**REVIEW** Desert Essence Natural Tea Tree Oil and Neem Toothpaste

I will try different kinds of toothpaste because I have sensitive gums and... I'm getting older so my teeth give me problems. I really like the Closys brand paste and that's what I've been using for a minute. The other day though, I got to try this:

Notice the addition of baking soda

It's Desert Essence's Tea Tree Oil and Neem Toothpaste. (As if you can't read for yourself.)

Neem.  ಠ_ಠ

My first thought was, Ugh! No way, no how, no suh. I have some neem oil that I use on my hair as a deep conditioner and on my plants to kill pests. The stink is probably what scares the plant pest away. Neem smells the way I imagine skunk booty would smell like after a meal of beans and cheese. I mean, I don't know, but I'm just saying.

Thank everything in the universe that this toothpaste smells nothing like the neem oil that I have been using right out of the bottle. What a relief. Y'all know that when I review things, I will tell the truth, no matter how ugly (or stinky that truth might be).

The verdict on this toothpaste is that I not only like it but I really, really like it. The taste is pleasant and the smell... the smell is awesome.

It took me a minute to get used to the foam because Closys doesn't foam at all. I think I missed the foam. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

The one thing that I did worry about was how far down the list of ingredients were the tea tree and neem. They are way down almost at the end...

Sea salt has benefits

But once I used the paste, I realized that it may be a good thing not to have more of those two ingredients. I think the taste would be too overwhelming. Tea tree oil is strong and Lord knows neem oil is very strong. Also, neem has the most bitter taste I've ever touched to my tongue. If the smell reminds me of something I can only imagine, then the taste is what I would imagine wormwood would be like. It's some nasty and special kind of bitter. It's a bitingly bitter taste that you can't wipe off your tongue or wash away. It has to just wear off. I know this because I accidentally transferred some from my finger to my tongue when I was treating my plants.

I want to mention one of the other ingredients in this paste: sea salt**. It's right there at the very end of the label but that's okay with me because sea salt is an abrasive. One of the things it's supposed to be good for in dental health (other than the abrasive/cleaning effects) is that it is a natural source of fluoride. Notice that there is no other fluoride in this toothpaste so... yeah.

Anyway, the toothpaste tastes good and works wonderfully. After one use my mouth felt so fresh and my teeth were smooth-clean. I don't think that I will use it for every brushing because it does work so well. I plan to alternate it with the Closys. This toothpaste might be like the Thieves Toothpaste I tried and could be too much for constant and every-day use.

By the way, not only does this make your mouth feel fresh and clean, but it seems to have some whitening effect. Of course, I will have to use it for a while before I can swear to that, but I'm sure that the baking soda has something to do with it. You can tell there's baking soda in there because there's no grit at all.

Finally, I want to address a couple of things about the ingredients:

• This does contain something called carrageenan (which I had never heard of) about which there have been concerns. From what I can tell, this ingredient is "plant-derived' and okay in the toothpaste because it is, of course, not to be swallowed. And that is mentioned on the label.
• Tea Tree Oil can be toxic if ingested. Once again, this paste is not meant to be swallowed. I would suggest not letting a child use it unsupervised and for adults to be careful about swallowing. For children, even a small amount of tea tree oil can be hazardous.

If you wanted to try a neem toothpaste but were worried about the taste or smell, this one will make you happy on those concerns. Just be careful about swallowing - and that goes for any toothpaste.


Peace
--Free


** I will soon be doing a post on the various "natural" ingredients/items that I personally like using for health and beauty needs.

**REVIEW** CloSYS Dental Hygiene Care

This is a review for people who, like myself, might suffer from some oral ailments. I have dry mouth that is, I'm sure, due to the medications I take. I used to have horrible halitosis (surprisingly, the treatment of my sarcoidosis solved that), but am always conscious of my breath.

I tell you all that to tell you about this:

This is the trial-sized intro kit to CloSYS, a brand which is described as being "gentle oral care". It's certainly should be gentle since it's touted as being:

• Alcohol-Free
• Sulfate Free
• Non-Burning 
• Triclosan Free
• Gluten Free

Initially, I was only looking for a toothpaste and I wasn't even thinking about this particular brand. I had never even heard of ClosSYS. What got me to order this instead of the Manuka paste I was checking on, was the price. Also, the Closys is Prime shipping and the Manuka was not. (This is so irritating. Toothpaste was already expensive, then they add a shipping charge? No, thanks.)

I'm glad I got this. One complaint: the "trial" size is smaller than most and this toothpaste won't last long at all. Hotels leave bigger tubes for a 1- or 2-night stay. On the other hand, it is all TSA-compliant. ~sigh~ The world we now live in, right?

Anyway, there was not only a trial of the toothpaste, as you can see. There's the pastes, mouthwash (sorry, I mean oral rinse), some freshening drops and breath spray.

Though the toothpaste is all I wanted, I went ahead and tried everything in the kit, so let's take a look.

That's the toothpaste on the top...

I've been using Colgate Optic White for the past couple of months. Before that, I was using some Rembrandt that the rest of the family had gotten in bulk from Costco. Both those brands are good for cleaning and whitening my teeth and I never thought anything more about either of them. You know, they are tubes of paste and they clean the teeth. Period. Right?

Now, here is what's awesome about this CloSYS toothpaste. First off, it's so non-drying. Not only does it not dry out my mouth, but it seems to help my glands balance the saliva I need. That sounds kind of icky, but, hey.

The one thing that took some getting used to is that there is zero flavor to this paste. And I mean, NONE. It's labeled as "Gentle Mint" and it's so freaking gentle that I missed it. I'm so used to getting a hint of mint or a bite of peppermint that I thought I wasn't using enough of this. Once I got past that, I loved the clean feeling of the paste in my mouth. No after coating of anything and none of the flavor remnants from other brands. Another thing is that there is no foaming action with this toothpaste. Basically, the overall brushing left my mouth feeling very pure and clean.

After the brushing left my mouth feeling so unassaulted with foam and flavor, I didn't feel the need to use the mouthwash - sorry, oral rinse - but this is all for the review so...

See? "Oral Rinse"

The rinse is just as flavor-free as the toothpaste. It reminds me of a watered down hydrogen peroxide. Wait. What?

Yeah. I almost didn't see that note about adding the flavor stuff.

Thing is, I didn't like the too-concentrated, hot kind of taste of the flavor drops right out of the bottle, but just one full drop did help that mout-, I mean oral rinse. Otherwise, the rinse was too bland. I suppose I can add the rest of the flavoring to some water when I'm out and need to do a quick, after-meal rinse. You can see how tiny that bottle is. It will fit perfectly into the smallest wallet or even the coin-pocket of some jeans.

The breath spray is probably my least favorite of this kit.

Not that there's anything monstrous about it and it's not even as strong as nasty as most breath sprays. I'm just not a fan of breath sprays. Usually, I end up aiming badly and spraying the outside of my mouth. When I do use it correctly, I end up wanting to rinse it out of my mouth anyway. So ~shrug~ I will probably just save this for emergencies. Probably when I'm in danger of dragon-breathing some garlic into someone's face.

Bottom line: the toothpaste is awesome and I will be getting a full-size tube of it. I might see if Costco has better pricing but, if not, Amazon has it as a Subscribe and Save item at a very reasonable price.

After several uses, I can tell that my breath stays fresher longer after brushing. Morning breath isn't as dragon-ish as usual. I bet if I start back on my daily half-gallon water routine, I can get rid of that morning breath for good. Okay - if I quit eating garlic burgers for dinner...

I might still try the manuka toothpaste if I can find it anywhere else (and will review it if I do), but this CloSYS is working out just fine.

Peace
--Free

**UPDATE** Arm & Hammer Truly Radiant

My first post about My Smiley360 kit for Arm & Hammer's Truly Radiant toothpaste (and the spinbrush) was a happy one and I'd promised to do an update. (Make sure to check bottom of this post before purchasing the product. You'll be glad you did.)

Good stuff

Well, I have to say that after just over a week of using this toothpaste, I really like it. I like it lots.

I'm still impressed by how non-messy the toothpaste it. Some people like lots of foam and lather from their toothpastes, but I only like all that in my shampoos. The Truly Radiant has a sort of concentrated feel to it when I'm brushing.

I noticed the whitening effect after the first use and, since it was a bit dramatic, I'm not bothered that there hasn't been more whitening since. This is just the end of the first week though.

Not just brighter, but so much smoother

What I do notice more of a difference in is this: my teeth feel "smoother" for longer periods between brushing. I actually realized this when, a couple of days ago, I missed my bedtime brushing because I was kept unexpectedly away from home overnight. I didn't eat a lot of food that day, but I went through at least four big cups of coffee with lots of cream and brown sugar. When I got home the next morning and started to brush my teeth, I noticed that there didn't seem to be as much residue from the previous day.

I'm not making a habit of missing my regular brushing, but I was happy not to feel a lot of filminess on my teeth. (My breath? That was whole other story we will not be discussing!) Because of my overall results, I don't have a hard time believing all that Truly Radiant claims to do (with data they have on file):

• Whitens, strengthens and repairs tooth enamel
• Unique formula combines pure Arm & Hammer Baking Soda, Active Calcium, Fluoride and Peroxide
• Clinically proven to beautify teeth
• Restores glass and luster
• Removes better than the leading whitening toothpaste (when used as directed for 5 days)

(the effects that I have observed for myself after my first week are in bold)

Using the Truly Radiant with and without the matching spinbrush, I'm pleased enough after 5 days to switch from pastes I've been using. Actually, this is the first time I've decided to stick with one toothpaste. Usually, I buy one of whichever brand is on sale when I shop (think Crest, Crest Whitening, Biotene and Aquafresh). In the past, I have preferred Biotene - which I really like - and Crest, and I have tried Rembrandt. Rembrandt (about $7+ locally) doesn't really have anything on Truly Radiant (about $4).

Last of all, but pretty importantly:

Here are coupons for the paste and the brush

You can find money-back guarantees for the Truly Radiant toothpaste and for the spinbrush. Nice.

Peace
--Free



DISCLOSURE: I received my Arm & Hammer Truly Radiant to try for free (along with a spinbrush) via Smiley360.