Trader Joe’s All Natural Peppermint Toothpaste

I’ve been using Trader Joe’s All Natural Anticavity Peppermint Toothpaste for a while now and I love it. It has baking soda and fluoride in it but doesn’t contain saccharin, lauryl sulphate or propylene glycol like a lot of major toothpastes.

The first thing you notice is that it’s an off white color and contains no fancy stripes. It is all natural, with the formula containing fluoride to prevent cavities and naturally hydrated silica to “polish your smile whiter”. It also has Essential Oil of Peppermint which has to be tried to see the difference to your normal toothpaste, much more “minty”.

I’ll admit, the freshness wears off a lot more quickly than the popular toothpaste brands but after trying another toothpaste at an overnight at a friends house, I can now never go back. They taste so artificial that I’m a convert for good.

You have to buy it in-store for $3.99 at Trader Joe’s though strangely you can buy it off Ebay too. Well, why not?! It is listed as being new…

For another toothpaste review, take a look at Adam’s review of Optima Aloe Dent.

Aloe Dent Whitening Toothpaste Eco Product Review

I’ve reviewed aloe vera toothpaste before (http://lifegoggles.com/2199/optima-aloe-dent-toothpaste-eco-product-review/) but when Trust William sent me Optima’s AloeDent Whitening Toothpaste I was intrigued to give it a go.

Trust William is a natural healthcare provider which specialises in products for family health and nutrition, and has a lot of products which use aloe vera.

While Optima’s ‘normal’ aloe vera toothpaste says it whitens teeth, this is its specialist toothpaste and has a few different ingredients. In comes silica for whitening and something called PVP for anti-staining. Also in is vitamin K and tea tree oil along with the peppermint and menthol for flavour. It’s hard to know where the aloe vera comes in, it says it’s for ‘soothing’ and it seems to work, the paste is very pleasant.

It tastes quite nice, although it doesn’t give you that totally fresh feeling that mainstream toothpastes tend to give. Although I’ve a feeling that’s one of those artificial things we’re ‘trained’ to believe – fresh taste must mean clean teeth.

I still have concerns about the lack of fluoride in terms of my teeth’s health, but it seems to be working fine. My last dental check-up didn’t highlight any problems so am quietly confident that it’s all good.

As an environmentally-friendly alternative to regular toothpaste I’ve been impressed with Optima’s products. AloeDent Whitening Toothpaste costs £3.49 for 100ml from Trust William.

Optima Aloe Dent Toothpaste Eco Product Review

I’m slightly ashamed of it, but I love toothpaste with stripes in. It must be something to do with the child in me but for some reason I find it quite exciting and clever and even explaining how it’s done won’t change that for me. So it’s a bit of a wrench to try and get me away from it but when Male Organics sent me some Optima Aloe Dent toothpaste to try, I thought I’d give it a go to keep in the spirit of things.

As the name suggests, it’s made with aloe vera and claims it “cleans, protects, whitens – naturally”. Reading the ingredients, everything, even the chemical sounding names, seem to be planet derived and has co-enzyme Q10 for healthy gums, although I have no idea what that is.

I expected it to taste horrible to be honest, but it’s not bad at all. With it containing aloe vera, tea tree oil, chitosan, silica, horse chestnut and more it’s no wonder I expected it to be bad, but the peppermint and menthol helps it out as it doesn’t taste too different from regular toothpaste without the strips and other bits they add.

The only thing I’m a bit suspicious of is the lack of fluoride. I know they’re using natural ingredients instead but I’ve been brought up with fluoride being added to toothpaste and water so it must do something. However if I can get away with it I will and going into a pharmacy/drugstore they actually sell non-fluoride toothpaste for people who have to avoid it and children, so maybe it can be harmful. More research is need I think.

If you want to make your own mind up. A 100ml tube is £3.49 from Male Organics. Also it’s not suitable for vegetarians due “to inclusion of marine source ingredient”.