DIY Whitening Charcoal Toothpaste

Hello readers and welcome to another Friday DIY! I’m so excited to share this amazing DIY toothpaste with you all today because teeth whitening is something I’ve always struggled with. I’m not a huge fan of using a harmful chemicals on my teeth, and I also haven’t been quite ready to shell out the big bucks for an expensive dental treatment.

As a hopeless caffeine addict, my teeth have become pretty stained over time from all that tea and coffee. (Oh, caffeine, why must you only come in darkly colored drinks?) I’ve tried nearly every over-the-counter whitening treatment from toothpaste, to whitening strips, to specialty mouthwash, and haven’t had much luck with anything.

But, enter the miracle ingredient — activated charcoal.  I’ve had these little capsules of magic sitting in my medicine cabinet for a while because they’re great for helping tummy issues like stomach bugs and bloating. My friend told me about the whitening power of activated charcoal, and after seeing a few people’s results, I decided to give it a try on my own teeth.

Basically activated charcoal works as a powerful absorber. It is so porous it just soaks up everything else around it, including stains on teeth and bacteria that can cause bad breath. The other powerful ingredient in this toothpaste is coconut oil. It has been known to fight bad bacteria in the mouth and help prevent gum disease and tooth decay.

If you prefer the easy route, you can just mix the activated charcoal powder with water. But if you want to get all the added benefits of coconut oil and baking soda (and I think you really should), read on for the recipe:

Activated charcoal, baking soda and coconut oil. Yep, that’s it. Three ingredients.

*Note: Activated charcoal capsules may be a bit hard to find because they aren’t sold in regular department stores like Target. But I find it’s more convenient to buy it off Amazon– it’s usually cheaper than specialty vitamin stores and it ends up delivered right to my door. You can’t beat that! Nature’s Way Activated Charcoal is my favorite brand to use.

All the ingredients are completely safe to put in your mouth and also safe to digest just in case you swallow some. Note– charcoal is very absorbent by nature, so keep this in mind in case you do swallow some. It will absorb up any medications you are taking.

If you have the activated charcoal pills, you will need to carefully open the capsules and dump out the powder. Be careful, because the charcoal can get on everything and leave stains.

To make the paste, just mix all the ingredients in a bowl. I used 2 charcoal capsules, 1 tablespoon of coconut oil and 1/4 teaspoon of baking soda. This made enough for probably about 6 brushes, or two weeks worth of suggested use of 3 times a week.

I would recommend making this amount at a time, storing it in an airtight container and using it periodically throughout a two-week period. Storing it longer than that might cause the paste to dry out. In an air-tight container, it will typically last up to about a month.

Once you’ve made the paste, just put some on a tooth brush and brush your teeth with it! Easy right? I’d recommend using an old tooth brush for this since it can stain the bristles. Not that this would really hurt anything, but it might just look kind of gross when you want to use regular toothpaste. Leave the paste on your teeth as best you can for about 5 minutes and then rinse clean with water. If desired, brush teeth with regular toothpaste afterwards.

BEFORE:

DURING:

AFTER:

The results:

I definitely saw a noticeable difference in the whiteness of my teeth. I’m sure that using this a couple times a week for a month would really produce a difference. As with everything, long term use produces the best results.

BEFORE

AFTER

I have also gotten a few comments from readers that they dislike the taste of the toothpaste. To me, it doesn’t really have taste, but the baking soda makes it slightly salty. If the taste does bother you, you can add a few drops of pure peppermint extract to the mix. (Make sure you’re using food safe extract, not essential oil, which you should not ingest!) This will give you that minty taste you’re used to when brushing your teeth.

Overall, this is definitely something I’ll keep using over a long period of time to see the results. It’s cheaper and much more natural than other whitening procedures.  Let me know if you try this out and how it worked for you!

 

 

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