Wednesday 24 October 2007

Green Toothpaste

In the previous post about toiletries I had forgotten to mention toothpaste. I currently use Kingfisher Flouride Free toothpaste. It is the only 'natural' toothpaste that is recommended by Dental Health organisations. It is also one of the more palatable natural toothpastes. However, it contains sodium lauryl sulphate which is implicated in health risks including cancer. SLS comes from palm oil which also has serious environmental consequences, including the destruction of rainforests across the world. If anyone can recommend a more natural toothpaste that is palatable, effective and available in the UK, please let me know in the comments. At the same time, if I discover one, I'll post about it!


Pink for October

10 comments:

shadows and clouds said...

hi there, toothpaste is indeed a pain, nearly always has sls. when i was home in yorkshire over the summer i bought a tube of sarakan toothpaste, which i like lots (mr m. is less convinced, but i like it!). i bought it in a little indie health food shop. i no longer have the box but i remember checking for the presence of sls and it didn't seem to be on the ingredients, unless they have used an altervative name! it's made by arrowmed limited and on the tube it says "the british dental health foundation recognises that sarakan toothpaste is a useful aid in dental health care" ...'hope this might help! have a good day ...speaking of this, i'm off to the dentist's in half an hour for a filling, but it's not sarakan toothpastes fault! heehee!

Crafty Green Poet said...

HI na, I checked out ingredients for Sarakan on the internet and it doesn't have sls though it does have a paraben. I'll now need to find somewhere real where i can buy it, though I could buy it online if needs be. Someone else recommended toothsoap, have you heard about that? Hope your dental appointment goes okay...

Clare said...

Hi Crafty! Can you get Tom's in the U.K.? It's popular in the U.S. and is supposed to be natural. I don't have a tube right now to read the ingredients. I'll check tomorrow when I go to the store. I'll let you know.
:)

Crafty Green Poet said...

Clare - yes we can get Tom's here. I'm hoping to find something that's produced more locally to be honest, but I'll check that out.

shadows and clouds said...

i avoided tom's toothpaste because it contained sls, but apparently they also have a sls-free toothpaste available online. what's the paraben thing you mentioned that is in sarakan? have never tried toothsoap, though have tried a macrobiotic toothpaste which was greeny-brown and had salt and clay-ish stuff in it, not very fun!

Crafty Green Poet said...

HI Na, ah so Toms does have sls. I'll not buy that then though I'll bear their non-sls online toothpaste in mind. Not sure exactly what parabens are, but they have been implicated in health risks. They're one of those ingredients that come up in lists of things to avoid in your toiletries.

Jo said...

I use Tom's........thanks for the tip-off.

toofy said...

Hi, I have just found this site and have read some comments about Sarakan toothpaste. I can confirm that we make Sarakan using as natural ingredients as possible and that it does not contain fluoride, sodium lauryl sulphate (SLS), parabens or preservatives of any kind. Regards, Sarakan owner.

shadows and clouds said...

??? wow! :)

Crafty Green Poet said...

toofy - thanks for visiting and taking the time to comment. I have seen Sarakan in a shop now so may buy it when I next need toothpaste.

na - wow indeed!!?