How to Make Eco-friendly Toothpaste?

Brushing our teeth is a daily activity to start our hygiene but the toothpaste on the market is filled with toxic ingredients. It’s harmful to our oral health. The packaging of toothpaste comes in plastic tubes which take a long time to decompose, making it bad for our environment. That’s why; eco-friendly toothpaste is an excellent solution to all those problems.

So how to make eco-friendly toothpaste? It is simple and easy to make. For that, you would have to know about the ingredients it takes to make the products. Toothpaste, especially homemade eco-friendly ones might not taste instantly good but they work fine on a deeper oral health level. So understanding the proper procedure to make your eco-friendly toothpaste is definitely important for you.

Key Takeaways

• The recipe for making eco-friendly toothpaste is simple and easy to execute.
• There’s a difference between eco-friendly toothpaste and traditional toothpaste.
• Toothpaste in the market could be better due to its components.
• Eco-friendly toothpaste is a better alternative with long-lasting benefits.

Is Traditional Toothpaste Eco-Friendly

Generally, our oral care routine is surrounded by traditional toothpaste in the market, which needs to be more sustainable in ingredients and packaging. The ingredients harm not only the body but also the environment. How? When you spit in the sink, it gradually mixes with the water/ocean. However, the manufacturing harms are yet to be exposed. Toothpaste tubes are made of plastic which takes centuries to decompose. And now try to imagine how many tubes are being thrown out each year. It is a scary thought! The packaging of the toothpaste tubes needs to be recyclable. It is often made with a combination of different plastics and a layer of aluminum. Due to this mixture, it is not possible to recycle traditional toothpaste. So, traditional toothpaste is not eco-friendly.

Eco-Friendly vs. Traditional Toothpaste

If you understand the difference between eco-friendly and traditional toothpaste, you’ll have a clearer idea of switching to the better option. Toothpaste doesn’t clean our teeth, the brush does it. Toothpaste eliminates bacteria, for instance, problems like halitosis and gingivitis are caused by bacteria in your mouth. That’s a great risk for your oral health.

So, our toothpaste shields against these kinds of issues. However, traditional toothpaste has ingredients that are harmful to your physical and oral health. If take a while to think you’ll find out that we use a huge amount of it daily. The harmful ingredients used in traditional toothpaste are: fluoride, sodium lauryl sulfate, saccharin, propylene glycol, carrageenan, artificial colors, and many more. How do they affect us? For example:

• Fluoride is toxic. Though it fights cavities, it can also cause mottled teeth and dental fluorosis. It negatively affects cognitive development in children.
• Sodium Laurel Sulfate, or “SLS,” makes regular toothpaste foam. It is one of the major reasons for ulcers in the mouth. If toothpaste contains SLS, it could irritate your gums too.
• Saccharin is used for sweetening the taste of toothpaste. It has nothing to do with serving for cavities. Rather, it causes problems like bladder cancers and others.

On the other hand, you can make eco-friendly toothpaste at home with 100% natural ingredients, which are beneficial not only to our oral health but also to the environment. It doesn’t use any plastic, unhealthy materials, or toxic elements. There’s no use of plastic tubes, mixed material body, and other toxic chemicals. Moreover, activated charcoal, sea salt, natural clay, and essential oil are some core elements that are used to make natural toothpaste.

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How to Make Eco-Friendly Toothpaste

There’s a line of doubt about whether you’ll like your homemade eco-friendly toothpaste or not. Well, you wouldn’t know until to make it. So, try these simple toothpaste recipes to make your first batch at any amount for a trial. It would take very little time to get done.

Recipe 1: Baking Soda Toothpaste

Steps:

• Take a small jar. Put the same amount of baking soda and coconut oil in it. They help to clean and whiten your teeth and build antimicrobial properties for your oral health. However, it depends on the toothpaste amount you prefer. You can use more than 2 tbsp as per your preference.
• Add the peppermint oil. It creates a refreshing flavor in your mouth. (15 drops is the standard amount)
• Next, in a small pot, put some water and warm it up on the stove.
• Place the jar inside and mix with your spoon until the coconut oil melts.
• When it’s all melted, transfer the jar to the fridge for 30 minutes.
• After a while of mixing, you’ll get a smooth texture. At first, you might not feel good about the taste, but eventually, the benefits will serve you like never before than your typical chemical toothpaste.

Recipe 2: Natural Clay Toothpaste

Steps:

1. Mix clay, baking soda, salt, charcoal (optional), and essential oil in a bowl.
2. Use a plastic or stainless steel mixer (spoon) to distribute the essential oil evenly.
3. Add one tablespoon of distilled water. It will help the mixture stay smooth.
4. Once you reach the consistency you want, add more gradually.
5. Now you can store and use it.

Wasn’t that as easy as it sounds? Now feel the difference between this new homemade natural toothpaste and the traditional toothpaste you’ve been using till now. Enjoy the eco-friendly vibe around you.

Benefits of Eco-Friendly Toothpaste

Natural homemade products like eco-friendly toothpaste serve the environment to a great extent. Instead of toothpaste tubes, you can use a jar or a pot from your household which is one of the easiest ways to embrace an eco-friendly lifestyle as well. You can limit your negative impact on the environment by reducing your carbon footprint and reducing plastic waste instead of producing endless amounts every year. In addition to these benefits, there are several others.

• Usability: This toothpaste is usable like your regular toothpaste.
• Storage: You don’t need to buy plastic tubes of toothpaste from the market every now and then. Rather, you can use it from your jar and fill it up when needed at home.
• Ingredients: Safe ingredients provides you and your family with a healthy living lifestyle.
• Point of action: Eco-friendly toothpaste works fine on infected gums. As they have natural ingredients and our gums absorb toothpaste. It also helps your teeth.
• Stain cleaning: Due to the use of natural baking soda in eco-friendly toothpaste cleanses off the stains from teeth without harming enamel.
• Bad breath: It works for bad breath. The use of organic coconut essential oil, and mint (optional) eliminate the microbes which cause a bad smell in your mouth.
• Allergy-free: There is no allergic substance in eco-friendly toothpaste like artificial colors, sodium, etc. which are harmful to kids too.
• Teeth-whitening: Bentonite clay, peppermint oil, coconut oil, and other ingredients give natural whitening-teeth properties.

FAQs

Final Thoughts

It’s easy and cost-effective to make eco-friendly toothpaste. You can lower the environmental impact as well. It ensures better and long-lasting oral health. Changing from something you’ve always been habituated to takes a lot. But you’ll do anything to live healthily, right? Going for eco-friendly toothpaste is a small but meaningful step toward a sustainable life. You can try it in small amounts to see whether it fits your preference and experiment with the mentioned ingredients. In rare cases, some ingredients might cause you irritation, so you better be sure of it beforehand.

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