After discovering a bit ago that my Tom’s “natural” toothpaste contains sodium lauryl sulfate (not sure how I missed that before!), I decided it was time to make my own. I found an easy recipe using only 3 Tbsp baking soda, 2 Tbsp coconut oil, a pinch of stevia, and 5 drops each of peppermint and spearmint essential oils.
I combined all of the above except spearmint essential oil (which I didn’t have) and placed it in a small glass jar. As recommended, I “dry-dipped” my tooth brush (since coconut oil is anti-bacterial, etc.), ran some water over it, and brushed away. Although the toothpaste didn’t foam or bubble (due to the lack of chemicals), my teeth felt nice and clean. Since I left out 5 drops of spearmint essential oil, the flavor was slightly lacking and before I use it again I will add either 5 more drops of the peppermint or buy the spearmint.
I think I whipped this up in less than five minutes and it looks like it will last me quite some time. It was much cheaper than Tom’s too, which I think I purchased for $5-6. I also compared it to the Tom’s other ingredients, which were very similar, including the sodium bicarbonate (baking soda) and peppermint oil. Let me know what you think if you try this out!
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
I used to always get canker sores which I was alwas told were caused by stress. When my 4- and 5-year-old children started getting chronic canker sores, I did some research and found that the sodium lauryl sulfate used in almost every brand of commercial toothpaste is a known irritant and suspected to cause canker sores, so we switched to homemade toothpaste.
Our recipe is generous heap of baking soda, a spoonful of baking powder, a small sprinkle of kosher salt (gentle abrasive and kills germs), a few packets of Truvia (stevia has natural fluoride and sweetens without contributing to cavities), a couple drops of food flavoring and a couple drops of water to make it into a paste. It works wonderfully. The taste does take some getting used to, but the kids love the fact that it doesn’t “burn” like they used to always complain that store-bought toothpaste.
In the future, we plan to try using sea salt instead of kosher salt and a couple drops of glycerin instead of water to improve consistency (the consistency seems to vary depending on humidity and temperature, which can fluctuate considerably in a bathroom!) For dispensers, I use an empty washed out Colgate Kids toothpaste container – the flip-top lid makes it convenient and if the homemade toothpaste gets thicker or runnier depending on the temperature/humidity it can still flow easily from the reused Colgate container, plus it’s easy to fill. For the kids, we use a flip-top snack bowl from the dollar store. It’s a little plastic container with a screw on lid that flips open – meant for kids to eat Cheerios in the car without spilling and making a mess I think. But it’s super easy for them to open and close (without losing the lid or making a mess) and to dip their toothbrush down into it. Easy to refill, too.
It’s so much cheaper (and more fun!) than store-bought toothpaste and better for you. It leaves your teeth feeling just-brushed clean ALL DAY and it’s fun to experiment with flavors. We’ve enjoyed strawberry, raspberry, banana and almond homemade toothpaste. Much more pleasant in the morning than mint, mint, mint to us, but you can always use peppermint oil if you must have that minty taste (I guarantee you won’t need the mint taste for your mouth to feel fresh and clean though. I think my favorite so far is the almond.) :) Enjoy!
This sounds like a wonderful recipe! Thank you so much for sharing it and for letting us know that it helps with canker sores! I definitely want to try it out and love the idea of experimenting with other flavors such as raspberry or almond! I agree with you that making my own products is much more fun than buying them! :)