Don’t believe your toothpaste is doing enough to whiten your teeth?
A growing oral trend, if you can believe it, is brushing teeth with turmeric. That’s right, the Indian spice is now being used for more than spicing up dinner, with people either throwing it directly on their brush (yuck) or mixing it with baking soda to make a paste (yuckier).
Dentist Dr. Sako Karakozian admits this can work in the short-term because the spice is abrasive, removing the top layer of enamel.
But in the long term, it’s quite bad for your teeth. Plus, it won’t do anything for whitening your toothbrush or anything else it touches.
We’d say the best balance is to keep using turmeric for its antioxidants and immunity-boosting properties, but keep it out of the bathroom.
The next hygiene trends comes from none other than Kim Kardashian who says she crushed up acidic Vitamin C tablets, added them to her shampoo, and rinsed her hair to result in a lighter shade.
Related: Can We Actually Stop Our Hair from Turning Grey?
According to dermatologist Dr. Sonia Batra, this can actually work. Vitamin C is an ascorbic acid, and when used this way, opens up hair cuticles that strip it of some of the dye. Obviously, this only applies to dyed hair, and not natural colours.
Batra notes that this can be a less damaging way to remove dye compared to hydrogen peroxide, which is the most popular option to get rid of that colour.
Photo Credit: tarapong srichaiyos/Shutterstock.com; Jiffy Avril/Shutterstock.com
