Homemade Toothpaste Fail

After buying bamboo toothbrushes I was motivated to try and go a step further by making my own toothpaste. It probably seems a little out there for a normal person, but I kept seeing person after person making their own toothpaste or tooth powder. Seeing everyone else do it further motivated me to give it a try.

Now there are several different recipes out there with different ingredients. Some use xylitol or stevia. Others use bentonite clay or glycerine. I decided to start out with the simplest one I could find and one that I had all the ingredients on hand.

Homemade Toothpaste Recipe

2 T baking soda
2 T coconut oil
10 ish drops of Mint Extract *Other recipes use peppermint essential oil, but I was using what I had.


Mix them all together and you are ready to go. If you don't live in a hot humid place like me, your coconut oil may be solid. Warm it up in a water bath to make it a liquid. I can't comment on the consistency after it is mixed together because almost the only time I have seen coconut oil as a solid was when I was visiting home in Oregon and I saw it in my bag and it took me a minute to realize what it was. Between living in Florida and Hawaii the past 5 years temps rarely get down below coconut oil's melting temp. I'm guessing it truly is more of a paste.

You then wet your toothbrush dunk it in the toothpaste (most people probably scoop cause it's more solid) and brush as normal.

Pin for later:

Except it tastes awful. Hubby has done it twice. The first time it wasn't mixed up very much so he basically was brushing with coconut oil and said, "this isn't so bad." The second time he got it with baking soda and he asked, "Why are we doing this?" and exclaimed "I don't like the earth this much!" To say he isn't a fan is probably a bit of an understatement.

I have been forcing myself using it for the better part of a week and I'll admit I'm not much of a fan either. It just tastes so salty even trying to avoid my tongue. I have found more tolerable using less of it. So be sure to only get a little bit on your brush. Also rinse your mouth very well afterward (I probably don't have to remind you of this) and know it won't leave your mouth with a minty fresh taste. My teeth do feel clean afterward; it does a good job of scrubbing them clean, but the taste is taking some getting used to.

Update: Here is a collection of the best homemade toothpaste recipes!

So I will be testing out some zero waste toothpaste alternatives in the future, especially if I want Hubby to get on board! Have you had a positive experience using homemade or zero waste toothpaste?