Let's lighten stuff up

It's a product review.  I think it's been years since I did a product review on the blog.  How exciting!

So I remember being little and setting up a toothpaste taste test with my friends down the street.  We collected toothpaste from our homes in little sandwich bags and then tasted them.  I don't remember which kid had the best tasting toothpaste.  We kids were freaks, this is what we did for playtime.  After we were done with the taste test, we turned the baggies inside out and threw them at the neighbours house where they stuck to the vinyl siding.

I'm still picky about my toothpastes.  I cannot handle minty toothpaste, it's so intensely hot, it burns my mouth.  I used soft mint flavours up until Crest came up with a Vanilla Mint flavour.  It made me feel like this...

But then I for a while I couldn't find it in the stores.  So I was forced to look for something else.  From what I've been reading, fluoride isn't good for you, and the action of brushing you teeth does more than the actual toothpaste.  (side note, my teeth don't get fuzzy anymore being on the raw vegan diet, but if I cheat and eat non raw, I notice my teeth feel nasty)  So I was in the health food section of my local Thrifty's and saw this brand... Newco Bubblegum flavour, made in Canada, vegan, not tested on animals and fluoride free. 

  Ingredients
MSM & Aerobic Oxygen in Deionized Water (Cellular Energizer), Vegetable Glycerine, Calcium Carbonate (naturally occurring source for abrasion), Carrageenan (emulsifier & thickener derived from Irish Moss), Unpasteurized Honey (natural preservative), Foodgrade Bubblegum Flavor, Sodium Bicarbonate (Baking Soda), Yucca Extract (foaming agent), Organic Tea Tree Oil, Sea Salt, Organic Sea Kelp (Source of Vitamins & minerals), Neem Oil (healing properties for mouth), Stevia.

It sounded a heck of a lot healthier than the Crest label.  It doesn't taste like bubblegum at all.  It's really sweet and tastes a little like fennel and smells a little like Eucalyptus.  It has a smooth texture, not gritty and reminded me of brushing my teeth with jell-o.  I was able to tough it out, but remember it is supposed to taste like bubblegum, it's for kids!  There is no way a kid would want to use this.  Also it doesn't foam up when you brush.  I didn't like that, I almost felt like I wasn't cleaning my teeth without the foam. Oh and did I mention the tube was like $7?

So I got to the end of the tube (thank god!) and it was time to find another brand.

I decided to go with a more well known brand Tom's.  I have used a few of their products in the past and liked them.  I had the choice between fennel or strawberry flavour.  Strawberry was the obvious winner.  It's good, tastes like strawberries, good about of foaming action, vegan and not tested on animals.  I like that they out the ingredients on the box like this:

Name	Purpose	Source
Glycerin	Moistener	Vegetable oils
Water	Consistency	Maine aquifer
Calcium carbonate	Mild abrasive	Purified calcium from the earth
Hydrated silica	Stain removal	Purified silica from the earth
Fruit extracts	Flavor	Strawberry, banana, & other natural flavors
Carrageenan	Thickener	Seaweed (Chondrus crispus)
Sodium lauryl sulfate	Dispersant	Derived from coconut and/or palm kernel oil

 
Nice and easy to understand, and I don't have to google ingredients to make sure I'm not putting gluten in my mouth.  (gotta read those labels, I just noticed the new hand soap that I bought has wheat in it.  Can't use that!)

I bought the next tube at the same time because I was afraid of being stuck with nasty toothpaste again.  I figured this upped my odds.

Now the only reason I even bought this one was because it was cheap.  50% off.  I did not want to get suckered into another tube of expensive toothpaste that tasted like crap. 

Ingredients: Calcium, Sodium, Magnesium, Zinc, L-Absorbic acid, Calcium carbonate, Glycerin, Water, Stevioside, Carrageenan, Grapefruit extract, Silica, Aloe vera gel, Cranberry extract, Sodium bicarbonate, Perilla extract, Essential oils (cranberry, blueberry, strawberry, cinnamon, ginger), Sodium cocoyl glutamate.

I'm in love with Jason.  The flavor is orange, cinnamon and mint, but it's mild not painfully minty.  And this stuff really foams up when you brush.  This would be my only complaint.  It's almost too foamy, and I need to spit before I'm done brushing. It's also vegan and not tested on animals.  Now the Crest Vanilla Mint is back in the stores, but I'm not going back.  I'm committed to Jason and Tom.

PS thanks for the comments and texts from my stinky post.  Appreciated.  I should probably do a product review of deodorant, I literally have 10 different brands/scents in the house right now.