Diana

“Wow, you have really white teeth!” Yeah, I actually hear that one a lot. No, my teeth are not bright shining white like on TV, where people either have chemically whitened or photoshopped white teeth. But mine are a little whiter than the average person’s. I am super excited to share with you my method to whiten teeth naturally – and for very low cost!

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About a year after I found my natural toothpaste alternative, I started thinking that I wished I had whiter teeth. As a teenager I had tried the Crest tooth whitening strips and gels that you paint on your teeth and let sit on your teeth for 5 or 10 minutes. It tasted awful, worked only marginally well, and contained ingredients that I did not care to put on my body or in my mouth.

I did some research, and found one of the most natural things could be effective at whitening teeth: activated charcoal.

dish of charcoal. title - using charcoal to whiten teeth.

How does activated charcoal whiten teeth?

Activated charcoal is adsorptive – that means that substances which come in contact with the activated charcoal stick to it, and can be flushed away with the charcoal. Things like coffee, tea, and other stains on teeth essentially get stuck to the charcoal. Which means those stains are no longer stuck to your teeth. So you get whiter teeth!

How do you apply the charcoal?

Direct application

There are multiple ways that I have applied charcoal to whiten my teeth. The first method I tried involved poring small amount of charcoal powder into a small bowl, adding one drop of water at a time, blending to form a thick paste, and using my finger to coat my teeth. Then letting sit for a few minutes. This was messy and tricky – my lips and fingers ended up with charcoal stains in the creases, and I couldn’t always get the charcoal to stick to my teeth.

Charcoal as a “tooth paste”

One day I got lazy. I wanted to whiten my teeth but didn’t want the messiness of my “direct application” method. I wet my toothbrush, dipped the end in the activated charcoal powder, and brushed my teeth. It worked! I found this to be an effective way to spread the charcoal over my teeth in an easy and less messy way!

Toothbrush with charcoal. using charcoal to whiten teeth. — This is how much charcoal I use when brushing my teeth

I typically brush my teeth with charcoal between nightly and every other night. I have gone about a week between brushings and haven’t noticed a drastic different, so my minimum is 1 time per week.

My bonus trick

I notice a difference in tooth whiteness from immediately before to immediately after brushing with charcoal. So if I have a special event to attend, like a wedding, I make sure to brush my teeth with charcoal before I leave the house.

Staining caution

I have noticed that the charcoal tends to stick to dry skin, whether that be dry skin around my fingernails, dry skin on my lips, or on my face around my lips. I can usually wipe it off with my hand or a wash cloth, but in the winter when my lips got very dry, they would stay slightly stained (which is why I brushed with charcoal at night instead of in the morning). My quick tip to prevent this sticking is to apply chapstick to my lips before brushing, and apply moisturizer to my face and hands before handling. (My homemade chapstick and moisturizers are my favorites!)

Does it work?

In my opinion, absolutely YES! Activated charcoal has been effective at whitening my teeth. I tried getting before and after pictures, but lighting differences was enough to make my pictures look the same. But, I thought my teeth were whiter, and my family and friends did too! In fact, when my friend asked what I was going to be writing about next and I told him about this, he asked to see my teeth. I gave him a big smile and he was surprised that I really did have white teeth!

I love how simple and inexpensive it is to get white teeth! dish of charcoal and a toothbrush. using charcoal to whiten teeth.

Cost

I buy activated charcoal by the 1 lb bag on Amazon. At the time of writing, it costs about $22. In 6 months of brushing with charcoal almost daily, I have used about 1/2 oz. At this rate the bag will last me about 16 years, or $22/16=$1.38 per year. Compared to 2-4 week treatments that cost $20-$40+ and are temporary, this is a fantastic deal. Plus, all natural and safe!

If you want to try charcoal for tooth whitening but don’t want to buy a pound of charcoal, you can buy activated charcoal capsules and open individual capsules into a small bowl to use for brushing. I started out with a bottle of activated charcoal capsules. When I realized that I liked regularly brushing with charcoal, and was tired of opening capsules, I switched over to the bag of charcoal. These capsules are about $7 for 100 capsules, which I estimate to be good for 200 brushings. This is easily a year supply for only $7. Still a great price!

Do you have any other uses for charcoal? Please share in the comments below!

Basil is a great versatile herb that is a staple in my summer cooking. In past years I’ve purchased a small plant early in the season, plucked leaves sparingly, and purchased sprigs of basil from the grocery store to supplement my needs. This was neither cost efficient nor convenient. I knew there had to be an easier way – I needed to propagate basil.

How to Propagate Basil title - pot of basil

Early attempts to propagate basil

I first tried cutting a couple pieces of basil off the top of my existing plant and plopping the end in water. After a couple weeks I saw no signs of roots and gave up. I figured there must be some trick to make the basil cuttings root.

Successful method to propagate basil

This year I was finally successful at rooting basil cuttings and getting them to grow successfully in soil. I’ve used this method to more than quadruple my basil crop this season.

Cut the basil

Using cleaned scissors, cut several healthy basil stems, about 1 inch below a node where leaves and branches split off. Remove the two lowest leaves.

cut basil preparing for root growth — two springs of basil cut, with lowest pair of leaves removed

If there are branches with more leaves above this point, cut those close to the main stem.

cut basil preparing to root — cut basil sprig, with lowest 2 leaves removed and lowest branches cut to root separately

Place the cuttings in clean water, keeping the bottom 1/2 inch submerged at all times. Keep leaves out of the water, or they may rot.

cut basil in a glass bowl, rooting — cut basil in water, day 0

Replace the water every couple days to ensure it stays fresh. Don’t get discouraged if you don’t see roots quickly. After 4 days, the cuttings looked the same as day 0.

But by day 7 I found roots starting to grow! After the roots start, they grow very quickly.

Watch the root growth and add or replace water as needed to keep the bottom of the stem and all roots submerged.

basil cuttings, day 9 — cut basil in water, day 9

Once the roots are 2″-4″ long, transplant them into a pot of soil. For the first few days, the plants are delicate. Make sure the soil stays moist, and if the leaves begin to wilt, try moving the plant out of direct sun for part of the day.

basil cutting, day 11 — cut basil in water, day 11

My plants live happily under my second floor deck, which gives them direct sunlight for half of the day, from about noon until sunset.

pot of basil with newly rooted sections growing — newly rooted basil planted with parent basil

Don’t fear

If your basil cutting does not root. My early attempts failed almost 100% of the time. Once I started following the above steps, I upped my success rate to about 90%. Sometimes the cuttings just do not root. I think the most common reasons for my basil cuttings not rooting are not giving the cuttings enough time (it’ll take at least 1 week for roots to start growing) and not cleaning my scissors before cutting. Like my yogurt, Greek yogurt, and sourdough starter, bacteria can kill the living basil.

How I use basil

Some of my favorite recipes using basil are:

caprese salad: grape tomatoes, fresh mozzarella cheese, basil, and balsamic vinegar or balsamic glaze
basil pesto on pasta: basil, olive oil, salt, pepper, and Parmesan cheese
margarita pizza on sourdough or soaked bread or pizza crust: I use my soaked bread recipe either as bread slices or baked into crust, topped with tomato sauce, fresh mozzarella, and fresh basil.

Have you tried propagating basil or other herbs? Do you have any tips? Share them in the comments below!

Author: Diana

Whiten Teeth Naturally