Beauty/Health: Brighten & Whiten Your Teeth at Home- Natural Remedies & Toothpastes

Everybody wants to have a beautiful smile.  For some this may take a little help from cosmetic dentistry, whereas for others this may simply be a case of just finding a remedy or product to use at home to simply brighten and whiten their teeth for a wonderful smile. 

I've got some pretty helpful tips to offer today for those or simply desire to brighten and whiten their teeth naturally at home. with the natural remedies, use caution and responsibility.  For the most part the natural remedies are generally safe to use, just don't over do it by thinking if you use these natural remedies to the extreme that you're going to get extra results and much sooner.  No, you will simply do harm to your health, as natural remedies are as safe to use as long as they are used in moderation and not over used and abused. 
 
** So be smart, and don't over do it.  Follow the directions and you should generally be safe.  Otherwise, I am not responsible if you incur any complications due to the tips and advice I write here on my blog.  As I do give warnings and my intentions are to give you healthy and safe advice, tips, and so forth.  I have tried all of these remedies and tips, and I am healthy and fine.  So don't be scared to try any of the tips and remedies mentioned, just be intelligent about it. lol  **

Natural Remedies to whiten and Brighten your Teeth:

Baking Soda may taste nasty (bitter), but it is an old fashioned remedy for keeping your teeth clean and bright/white.  Simply wet your tooth brush, and dip it in  baking soda real quick, and proceed to brush your teeth. Make sure not to swallow though, and rinse properly with water.  You can brush your teeth with baking soda safely once everyday, twice if you feel comfortable doing so. Stop using baking soda if you feel irritation in the mouth or sensitivity of the teeth (this may not happen, but can for some people that are sensitive to baking soda).  Also if the taste is simply too much for you to bare alone, you can try some popular less bitter tasting toothpastes that are on the market.   

Peroxide ( Hydrogen Peroxide ) can be used to help not only fight infections of the teeth and mouth, but also to help brighten/whiten your teeth.  However, make sure to not swallow peroxide, and limit your use of peroxide to only once or twice a week. Please make sure to not swallow the peroxide, and mix it with a little water to dilute it's acidity to make it less harmful to gargle.  However, unless you have an bacterial infection of the mouth or tooth, it would be better to simply use a toothpaste on the market that includes peroxide as one of it's active teeth brightening ingredients.  You can find baking soda at Walmart, Target, CVS, Walgreens, Rite Aid, Krogers, Publix, any grocery store or convenience store for $1.00-1.50

WARNING:  PLEASE DO NOT USE HYDROGEN PEROXIDE FULL STRENGTH UNLESS YOU HAVE A BACTERIAL INFECTION OF THE TOOTH OR MOUTH THAT YOU ARE TRYING TO DISINFECT.  IF YOU USE HYDROGEN PEROXIDE TO WHITEN/BRIGHTEN  YOUR TEETH, I RECOMMEND DILUTING IT WITH A LITTLE WATER AND GARGLING HOLDING YOUR FACE FORWARD TO HELP MAKE SURE TO NOT SWALLOW THE HYDROGEN PEROXIDE AND TO LIMIT THE USE OF HYDROGEN PEROXIDE TO ONCE OR TWICE A WEEK. HYDROGEN PEROXIDE IS VERY ACIDIC AND CAN CAUSE TISSUE DAMAGE WITH A LOT OF USE FULL STRENGTH. SO USE RESPONSIBLY.

An alternative to gargling hydrogen peroxide would be to try a whitening toothpaste that includes peroxide and baking soda or to gargle Listerine's Whitening Pre-Wash.  One of it's main active ingredients is of course Hydrogen Peroxide.  You can find either Hyrdrogen Peroxide or Listerines Teeth Whitening Pre-Wash at Walmart, Target, CVS, Walgreens, Rite Aid, Krogers, Publix, any grocery store or convenience store for $1.00-1.50 for the Hydrogen Peroxide and about $3.50-4.50 for Listerine's Whitening Pre-wash for teeth.

Calcium/Magnesium/vitamin D Tablets are nutritional supplements that can also help naturally brighten/whiten your teeth and strengthen your teeth and bones as well ( this is critical for women especially! ).  Rather than take each supplement separately, you can take all 3 vitamins combined in one tablet.  Take one tablet 3 times a day with each meal and a full glass of water. 

Most vitamin companies offer a combination tablet of Calcium, Magnesium, and Vitamin D together for healthy teeth and bones. Some popular brands are Nature's Bounty ( found in Krogers grocery stores ), Nature Made ( found at Walmart, Target, Krogers, CVS, Walgreens, Rite Aid, Publix, Health Food Stores, and other grocery, drug stores and convenience stores ), Sundown Naturals is another vitamin brand ( can be found in Krogers, CVS, Rite Aid, Kmart, Publix, Big lots, other grocery/drug/convenience stores ), Whole Foods Market has their own brand of vitamins and nutritional supplements brand called "365 Everyday Value".  There are other private label brands and store brands of vitamins/supplements that can be found at your local grocery store, drug store, and convenience store.  Krogers, Publix, Target, Walmart, Rite Aid, Walgreens, and CVS all have their own store brand of vitamins/supplements.

Taking the Calicum with Magnesium and Vitamin D tablet is essential to helping maintain healthy strong teeth and bones and can help brighten and whiten your teeth.  However, if you feel you can't bare with the other natural remedies for brightening your teeth ( the baking soda and peroxide), there are popular toothpaste brands on the market that you can try to help brighten and whiten those teeth.  Three of the brands actually include Baking Soda and Peroxide as their active ingredients.

WHITENING TOOTHPASTES THAT I RECOMMEND:

Arm & Hammer Complete Care Extra Whitening Toothpaste with Baking Soda and Peroxide - This brand I recommend most.  They are the same brand that offers it's most famous baking soda.  It has a minty taste, mixed with a litter bitter taste from the baking soda, but it's a much more preferable taste compared to using baking soda alone and it's worth it to use this toothpaste.  I have used this brand of toothpaste for at least 3 years and it works really well to brighten my shade of the teeth from it's usual shade, and keeps my teeth and gums very healthy.  For those with sensitive teeth, they also have this same formula for you as well, just look for the labeling to say "sensitive" in pink. Can be found at Walmart, Target, CVS, Walgreens, Rite Aid, Krogers, Publix, any grocery store or convenience store for $2.50-3.99 depending on where you buy it and the size of the tube. Of course expect to buy it for the best price at Walmart for around $2.50. 

Tom's of Main is a natural product brand that has a Natural Anti-cavity Baking Soda toothpaste that can be found at Walmart, Target, CVS, Walgreens, Rite Aid, Krogers, Publix, any grocery store or convenience store for average $3.50-4.50 depending on where you buy it and the size tube.  I haven't tried this brand yet. It's next on my list of products to test and try. 

Colgate Whitening Baking Soda and Peroxide Toothpaste - Works okay.  I wasn't as happy with this one as I am with Arm & Hammer's original brand of Whitening with Baking Soda and Peroxide toothpaste.  Arm & Hammer is the original of the Baking Soda and Peroxide mix of toothpaste.  Colgate decided a couple of years later to offer the same type of toothpaste to stay competitive, and it doesn't compare to the results of the Arm & Hammer brand.  It's okay. I probably won't buy it again.  But you can try it and see how you feel.  However, I recommend trying Arm & Hammer's baking soda and peroxide whitening toothpaste first so you can see what I'm talking about.  similar minty taste with a touch of bitterness.  You can find this toothpaste at Walmart, Target, CVS, Walgreens, Rite Aid, Krogers, Publix, any grocery store or convenience store for $2.30-3.00 depending on where you buy it and the size of the tube. 

Crest Pro Health Whitening - this one only works if your teeth are not bright due to stains you may have acquired through surface stains from drinking coffee a lot, smoking, or drinking/eating something on a regular basis that can stain your teeth. Otherwise, it won't brighten your teeth if you don't have surface stains to remove from your teeth.  You can find this toothpaste at Walmart, Target, CVS, Walgreens, Rite Aid, Krogers, Publix, any grocery store or convenience store for $2.60-4.30 depending on where you buy it. 

Hair Product Review: Lustrasilk's Olive Oil Leave-In Conditioner

 Today's topic is a hair care product review.  If you have hair that is either wavy, curly, or kinky-curly and you want to wear it natural and define your hair texture more while also conditioning your hair, then I recommend trying Lustrasilk's Olive Oil Cholesterol leave-in conditioner.  I also recommend this leave in conditioner even if you wear your hair blow dried or flat-ironed.  I tried and every time my hair felt soft regardless how I styled my hair ( blow dried straight or natural texture ). 

Before-Lustrasilk was applied to hair- fluffy, frizzy, dry

My favorite use for Lustrasilk's Olive Oil Leave-In Conditioner though is when I wear my hair natural, because it really seems to help define my hair texture more, softens the hair, conditions the hair as olive oil is always great for the hair, and it doesn't leave my hair feeling sticky or greasy feeling when my hair dries.  Be careful not to use too much though, or it will leave a slight visible residue from the creamy texture of the conditioner.  This conditioner works pretty decent as a detangler as well, however I recommend added a little olive oil to the conditioner to make it work better as a detangler and moisturizer if you feel it you need to seriously detangle your hair. 

If you wear your hair straight by flat iron or blow dry technique, just apply Lustrasilk to your hair after washing your hair, blow dry, and continue to style as usual with or without a flat iron.  If you have naturally straight hair or a relaxer in your hair, you can apply to your hair as a daily conditioner and continue to style your hair as usual.

Wet the hair 1st

If you're wearing your hair natural, the best way to use Lustrasilk's Olive Oil Cholesterol leave-in conditioner is to wet your hair very well (preferably soaking wet) and use an ample amount if your hair is thick or coarse and much less if your hair is fine textured and run it through your hair with your fingers and pull the strands gently while applying the conditioner.  Use a wide tooth comb if you wish, but not a fine tooth comb or brush as you will lose the texture definition of your hair and it can be damaging to your hair to use brushes (unless it is soft boar hair brush- you can find one at a beauty supply and Walmart).

Hair Results After applying Lustrasilk

Lustrasilk's Olive Oil Cholesterol leave-in conditioner can be found at most beauty supply stores.  You may also be able to find this conditioner in your local Krogers, Target, or Walmart in the beauty and hair section.  I've seen it in pretty much every local beauty supply that I have been in and even in my local Krogers in the hair and beauty section.  You can expect to pay about $2.99-3.50 for it.  Such a good price for a good leave-in conditioner.  As always feel free to comment if you have any questions about this conditioner, or have any feedback from your own use of this conditioner. 

Peace, Autumn Bleu  

Aveeno, St.Ives, and Equate Oatmeal Soothing & Moisturizing Body Wash/Body Lotions

You ever have an issue with dry, itchy, and irritated skin?  Well the old school remedy would be to rub oatmeal on your skin, or to soak in an oatmeal bath.  However, most people are not likely to try such an homeopathic remedy in this form.  So their next best option would be to pick up a convenient body lotion or body wash that is made with oatmeal properties.  Wondering which mainstream oatmeal skincare product you should use to help soothe your itchy, dry, and irritated skin?  Or which one is actually worth your money and which one isn't? Well let me save you the hassle of wasting your money and time. 

I've tried 3 different brands of oatmeal body lotion and shower gel.  Two of the brands I tried
are name brands, "St. Ives" and "Aveeno".  The third set of products I tried are from  Walmart's store brand "Equate".  I tend to have sensitive skin that is prone to irritation and itchiness from either an allergy or dry skin due to taking showers that are too hot (hot showers can dry your skin out for those who are not aware of this fact).  I take showers that are way too hot for most. lol  Also the cold winter can seriously dry out skin and cause not only dry ashy skin but also itchy skin from dryness.  There's nothing more annoying or irritating then skin that is either itchy either way it goes.  So I of course ran to the store to see what skin care products I could use to help soothe and relieve my skin from irritation and moisturize my skin as well.  

St.Ives Oatmeal Lotion

St.Ives Oatmeal Wash

I tried 3 different brands for about a week for each brand.  If the oatmeal product works than
it shouldn't take any longer than a week to show results at the longest, and just 2-3 days minimum at least to see a start of relief.  So here's the breakdown of each brand's results.

St.Ives Oatmeal & Shea Butter Body Wash: Blah! Didn't seem to work in terms of showing any signs of relief to my irritated skin. It was decent as a moisturizer, but for the most part felt like it was cheap in quality to me.  I felt like I was just washing up and not really feeling any sense of no relief from the body wash as a start. Not worth buying, even if their lotion is! Cost: $2.50 for 16-18 oz bottle Find it at: Walmart, Target, CVS, Walgreens, Rite Aid, and Local Grocery Store

 
St.Ives Oatmeal & Shea Butter Body Lotion: Awesome product.  This lotion has quality to it.  It moisturized my skin very well and was soothing to my skin. Worth Buying. Cost: $3.50 for 16-18 oz bottle Find it at: Walmart, Target, CVS, Walgreens, Rite Aid, and Local Grocery Store

Aveeno Moisturizing Body Wash for Itchy Dry Skin (with colloidal oatmeal): I like this one.  It moisturizes and does seem to soothe the skin. Good quality product. Worth Buying.  Cost: $6.99 for 16-18 oz bottle  ( I tried the sample bottle as seen in the photo) Find it at: Walmart, Target, CVS, Walgreens, Rite Aid, and Local Grocery Store

Aveeno Oatmeal lotion

Aveeno Oatmeal Wash- Sample

Aveeno Skin Relief Moisturizing Body Lotion for Itchy Dry Skin (with colloidal oatmeal):  This one was okay.  Nothing impressive to me for it to be Aveeno.  Aveeno is generally known to be the top brand for relief of itchy and irritated dry skin through oatmeal properties as it's key ingredient.  I actually expected it to be better, but it was "okay".  My mom actually only uses Aveeno when she has really bad allergy break outs on her skin.  But
she prefers an real oatmeal bath when it is convenient for her to take one.  I have to say that I like the St.Ives Oatmeal & Shea Butter Body Lotion so much better for skin moisturizing and relief from dry itchy skin.  This of course is my observation and experience.   Everyone's skin and reaction to a product may vary and be different or can be similar. It's an okay product.  So I feel neutral about this one.  You may find it okay to try, but I likely won't buy it again.  Cost: $6.99 for 16-18oz bottle (Mines came with a small sample bottle of the Aveeno Moisturizing Body Wash for Dry Itchy skin).  Find it at: Walmart, Target, CVS, Walgreens, Rite Aid, and Local Grocery Store in the beauty section.

Equate's Daily Moisturizing Body Lotion (with colloidal oatmeal):  This one was okay too. Nothing impressive.  But it may be worth to try.  Cost: cheaper than Aveeno! lol $4.99 for 16-18 oz bottle Find it at: Walmart only as this is their store brand (knock off from Aveeno lol).   * Equate doesn't currently have an equivalent moisturizing body wash that includes oatmeal properties for the purpose of relieving and soothing dry and itchy irritated skin.  But they do have other moisturizing body washes that are fairly decent.  Two of them can be compared to Dove brands.  One is Sensitive Skin Moisturizing body wash ( I like this one as it is good for a woman's sensitive areas just like Dove body wash which is typically recommended by most GYN's for women with sensitive systems) and the other is a Cucumber soothing relief moisturizing body wash which is fine as well.  Cost: $3.50 for 16-18 oz bottle. Find it of course only at Walmart.  

Equate Oatmeal Lotion

Equate Cool Moisture Wash

Equate Sensitive Skin Wash

It's up to you which product you're interested in trying.  Hopefully I will save some of you a hassle of wasting money and time on products that may work or not work.  Remember though that everyone's reaction to a particular product may be slightly different from someone else as we have different skin types and body chemistry.

Peace, Autumn Bleu