I Tried This Beloved Vietnamese Cleaning Trick in My Kitchen, and It’s Such a Game-Changer

As much as I love my robot vacuum and wet mop, I’m a huge proponent of the usefulness of basic tools like brooms. But I never expected that an artisan broom from Southeast Asia would, ahem, sweep me off my feet. 

In addition to the housekeeping practices I picked up from my own mom, like the wet paper towel trick, or my never-miss nightly sink scrub, I love to learn about how other people clean and organize. From stealing my friend’s super-smart dinner party cleanup trick to learning ideas for frugal ways to store kitchen utensils, keeping an open mind to others’ practices is my favorite way to bring fresh habits into my own home. So, when my sister mentioned a type of broom that she loves and recommended I try out, I was all ears. 

My sister first learned about this specific broom from her mother-in-law, who used one like it when she lived in Malaysia, its roots tracing back to its neighbor, Vietnam: the Vietnamese broom. In California, where my sister and her in-laws live, it’s easy to get these brooms at a local Asian market, but here in Tennessee, they’re much harder to find. Luckily, I easily found one on Amazon for just under $21.

My first impression was surprise that the broom handle was so short — and that it’s the cutest broom I’ve ever seen! The handle is wrapped in colorful cord and the bristles are made from a natural, soft material. It looks like the product of artisans, and it is. The brooms are handmade from the flowers of a type of grass, Thysanolaena latifolia, which is harvested while young and dried out in the sun, according to Hanoi Times. Skilled makers can make one broom per minute, and when bought locally, they usually cost under $3, which makes them ubiquitous across Vietnam and nearby countries. 

When my broom arrived, I tried it around the house without looking into why other people liked it so much so I could form my own opinions. While the short handle did take some getting used to, it didn’t take long for me to realize why even this seeming shortfall was useful: The broom doubles as a duster! The fine, tightly-woven grass, combined with the grippy texture of each blade, makes the broom perfect for grabbing fine dust and hair — much more effectively than any other broom I’ve used. I couldn’t believe how much dust it gathered from my floors, which led me to use it to clean my baseboards and other surfaces. 

Here’s where I appreciated the short handle: I was able to maneuver the broom to clean higher planes like shelves, and even my light fixtures! The fact that the bristles are fine makes the broom gentle enough to use even on delicate areas. In addition, the thinness of the bristles means that the entire bottom of the broom bends easily to fit into hard-to-reach spots, whether that’s toe-kick areas under kitchen cabinets or behind decorative vases on a bookshelf. (I did notice that sometimes a small bunch of bristles comes loose, but these are easy to pick up and throw out, and the usefulness of the broom outweighs this minor inconvenience.)

I texted my sister’s mother-in-law to tell her how much I was loving the broom she introduced to our family and to ask her about her own experience with the broom. “What I like most is that it’s a simple tool that picks up small particles like dog hair,” she says. “Plus, it’s lightweight; I can use one hand to sweep around the house while I FaceTime with the other!” 

Turns out that this ability to clean dust and hair is others’ favorite feature as well. Amazon reviewers note that the tool is especially useful on hard-to-clean popcorn ceilings, dark wood floors that gather dust easily, and for picking up pet hair, cutting down the need to mop as frequently. I absolutely love my beautiful new broom and the dual broom-duster role it fills in my cleaning arsenal. Once again, embracing the way others take care of their homes has inspired me — and even made my space cleaner. 

Buy: Vietnamese Soft Fan (Straw) Broom, 40 Inch, $20.99