Homemade Toothpaste

Additional Thoughts on The Toothpaste Experiment

This post is still one of my most popular posts, even though it is not Italian, or Traditional, or Edible.  It defies my imagination.  In addition, I just reread it and I am personally astounded by my need at the time to pimp my Intro. Chemistry knowledge with the chemical formula for baking soda.  I mean, what was I trying to prove?  I'm not really sure, and it wasn't that long ago.  Since this post continues to be popular, here is a compilation of all of the homemade hygiene products posts from about the same time.

For what it's worth:

Faux-'Poo or Low 'Poo, Just Not No 'Poo

The titles speak for themselves:
A Word of Explanation -or- My Vendetta Against the Coconut

Coconut & Me: BFFs FOUR-EVER

Conclusions

Apparently the homemade toothpaste has been a more popular item than I anticipated.  So, I'm going to provide some more info on the subject in general, as well as reiterate some of what I've said about it in other posts.

A) This version is pretty soapy tasting.  I used it for about 3 days before I discovered that I am not super-allergic to coconut (eg SLS, etc) and ran out to buy regular toothpaste again.  It didn't bother me a ton because the flavor disappeared (much like regular toothpaste) after I ate or drank something else.

B) It sort of formed odd chunks in the tube overnight after the first day.  I think it separated.  Also, my used toothpaste tube had some old commercial toothpaste adhearing to the inside (no more than that-- I use my toothpaste down to the last squeeze) so it may have reacted with it, or possibly it would have separated regardless.

C) Baking soda is Sodium Bicarbonate, which is a salt.  So if you're on a sodium-restricted diet, I would do some more research before brushing your teeth with it every morning.  Also, I didn't use it long enough to worry about the possible enamel wear, but if I had I would have done some more investigation into whether or not Na2(H2CO3) is overly wearing on your teeth.

All that being said, my teeth DID feel clean, which I was surprised by.  So, in conclusion, if you're determined to make your own toothpaste, my recipe may not be the best one for you, but it did apparently work!

The Actual Recipe

Toothpaste
4 ounces homemade castile soap (see the homemade shampoo post)
2 TB. baking soda
6-7 drops peppermint oil, or essential oil of your choice
3 tsp. sucralose powder*
1 TB. water
1 TB. almond oil**

Container***
An old toothpaste tube
scissors
duct tape

In a small dish, put the castile soap in.  Add in each of the other ingredients, in whatever order you prefer, but one at a time to enable complete blending of each ingredient.  To make your container, put the cap on your old toothpaste tube and, if possible (depending on the product packaging) stand it on end.  Cut the very end of the tube off (not the cap end, the back end).  Carefully spoon your homemade toothpaste into the empty tube, stopping when you have about 2 inches left empty.  (I didn't even wash mine out.  I'm not afraid of my commercial toothpaste.)   Wipe clean and thoroughly dry the top 3 inches of your tube.  Cut a strip of duct tape about 2-1/2 inches wide.  Cut into the short edges about 3/4ths of an inch, making your each cut at approximately halfway along a short edge.  Place the strip of tape along the open end of the toothpaste tube such that you can fold it over and have an equal amount of tape on the other side.  Wrap one side of the cut short edge of the duct tape around the other side of the tube.  Pinch the open edge of the toothpaste tube closed and old the tape over the top.  Wrap the other end of the cut short edge of your tape around.  Repeat with another piece of tape if you feel it's necessary.  (I did.  This toothpaste is looser than traditional toothpaste.)
_________

*I made up this recipe (and taste-tested it) out of a compilation of homemade or all-natural toothpaste recipes I found on other blogs and websites.  Gotta love the internet.  I am hoping to avoid the cost of regular toothpaste and some of its more questionable ingredients, but am not so committed to all-natural ingredients that I want to either have salty toothpaste (from the baking soda) or put pure cane sugar in toothpaste.  I think the sucralose does a pretty good job of avoiding saltiness AND tooth decay caused by my toothpaste, and I don't personally object to having a small quantity in my mouth for the amount of time it takes me to brush my teeth.  Let's be honest here: I drink diet sodas and I chew sugar-free gum.  Whether you put artificial sweetener in your own homemade toothpaste is for you to decide.

**A couple of different recipes called for a neutral oil like olive oil or coconut oil, I'm guessing as an emulsifier.  I have a personal dispute with coconut oil that has nothing to do with environmental causes or cost concerns, so I put in almond oil because I had it on hand.

***After sitting overnight (also during the period that my toothpaste's consistency changed) the toothpaste wicked out of the duct tape.  It didn't exactly leak, but it formed small waxy/grainy balls wear it seeped out, which was a lot of places.  It didn't really make any mess though, because it was a solid.  I didn't try to wipe it off, applying the principle of "don't mess with success."

Cost Breakdown
homemade castile soap: $0.33
baking soda: $0.08
peppermint oil $0.01
sucralose: $0.07
almond oil: $0.47
Total per tube: $0.96
Savings from Cost of Average Toothpaste Tube (estimated at $3): $2.04 or 68%.

So, there are toothpastes you can buy for $1.  Are they all- (or mostly-) natural?  No.  So it kind of depends on your motivation for making toothpaste.  The pros are you can guarantee that you will always pay less than $1 for toothpaste without turning into one of those "extreme couponing" people who hoard nonperishables in their pantries as if they're expecting an imminent nuclear winter, that you know exactly what goes into your mouth every morning, and that if you're like me and get bored with mint flavor fairly regularly you can customize your own toothpaste flavors.  The cons are that it takes a little more effort than running into the store to buy toothpaste and (so far) that it does NOT taste like regular toothpaste!  But my mouth feels pretty clean, and I ate a few tortilla chips to see if the rest of my day was going to taste like soap and, so far, the answer is "kinda but no."  So I'm cautiously optimistic that I will enjoy my new toothpaste-making abilities.  However, I will definitely be experimenting with flavorings!