If you've tried making your own toothpaste and it leaves you with less-than-stellar feelings about it, I have news for you...I finally made an awesome couple batches (after several crash and burn attempts). I learned several things along the way that I hope you find helpful when you tackle the craft.

First, I don't really like a super baking soda laden paste. To me, it should be an accessory ingredient and not the star performer. 

Second, solid coconut oil isn't the best choice for your liquid-ish base. It's winter as I write this and my bathroom is often cold in the morning. I found it to be nearly impossible to get the paste onto my brush without the clump falling of under the water, or before I got it to my mouth, or even getting it to distribute evenly in my mouth. Several times I ended up with a mass of paste stuck between my gums and lips at the back of my mouth and it was so disgusting. 

Third, small batches are key. If you goof up and don't fall in love with what you've made, it's not so sad to toss a few grams of toothpaste, compared to 2 cups of the stuff. That way you can also change up the flavors, experiment with different clays and oils perhaps and find your perfect blend. 

Fourth, less ingredients isn't necessarily better. Each ingredient plays an important roll in the enjoyment and performance of your paste. Some people are content with coconut oil, baking soda and an essential oil and TOLERATE it. I like to actually enjoy the experience. Being green doesn't need to be TOLERABLE. 

So let me walk you through it...

Start with sourcing your ingredients. Most of them I have in store so it was pretty straight forward, but a few I had to go to my health food store across the street to purchase. Luckily the most lovely staff work there and they were able to help me. What I like about our shop is that you can buy just a little of each ingredient so it doesn't cost $150 in ingredients just so you can make a jar of paste. Also you're going to need something to put your complete product into. A small mason jar is easy to find, a nice little preserve jar works, and we also sell a variety of jars in our containers selection.

And here's what you're going to need:

2 TBSP Calcium Carbonate
1 1/4 TSP Xylitol
1 TSP Baking Soda
1 TSP Bentonite Clay
1/2 TSP Sea Salt

2 TSP Fractionated Coconut Oil
1 TSP Vegetable Glycerine1/2 TSP Colloidal Silver1/2 TSP Unscented Castile Soap

15 Drops Peppermint Essential Oil
15 Drops Spearmint Essential Oil

Start with sifting your dry ingredients to get the lumps out. I did it a few times.

Next add in your liquids (excluding your essential oils). When mixing, I like using the end of a chopstick as it is able to break up any lumps, scrape the sides of my measuring cup and also makes a decent spatula!

If yours is too dry, add some liquid of your choice, and of course if it's too wet, add some dry ingredient of your choice (I added more calcium carbonate because it is tasteless). 

Once it is at the consistency you like, add your essential oils. I like a nice minty toothpaste, so I blended Peppermint and Spearmint. But you can use orange sweet, or cinnamon, or thieves, or fennel, or whatever you like really! Just don't add too much to start. Put about 15 drops in total, adding more once you've tested it.

When you like what you've created, put it in a jar and close tightly, and store in your bathroom. 

If you want to have a charcoal toothpaste, add 1 TSP Activated Bamboo Charcoal powder. There haven't been a lot of studies on the prolonged use of it, so I personally don't use a charcoal toothpaste daily. 

So there you have it...toothpaste 101. Happy blending and happy brushing, I can't wait to hear your recipe stories!