Man. Just when I thought I'd "made it" to a high level of healthy, natural living, I learned something about toothpaste. The natural toothpastes I've been buying contain glycerin. Glycerin itself is harmless, it's good for skin care, as a laxative, and I use it to make tinctures. But it's NOT meant to go on your teeth. It creates a film on the teeth that prevents remineralization. It takes 20 rinses to remove the glycerin from your teeth. Bummer.
I read about a woman who switched to a homemade tooth powder and shrank her cavities! Wonderful. For many years people just used clays, salts, baking soda, or calcium carbonate to clean their teeth. And it worked just fine. So I did some research, and made my own toothpaste.
Here's the recipe: Homemade Clay Toothpaste from Keeper of the Home.
It's great! I used it for the first time and love it. It can leave a little grit behind, perhaps I didn't do a good enough job of blending, but that was quickly remedied by rinsing and swishing with water. The best part for me is that I already had all the ingredients! The only thing I bought was a pretty all-glass jar to put it in. The active ingredient, bentonite clay, should not touch metal, and all my jars had metal lids, so I got a pretty little one with a rubber-ringed glass lid. I used a glass bowl and wooden spoon to mix the paste. Keeper of the Home used her metal mixer blades- Don't do that! Bentonite takes toxins out of metals, and contact with metal could leave toxins in the clay!
You can get creative with essential oils when making the paste. I had tea tree and peppermint, which were mentioned in the recipe, but you could use cinnamon, clove, spearmint, wintergreen, sandalwood, basil, lemon, lavender, rose, whatever. I recommend keeping the tea tree, though.
Some people use Earthpaste toothpaste, which I was tempted to buy until I realized I could basically make it myself. It's pretty much the same as Keeper of the Home's recipe.
A fluoride- and glycerin-free toothpaste! Hooray! Most healthy living nerds like me already know you shouldn't use fluoride in anything, but in case you didn't know, here's the information: Fluoride
So, no more Trader Joe's toothpaste. Or deodorant. Just cookies and pie from now on! As long as I brush my teeth with my fabulous clay paste afterward. :)
By the way, the famous Tom's of Maine brand contains glycerin. Sad day. Their deodorant also contains propylene glycol, albeit vegetable-derived. So homemade it is. I purchased Primal Pit Paste for when I run out of my homemade deodorant, simply because I don't have any more of the ingredients and the Pit Paste was cheaper than a new jar of EVCO.
So, this Holy Week, we will fast and pray, but I'll smell good and have clean teeth!
"Whenever you fast, do not put on a gloomy face as the hypocrites do, for they neglect their appearance so that they will be noticed by men when they are fasting. Truly I say to you, they have their reward in full." -Matthew 6:16
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