly, I hated it. There had to be a better way.
The Internet delivered, as always. I saw a lot of enthusiasm about rubber brooms, with a few old-school types making some noise for genu-ine corn brooms. I went with the former. A wide, push-broom-style thing. Kind of an industrial look. A long handle, short silicone bristles, and kind of a squeegee thing on the front. I can't even be bothered to tell you the brand because, as I later discovered, most rubber brooms seem to be exactly the same. It seems like these things had a bit of a moment as an As-Seen-On-TV solution, especially for pet hair, but I guess whatever patents they may have had are expired. There's a plethora.
So now I have a rubber broom. And I love my broom. It really is good for hair, and each effortful stroke (that's one knock against it for some — I'm definitely pushing and pulling rather than swishing to and fro) really feels like it's getting the job done. Is it objectively better at collecting dirt and debris? Beats me. But the floors are certainly cleaner. I see this broom leaned against the wall and have an honest-to-God impulse to clean. I'm smitten.
So here's a question: would I have had the same experience if I'd gone the corn broom route? Or even just a slightly nicer regular broom? I mean, not exactly, but yeah, probably, pretty much. The corn broom is probably the winner in the aesthetic category, which may be a big factor. Who wouldn't want to sweep with such a time-tested, witch-approved design? Still, at the end of the day, I guess the best broom is the one that makes you want to sweep. Or maybe it is a rubber broom, ha! Feel free to send me your broom thoughts, reviews, and hot takes at asksycamore [at] mailbox [dot] org.