Getting Healthier with Home-Made Toothpaste

I didn't have all the ingredients. We bought the glycerin and 2 small jars of baby food at Whole Foods.

Isn’t it eerie when you find out you have the same item on your creative to-do list as a family member? My daughter visited for a week this Christmas. We both had things we wanted to do together.

Elizabeth told me one of her items was to make toothpaste.

“Oh, cool. Me, too. I believe that Tammy’s Recipes has a post on that” I said. “And I think I have all the ingredients.”

“Yup” she replied. “I think that’s where I saw the recipe.”

So we made toothpaste and put it in emptied out baby food jars. 

5 minutes & 5 ingredients later we had toothpaste.

We ended up using the following ingredients . . .

• 3 tablespoons coconut oil
• 3 tablespoons baking soda
• 2 small packets of stevia powder
• 25 drops of peppermint essential oil
• 2 teaspoons vegetable glycerin

Tammy doesn’t add glycerin to her toothpaste. I got this idea from Crunchy Betty. She added the glycerin so that the toothpaste would be smoother and more like the typical toothpaste consistency that her boys were used to.

My daughter and I found that the toothpaste dried out some and didn’t stay that nice toothpaste consistency. I run my toothbrush under water and then scoop out a bit of paste. It works fine. And it is much neater to do it this way than put baking soda and salt in my hand.

Elizabeth trying out our new product.

If you are interested in making your own paste, be sure to read both blog posts for full instructions. Tammy’s Recipes has the original post here. For an adaptation to the recipe, Crunchy Betty‘s version is posted here.

Note 1: I am echoing and reposting Tammy’s comment on this topic: “I welcome comments on the toothpaste topic, but I won’t publish comments seeking to debate fluoride use. Thanks.”

NOTE 2: Next time I will make the toothpaste without the glycerin to see if it makes much of a difference. I will put  an update here when I do that.

Your Turn . . .

• Have you ever made your own toothpaste? Any tips?
• What are you doing to make 2012 healthier?
  
  
  NOTE: One of the items on my Winter Bucket List is to take a self-portrait each week. The top photo of the toothbrush in the jar of paste is photo 1.