Like many young girls, my daughter is a fan of Barbie. She was due a new toothbrush a few months ago so when I saw the Colgate Barbie toothbrush on offer in Tesco, I knew I was on to a winner - especially as it was electric!

As expected my daughter was very pleased to receive her toothbrush and was keen to use it. It's a very attractive and girly brush - totally pink in colour with a picture of the glamorous Barbie on the handle surrounded by butterflies and flowers. It comes packaged in plastic with cardboard backing. I expected the toothbrush to be good quality as it was made by Colgate who are dental care pros.

Despite being an electric toothbrush, the head doesn't rotate. Instead the head vibrates. Vibrating toothbrushes are said to provide additional cleaning action and can massage the gums. The teeth should be brushed like they would with a manual toothbrush. There are 2 buttons on the handle which turn the toothbrush on and off - these are very easy to use, even for very young children. It requires 2 batteries (2 x AAA) which are included. The brush makes a really loud buzzing sound - there is a possibility that this may frighten young children, although I must say it didn't put my daughter off at all. The brush is recommended for children 3+ years, my daughter is 4.

The handle is very chunky which allows little ones to get a proper grip on the brush. The neck is quite long so all of the back teeth can easily be reached. The bristles are soft which ensures gums are protected whilst teeth are cleaned. The size of the head is slightly bigger than I would have expected (not much smaller than mine actually), my daughter never complained about it but you could tell it was sometimes slightly awkward for her to reach her back teeth because of it.

I had no problems with the toothbrush at first, it was doing its job well and my daughter was happy using it but unfortunately I started to notice wear to the bristles after only about 2 weeks. By week 4 the bristles were beginning to look quite shabby and the batteries had run out. My daughter was really disappointed and still wanted to use her brush, so I replaced the batteries. This really annoyed me because my daughter had looked after her toothbrush and had never left it switched on.

We are advised by dental experts to replace our toothbrushes every 3 months, but this toothbrush was ready for the bin in less than 2.

I didn't realise at the time that I bought it, but the toothbrush doesn't have replaceable heads. So when the brush has reached 3 months (or given up the ghost likes ours), you have to chuck it out. This seems like a bit of a shame and a waste to me.

The Colgate Barbie toothbrush usually costs around £5.00 but I picked it up for about £2.50. I've seen it selling on Amazon for a rather outrageous £14.99! I'm glad I picked it up for such a low price because there is no way I would want to pay more for a toothbrush that runs out of batteries quickly and that doesn't have a durable or replaceable head. I wouldn't really recommend this toothbrush unless you have a little girl who refuses to brush her teeth (the look and the vibrating aspect is appealing) or can get a good deal on it.