For the past two months now Jonathan and I have tried our hand at making our own homemade toothpaste. It all started when I began researching the science behind the no shampoo method of hair care. The realization that I was just blindly putting something on my scalp every day without regard to it’s effect on the pH balance of my scalp, or any harmful ingredients it may contain was an eye opener for me.

Then I started thinking, well, hair is one thing but YIKES, what am I putting in my mouth and rubbing around on my gums every day?! What do I plan on putting in my DAUGHTER’S mouth once she sprouts teeth?!

I ran to my bathroom cupboard, grabbed the toothpaste and wrote down the ingredients that I knew absolutely nothing about. I took my list to Google, and a simple perusal of the ingredients on my harmless looking tube of commercial toothpaste displayed a laundry list of chemicals, additives, detergents and non-tooth-friendly sweeteners that I’d just been slathering all over one of the most porous, absorbent, sensitive-to-chemicals portions of my body.

Even if toothpaste is never swallowed, these ingredients can be absorbed within seconds through the skin on the lips, or through the mucous membranes in the mouth. According to the Physician’s Desk Reference, the mucosal lining in the mouth has an absorption efficiency of over 90 percent! Because of this, these carcinogens get into your blood, your brain, and your cells IMMEDIATELY.

5 Common Ingredients Found in Toothpaste That Are Horrible For Your Health (Among Dozens of Others!)

Sodium Lauryl Sulfate –

SLS is perhaps the MOST dangerous ingredient in personal care products from shampoo to toothpaste. Because it has a foaming property, it is added to toothpastes to generate foam and give the impression that the toothpaste is “working”. And that’s ALL IT DOES. It has literally ZERO beneficial qualities. In fact, SLS has been found to be corrosive and harmful to skin tissue according to the American College of Toxicity! The only products it is used in where it acts as an active ingredient is in the cleaning industry, where it’s used as garage floor cleaners, paint solvents and engine degreasers!

Fluoride –

Flouride is the most controversial byproduct of industrial waste you’ll ever find. Natural fluoride DOES have an effect on slowing down tooth decay, and many dentists and toothpaste manufacturers just love it. Buuuuuuut, fluoride IS an internationally recognized poison. Cavity fighting qualities aside, fluoride is indisputably and notoriously toxic, often used as rat poison or insecticide. This is why toothpastes with fluoride have a warning advising to call poison control if more than a small amount is swallowed.

FD&C Color Dyes –

These are artificial dyes and colorings often found in mainstream toothpaste brands and a wide variety of other products. Recent studies indicate that FD&C Blue Dyes 1 & 2 can trigger a wide number of behavioral, learning, and health problems. Using FD&C Dyes yields the same effect as ingesting crude oil as it is synthesized from petroleum and made from coal tar oil – which is the black, sticky tar by-product of steel making and petroleum distillation. It contains numerous complex chemicals, none of which is good to be dumping on your gums.

Saccharin –

This artificial sweeteners primary ingredient is benzoic sulfimide, which is harmful to overall health. Saccharin was banned in the 1970’s because it proved to cause severe health problems – including cancer! – to rats in laboratories. However, because people liked the taste the ban was lifted, although the FDA still lists the substance as a possible human carcinogen!

Glycerin –

Glycerin is put in toothpaste to make it smooth and less chalky. However, when your teeth are coated with glycerin, bacteria is encapsulated. Glycerin itself is not horrible, but when it coats your teeth, it effectively prevents re-enamalization. Teeth are designed to regenerate themselves and absorb calcium and minerals, but brushing with glycerin stops that natural process.

The Hunt For the Perfect “Natural” Toothpaste

At this point I had flirted with the idea of trying some “natural toothpaste” companies out there, but when I visited my local health store, a quick glance of “natural” brands (Tom’s, Nature’s Gate, etc.) STILL sported ingredients I was trying to get away from: sodium lauryl sulfate, fluoride, glycerin. Seriously, WTF?

So after muttering, “And you call yourself natural?!” a couple of times at the inanimate objects on the supermarket shelf, I went on a quest to stock up on some basic ingredients for at home toothpaste experimentation! Since then, my husband and I have been playing mad kitchen scientists and experimenting with toothpaste recipes to share on my blog.

In doing so we’ve learned of some of THE BEST natural tooth care ingredients. We’ve fallen in love with xylitol, a natural sweetener that is AWESOME for tooth health and great for diabetes (if not on the pricier side). And while we’ve found ingredients that rock, and actually work BETTER than commercial brands ever have for us, we’re finding that the trick is to create a combination of ingredients that have a good consistency and texture, and that don’t taste like butt.

After three different batches of toothpastes that we’ve played around with over the past 8 or 9 weeks, we still haven’t found “THE” recipe that I would feel confident suggesting to my readers.

My Introduction to Redmond’s Earthpaste

After months of ongoing natural toothpaste experimentation, you can imagine my surprise when, after agreeing to review some Redmond Real Salt (I went after them for samples – you guys know me and my mineral salt addiction!) they sent me not only a box of salts (review to come!) but some samples of their natural toothpaste, Earthpaste!

At first I thought, well crap. I won’t use this stuff. It’s probably got fillers and additives like every other “natural” brand on the shelves. What am I going to do? I can’t review something I haven’t tried, and I won’t give away something on my blog that I wouldn’t use myself. DILEMMA!!

I’d actually sat down to e-mail the company before I stopped and read the ingredients list. Hold up. What’s this?! ALL NATURAL INGREDIENTS?!?! Like.. for reals??

Earthpaste Ingredients consist of: Purified Water. Redmond Clay. Essential Oils. Real Salt. Xylitol. That’s it!

Before I even knew it was their slogan I thought, “Holy Moly, that is amazingly natural toothpaste!” Here’s a closer look at each ingredient:

Redmond Clay – This is the primary ingredient in Earthpaste. Redmond Clay is a completely natural, food grade healing clay that has been used medicinally since ancient times.  It works as a polishing cleanser on your teeth, with inherent antibacterial properties. When consumed, food grade Redmond Clay also promotes digestive health!

Xylitol – This is a natural sweetener that is extracted from woody, fibrous plant material, like shrubs, trees or bark. Redmond only sources non-GMO certified xylitol extracted from sustainable birch or corn cobs. Xylitol acts as a sweetener, (it tastes just like white table sugar!) and it has been shown to promote healthy teeth by fighting cavities and significantly reducing tooth decay.

Redmond Real Salt – Redmond’s signature salt (the reason I contacted them in the first place!) is a natural sea salt with more than 60 trace minerals! It is used in the toothpaste to enhance the flavor and lend antibacterial properties.

Essential Oils – These oils (they use different ones based on each toothpaste flavor) supports oral health with the various properties of the oils, ranging from anti-viral to anti-fungal properties. All of the oils leave your breath fresh and your mouth feeling clean.

My Thoughts on Redmond’s Earthpaste

I checked out Redmond’s website to get the skinny on this simple and pure concoction, and found a story not unlike my own:

We created Earthpaste because we were frustrated trying to find toothpaste pure enough for our kids to use. Some brands skipped sodium lauryl sulphate, but not titanium dioxide. Others were fluoride-free but still had glycerin. We wanted toothpaste so pure each ingredient would help support good health, and after a lot of careful research, we made Earthpaste.

It’s toothpaste unlike any other you’ve experienced. Earthpaste is safe to eat. Each ingredient has been used to support healthy systems. Earthpaste is amazingly natural toothpaste. You’ll see the difference on your brush and feel the difference in your mouth.

This automatically had me in favor of the tube of natural paste I held in my hand. But then came testing time. How would this product measure up on a toothbrush? Bum bum BUMMMM!!

Well, first off, the Earthpaste squeezed out of the tube at a consistency of a very thin toothpaste. The mixture was solid enough to sit ON the brush, but thin and moist enough that it spread evenly among my teeth, instead of gobbing up into little chunks in my mouth, like commercial paste sometimes ten to do.

The color of the paste is a light brown, which I’m sure may be off putting to some, but it appears to work as well (or better) than what you’d expect from a toothpaste. I tried the Wintergreen flavor, and the taste was pleasant and faintly sweet, leaving my mouth with a noticeably fresh tingle. The essential oil used in Earthpaste is much more bold than what I was putting in my homemade concoctions – and that’s not a bad thing! I was being a bit timid in my oil use, and now I see that this is one of the reasons my homemade pastes were more flops than successes. (Though I was getting close!)

Also, because Earthpaste does not contain any kind of foaming agents (and that is a VERY good thing!), for those uninitiated to “real” tooth cleansers, the toothpaste might feel thin in your mouth. My first time using a real homemade toothpaste I was so afraid it “must not be working” because of that thinness and lack of foam, but then I immediately noticed how clean, smooth and nice my teeth were, right away. I believe you’ll experience the same thing with Earthpaste.

And last but not least, Redmond Earthpaste’s pH balance rests between 9.6 – 9.7, which makes it perfect for fighting tooth decay and bacteria, and neutralizing / balancing your mouths natural pH level!

So to sum up, Redmond appears to have this whole natural toothpaste thing down! To date, this is THE BEST truly natural toothpaste brand I’ve encountered. While I’d like to continue playing kitchen scientist to mix and match my own toothpaste, this brand is one that I genuinely anticipate buying much more of in the future.

Do you know what’s in YOUR toothpaste? Interested in trying something natural? Share below!