Yes, but which Toothpaste?
January 20th, 2006I’m down on Tom’s of Maine.
There I said it.
It’s not the taste, the taste is fine; it could be a hundred times less sweet and I’d be perfectly content. I just don’t think it works very well. I buy the anti-cavity formula and over the past three years, I’ve had three cavities. Sure I never went to the dentist over those three years, but still.
And I’ve sometimes skipped brushing my teeth altogether…
And rarely do I floss.
OK, fine, maybe it is because Tom’s is so ubiquitous among your average, workaday hipster. And Yes, I do have dreams of wandering into a shabby Polish pharmacy in Greenpoint and finding some Eastern Bloc-era toothpaste with a really cool label and making that my toothpaste of choice for the next few years.
But instead of the cool Polish toothpaste I bought this:
It’s Crest Tartar Control Whitening Plus Scope in a crazy capsule-shaped container.
I don’t know why I picked this one.
January 22nd, 2006 at 7:05 pm
Tom’s is too drippy. The cap gets all messy–messier than a normal toothpaste cap.
One thing I have noticed about you and Kaveri: you always seem to have awesome, mysterious, foreign-looking toothbrushes. I don’t know how you could ever skip brushing with such a nice toothbrush.
January 22nd, 2006 at 10:35 pm
when Kaveri and I were in Paris about two years ago, we would pass by this little pharmacy each day that had these incredible Bauhaus-like, minimal toothbrushes. I would tell Kaveri, “we’ve got to buy those toothbrushes before we leave.” But it turns out that we forgot so when we saw that Whole Foods had this cool selection of toothbrushes we picked some up.
January 22nd, 2006 at 11:52 pm
Also, Christina—learn the power of the m dash (shift,alt,dash). It will change your typographic life!
January 23rd, 2006 at 11:36 pm
Actually, I always use the M not the N, so I don’t know what happened ther. But thank you for your ever-watchful eye…
January 23rd, 2006 at 11:41 pm
Or what happened “there.”
January 30th, 2006 at 1:17 pm
Oh man, I can’t believe I missed the toothpaste discussion and now you’re on to other topics! I have very strong opinions on toothpaste. And some of that comes from you, mitch. You introduced me to the idea that sodium lauryl sulfate is B-A-D. (I think you had read some article in Jane magazine about it.) Sodium lauryl sulfate, as you know, is what makes things like toothpaste or shampoo foam. There are rumors that it causes cancer or whatever, but whether or not that’s true I think it’s bad in far more subtle ways…
I’ve always been prone to canker sores (not cold sores), which are incredibly painful. I’d get one or two every month. A few years ago I discovered that Rembrandt made toothpaste for canker sore sufferers. I tried it and immediately stopped getting canker sores altogether and my overall quality of life was so much better. But, it was about $8 a tube, (a tube being maybe a month’s worth of toothpaste) and I was skeptical about using a whitening toothpaste anyway. The only thing I could tell was different about this toothpaste from other toothpastes was the lack of sodium lauryl sulfate which I had already heard from you was bad, so I set out to find a cheaper toothpaste without SLS.
This was about when I moved to London and I knew the EU would do me right on the SLS matter. And I was pleased to find Green People toothpaste at the Planet Organic on Torrington Place in London. My favorite flavor is the organic peppermint. People have told me that it doesn’t foam enough and it tastes like mud. But now when I use colgate or something like that I can’t stand the amount of foam or the overly minty flavor. Who says you need foam to get your teeth clean anyway? Shouldn’t you be getting your brush everywhere in your mouth and so not be relying on foam for anything?
Last time I was in London I bought a case of the Green People organic peppermint toothpaste because I couldn’t stand the idea of not having it in my life. It’s been kind of strange not ever running out of toothpaste. I’ve had it about six months and I think the case will last two years. I was going to recommend that everybody buy some online, but I just saw on their website that for some reason Green People can’t ship to the US for liability insurance restrictions. That’s a bummer because the packaging is pretty great in that european cool toothbrush kind of way.
(http://www.greenpeople-organic-health.co.uk/Product_Details.asp?Pc=D004&cc=D)
Even though it’s British, maybe you can find it in Williamsburg? You can always find Kinder Suprises there which are also contraband in the U.S.
Anyway, I am way down on Tom’s too. They seem very corporate in their defense of the use of SLS they have on their website and the Tom’s people have long seemed to me to be kind of healthy product posers. In fact, I have a huge tube of Tom’s that someone gave me in my closet that I’ll never use. Anyone who wants it can have it. I’ll even mail it to you. But I probably can’t mail it in the US because of insurance liability restrictions.
February 2nd, 2006 at 10:55 am
Wow. Great post, Alex. I’m fascinated by your muddy, non-foaming toothpaste.
February 17th, 2006 at 6:30 pm
alex, you need to start a blog. the above was top-notch.
March 18th, 2006 at 9:44 am
Alex, great post. I’ve already ditched shampoo because of SLS:
http://www.hairlossbuddy.com/20/sodium-lauryl-sulfate/
Time to ditch the Colgate too! Although, fluoride is a double edged sword – some people have fears over it, but it helps rebuild your teeth from plaque attack. Hmmmmn.
February 21st, 2009 at 4:30 pm
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December 29th, 2009 at 12:59 pm
It’s funny, they still have this piece of junk on the shelves at Wal-mart. Wouldn’t it make more sense to have it in a jar where you can just scrape it out?