Homemade Lemon-Peppermint Toothpaste
The less I have to buy at the grocery store, the better, right? So we have started with food – growing our own vegetables, buying what we can’t grow from local farmers, and trying to be mindful of where our money goes. It’s not like we don’t need the grocery store, because right now we still kind of do, but the end goal for us is to be more independent of it.
Once we get food out of the way it is time to take stock of all other consumables. So we got rid of paper towels and paper napkins. We get great soap from a local lady who has offered us the end pieces that are leftover from cutting at a great discount. The shampoo situation is still in the testing phases with our extremely hard water.
Toothpaste, on the other hand, is finally homemade. I am not sure of the cost, but I am thinking this whole recipe costs less than $.25 and will last our little family 2-3 months. The texture and flavor are slightly different than tubed toothpaste, but then again I can pronounce and identify every ingredient in the mix.
After looking through a host of recipes that called for coconut oil and glycerin, I decided to go with the fewest number of ingredients. The recipe is definitely flexible and should be tweaked to your preferences. Right now, though,I am really digging the hit of refreshing lemon this provides.
Lemon-Peppermint Toothpaste
Ingredients
- 1/4 cup baking soda
- 1/4 teaspoon fine-grained sea salt
- 10 drops peppermint essential oil*
- 10 drops lemon essential oil*
- 20 drops of liquid stevia extract
- 1-2 teaspoons of water
Directions
- In a small bowl combine baking soda and sea salt with a fork. Add in essential oils (*I include an affiliate link to the type I use), drizzle in honey or stevia and mix well. Now add water one teaspoon at a time until it comes together, but is still slightly dry. The final product is just shy of a paste, more like a damp powder.
- I store this in a 1 cup canning jar with a tight-fitting lid.
- To use: Scoop out a very tiny bit (think enough to just dust 1/4 of your brush) onto your toothbrush using either a tiny spoon or just your toothbrush.
We have been using this for a few weeks now and both the Papa and I are very pleased with the refreshing results.
Have you tried making your own toothpaste?
I wonder if xylitol might be a preferrable choice to honey since it also is antibacterial but doesn’t contain fructose.
Oh yes.. the trials and tribulations of homemade toothpaste. My husband can’t stand all that baking soda so for now we buy Uncle Henry’s. But I suppose I could figure out how to make that myself… after we move.
This is excellent! I can not wait to try this! Thanks for sharing!
I used a coconut oil based toothpaste and boy was I slick! Then I bought two bottles of vegetable glycerin (Thinking I could use it like the expensive baby toothpaste)-too runny. I wish I could come up with something everyone liked.
If you’re trying to use soap as a shampoo, I highly recommend looking for a bar without castor oil in it. A lot of soap-makers use a high percentage of castor oil in shampoo soaps because it makes good bubbles, but I find that it builds up really easily on my hair. Also, the right ratio of vinegar to water for a final rinse is essential, especially with hard water. I use a 1:8 vinegar:water ratio right now, but I know people who use less. If you have too much vinegar, your hair will look lank, oily, and limp; if you have too little vinegar, your hair will be waxy, stiff, and maybe dry-feeling.
I also find that a post-wash, oil-based conditioner is necessary in the winter. I use Dr. Bronner’s conditioning creme right now, but a few drops of sweet almond or jojoba oils also work. Coconut oil is tough because in the winter it solidifies before it absorbs and makes my hair waxy.
Hmmm… maybe I should write my own post about natural and soap-based hair care…
VERY cool. I would like to try this. Not sure if I want to brush my teeth with honey (?) but I imagine without it or stevia the taste is unbearable? Thanks for sharing. I’m also one of these days going to try a homemade deodorant recipe I’ve been hanging onto….
I’ve been making my own for months now. I use the CO, BS & EO mix, but I add xylitol to mine.
I just made homemade toothpaste this past week. I ran out of store bought and decided to make some. I use baking soda, vegetable glycerin, salt, stevia powder and peppermint essentially oil. So far I really like it. My mouth feels fresh. I think next time I will put more peppermint oil in or add the lemon oil like you did.
We recently discovered Pascalite Clay. They have a finer ground clay for dental hygiene which we use as well. It is affordable and works amazingly well.
I use straight, plain baking soda (gently touching a wet toothbrush into a pile of it works great). I would like to flavor it a tiny bit, but the essential oils that I’ve bought in the past, and recently say on the bottle “for external use only”. Do your essential oils say the same thing on the bottle? If not, do you happen to know why my essential oils do? Thanks!
Manny – It really depends on the quality of the essential oil. The mountain rose herbs brand I use does not have a warning (I don’t believe), but more importantly they are of the highest quality so are basically the essence of the peppermint leaf, lemon peel, etc. Look for a blurb about gas chromatography tested when purchasing.
What Manny said… I notice recently that my essential oil says “for external use only” too. Why is that?? Thanks!
I tried using “tooth soap” for a few months but the lack of fluoride made my sensitive teeth ache horribly. I had to switch back to the regular tube.
Do you have to refridgerate the toothpaste?
Marybeth – Nope! We keep it on our bathroom counter.
I have been making my own toothpaste for a while. The one I have now is basically just baking soda, sea salt, sage and peppermint oils. Sometimes I just use straight baking soda like an above poster recommended. The next toothpaste I make will probably have prickly ash bark. Beautiful Bodies, Heavenly hair is a great book for making your own cosmetics and skin care. They have some good tooth care recipes.
I love this! I’ve been collecting recipes for making home cleaning and beauty products myself, and this is my favorite toothpaste recipe so far. Thank you!
This is very timely for me; I’ve been meaning to get rid of the tube here. Pharm girl’s point about the coconut oil is well-taken – hadn’t thought of that.
@Jenn re posting on natural personal care – please do!
@Jyll – check Rami Nigel’s information on remineralizing. Fluoride might actually be causing your problem!
I’m sorry, I meant the book Earthly Bodies & Heavenly Hair by Dina Falconi. It’s a great book on this subject.
Be careful adding water to anything, without using a perservative. It will grow bacterial or mold and may not visable to the naked eye.
I would instead leave the water out. Then sprinkle a little powder in the palm of your hand. Use a damp toothbrush and dip that into the powder that is in your palm.
Hope that helps.
Heidi
Heidi – That is a good point. Perhaps I will leave the water out next time.
Based on something I found at my local health food store, I make a brushing rinse instead of toothpaste. I use 1 cup filtered water, 1/3 cup 3% hydrogen peroxide solution (that’s the kind you’ll find in drug stores) and a dropper full of Peppermint extract. It’s really refreshing, and cheap too! Once the brushing rinse ran out, I filled up the same bottle with this solution. It works really well and my gums feel really healthy.
Mountain Rose Herbs does have safety warnings about it’s essential oils, and warns not to use them in your mouth.
http://www.mountainroseherbs.com/learn/essential_oils_handle_with_care.html
So I think you are using them at your own risk. Especially since there are no carrier oils in this recipe. I’d like to make some toothpaste, but think I’m going to call my herbalist tomorrow morning to see what she says first. Maybe I’ll just skip the oil flavoring.
I wonder if using lemon, orange, or peppermint extract would be better?
Amy –
I was wondering the same thing.. However extracts contain alcohol.
which causes dry-mouth, that leads to bacteria growth.
I am wondering how to make a toothpaste using fresh lemons and/or zest.
I think I am going to try lemon juice and baking soda.
I make my own tooth powder out of baking soda, spices and stevia powder.
Last time I made it, I used a “pumpkin pie spice” blend as the flavoring and it turned out good. Just added a bit at a time till it smelled really good, then added stevia and mixed it together well.
This is not a whitening formula, but it tastes fine and works.
Looking forward to trying this! For shampoo I mix 1 T baking soda in a cup of water and rinse my hair with the mix… for conditioner 1T on apple cider vinegar in a cup of water… works wonderfully well! Some have a week or two adjustment period but I was fine from the start.
Hi, I just recently started brushing with 3Tbsp baking soda & 2 Tbsp coconut oil. I live in the desert and use an evaporative cooler so it’s not exceptionally cool in my house but, the paste stays solid in the bathroom – no need to refrigerate it. I don’t see any need to flavor it with peppermint or lemon but, it might be a nice change sometime. I certainly don’t need to sweeten it with stevia or honey or ???. Maybe that is needed when adding one of the other flavored oils. I would suggest no matter which flavor of oils you use that you use “food grade” quality oils. It’s a bit scary to put oil in your mouth that says it’s for “external use ‘only”.