Every day we use deodorant and toothpaste. But these toiletries are probably a mystery. What do they contain? How do they work? One of the best ways to understand these products is to try making them yourself.

In the field of toothpaste, there is a great kids book entitled The Toothpaste Millionaire wherein a group of children make and sell their own toothpaste. Their guiding principle is that toothpaste only costs a few pennies to make, and therefore should cost the customer only a few pennies to buy.

You can find recipes for toothpast all over the Internet. Here is one:

Make your own toothpaste

This is probably the most common recipe on the Internet, consisting of baking soda, salt, glycerin and flavoring. You might ask, “How do these ingredients compare to “real” toothpaste?” Here is a breakdown:

What’s Inside: Colgate Whitening Oxygen Bubbles Brisk Mint Toothpaste

“Real” toothpaste uses baking soda. It uses Propylene Glycol in place of glycerin. Hydrated Silica is used instead of salt as the abrasive. Carrageenan is used in “real” toothpaste as “the paste in toothpaste.” You should be able to find it at a health food store if you want to experiment. Everything else is added chemicals with properties as described.

If you would like to try making your own tooth whitener, here is a very simple one (although there is something about this that has a “might be better to use the commercial product” feeling to it):

What about deodorant? Here is one recipe:

How to Make Stick Deodorant

And another:

There are hundreds of recipes available if you probe Google.

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