I’m the middle child of three girls. I have one sister that’s four and a half years older than me and another that is eight years younger than me. Like most, my mother had standards for the guys that were allowed to talk to – let alone date her daughters. It wasn’t a super long list and I still don’t agree with her list entirely but hey my future daughters may not be fans of the list I’ll have either. We’ll see.
For the most part the list was completely normal for example: no criminal record, be honest, and have steady employment to name a few. But there is one that you might not expect. This specific rule was so important that when my sister was dating a guy whose nickname was “Tooth” (because he had a chipped front tooth from childhood that STILL hadn’t been fixed) she was quite concerned. I mean besides the fact that Tooth was not meeting many many many (did I say MANY?!) of the other standards on my mother’s list there was that darn tooth. It was doomed from the start and fortunately my mother never caught wind of that relationship. Let me give you a run down of how that conversation would have started:
- My sister: So I was wondering if a friend could come over to say hi to you
- My mother: Female or male? Don’t tell me its a lil boy.
- S: Yes, it’s a boy and we’ve been talking for—
- M: Does he have good teeth?
You might think I’m joking but no. To be honest I’m really not certain why my mother is such a stickler about it but mark that down as another family mystery. This was always the first question. In fact if she actually let you continue past the first question after you said his teeth were chipped, yellow, or crooked then any other failures he had would be stated as
“YOU MEAN TO TELL ME HE HAS CROOKED TEETH ANNNNDDDD NO JOB?! ABSOLUTELY NOT. DON’T TALK TO ME ABOUT THAT BOY AGAIN. NEXT!!!”
I should also mention she wasn’t partial to just males. Sometimes this would be the first reason she’d give in regards to why she didn’t want you to be friends with a girl in the neighborhood either.
“I CAN’T STAND THAT LIL GIRL. I DON’T KNOW HOW HER MOMMA LET HER WALK AROUND WITH SUCH A SMART MOUTH ANNNNNDDDDD ALL THOSE CROOKED TEETH!”
It didn’t make sense. She could let so much slide so long as you had good teeth. Oh the vanity! My point in saying all of this is to say THIS is why I have a tooth complex. Seriously don’t come around me with bad teeth because all I can hear in my head is my mother’s voice “TEETH!” I think it is also safe to assume that you know that I’ve had braces before. Now even prior to braces I had super sensitive teeth but specifically after they scrape the front of your teeth taking the braces off I went over the deep in. I couldn’t talk outside if it was windy because the air would hurt. Drink a hot drink with a cold salad or dessert? Oh no!
Sensidyne is a complete joke and waste of money in my opinion. At one point I even had prescription toothpaste which also did not help. It got to the point where I figured this was just how my life was going to be and gave up. Then about three years ago I randomly decided to try to make my own toothpaste. At the time I wasn’t even thinking about the sensitivity issue but was just looking for healthier toothpaste that didn’t have anything other than what I actually needed. I mean think about it, why is there blue or orange dye in toothpaste? No clue. What’s great about me doing this though is that it ended up doing what all the other toothpaste I tried failed at: helping with my sensitivity. I wish I had enough knowledge to explain why or how this is possible because even I am not sure. But it worked for me somehow and I feel better about knowing the ingredients of what I am scrubbing into my mouth everyday.
Now this toothpaste is not the greatest thing you’ll ever taste. It also is not the prettiest (that’s not true I think the black looks kinda cool but whatev). It took two years of watching me use it for my boyfriend to finally try it and now he too uses it everyday. Obviously you shouldn’t go in expecting foam and bubbles, there will be none of that. The peppermint oil is meant only to soften the blow of the salty flavor of the baking soda so you can put as little or as much as you want. In the summer heat because it is oil based you’ll notice it separate like natural peanut butter does. That’s ok! Just stir it back up. With that being said in the winter cold the toothpaste can get a little hard but with minimal pressure you can scoop it on to your brush no problem. Another great thing about this toothpaste is you do not need a lot to get the job done.
Try it out and let me know what you think! My mom would be so proud of you.
- 6 Tbsp Baking soda
- 2 Tsp Peppermint Oil
- 4 1/2 Tbsp Melted Coconut Oil
- 8 Charcoal Capsules (You pull the plastic capsule apart and dump out the charcoal powder)
Whisk it altogether and jar it up. As you see up top I put mine in a baby mason jar. It will seem runny at first but that’s of course just due to the coconut oil being melted. It will go back to being more of a solid.
