Bought a charcoal whitening toothpaste from FB. Was it a hit or miss?

The first day I tried the toothpaste I was surprised! Here's my review. 

4 minute read

If you’re a social media junkie, you’ve probably come across those charcoal whitening toothpaste ads a few times during your scrolling and thought, “Wow! Did she really get her teeth THAT white from a charcoal toothpaste?!”. Well more than likely, that person has veneers or a really good cosmetic dentist! Sorry to burst your bubble so early in the post. Nevertheless, I had to try this charcoal product to see if these well-paid grooming and beauty influencers were telling the truth or not! I’ll admit, the marketing of these products were very convincing and as such, I did not do my usual pre-purchase research on charcoal toothpastes before buying the product off of Facebook.

Activated charcoal is one of those natural ingredients that’s making the rounds in grooming and beauty products. Face scrubs, body scrubs and those peel-off face masks are using charcoal in their formulas. What’s the big deal with charcoal then?! Charcoal is popularly used in face masks and scrubs as it is a porous molecule that allows it to effectively absorb oils, dirt and toxins from the surface of the skin. The body doesn’t absorb charcoal so it’s an effective ingredient with super cleansing abilities. Activated charcoal is also used in hospitals to treat poisoning from toxins and chemicals. Our lovely Brita jugs even use charcoal filters to purify water. But don’t go rubbing coals from your BBQ pit on your face now; activated charcoal goes through an oxidization process that regular coals do not which gives it the aforementioned characteristics.

I already knew to a general extent the benefits of charcoal hence; I didn’t do any research on the toothpaste before purchasing. When I received the product from the courier, I was lowkey excited to try it out! This particular toothpaste had charcoal and coconut oil. A couple years ago, oil-pulling was all the rage as it was borrowed from Ayurvedic medicine practices by which oral bacteria would stick to the oil from the swooshing and help promote dental and gum health and general oral hygiene. I never did oil pulling because quite frankly, it seemed silly and too anecdotal at the time. Nevertheless, I suspect that this brand incorporated coconut oil as a “pull” mechanism in conjunction with the activated charcoal.

I tried the toothpaste for two weeks straight in the morning time as I used another toothpaste at night for my sensitive teeth. The first day I tried the toothpaste I was unpleasantly surprised! The taste of the toothpaste was a bit bitter and threw me off a bit. The flavor of the toothpaste was “pacific mint” but that was more of an under flavor than a predominant one. After using the product for the first time, I was honestly impressed by the performance. My teeth felt like they just gotten a dental cleaning – it was that good! What I absolutely hate about this product was that it is a non-foaming formula – so it was more prone to making a disgusting mess on your mirror and walls. A couple other cool facts about the product was that it was made in California, Saudi Food and Drug Authority approved and contained all-natural ingredients.

Final Thoughts

I really liked this product since I’ve been using it over the past two weeks. I only have four concerns with it however. First, I’m a huge mint fan, so to have a really weak mint flavor was not cutting it for me. The second problem as I mentioned was that it’s a super messy product as you’ll get black-grey toothpaste splashes all over your walls and mirrors if you aren’t careful. My third concern is that because charcoal and baking soda are two main ingredients in the formula; perhaps a long-term use of this product might erode the enamel of your teeth and cause sensitivity issues later down the road because of the gritty texture of both the charcoal and baking soda. Of course, my final concern is that the “whitening” abilities may be extremely erroneous and misleading. I noticed absolutely no difference to the color of my teeth. Now don’t get me wrong, I think the charcoal toothpaste is a an overall fantastic product but I also think that the marketers behind these brands are simply using a “whitening” ploy to get you to buy the product when A: there is absolutely no scientific evidence that charcoal toothpaste improves teeth whiteness and B: we as consumers may be too gullible to think that we’d get whiter teeth from simply brushing alone. Overall, I liked the product and would purchase again however, if you’re interested in giving it a go don’t expect pearly white choppers any time soon. Go to a dentist and get a professional teeth whitening procedure if that’s your goal!