Down the rabbit hole I go. Another late night of research where I dispute the profit margins of brands making simple ingredients and charging a fortune.
I understand, I appreciate capitalism as much as the next American but the greenwashing is out of control.
While looking up toothpaste brands to refill my mineral based fluoride free swap. I started to notice most brands had the same ingredients. Some sort of clay ,
baking soda and peppermint oil. So I looked through pages of web search to find these ingredients. I needed USA made, chemical tested and or organic. I found a few and thought I’d do the math.
So I ordered 3lbs of bentonite clay , a pound or so of kaolin clay and ensured I had aluminum free baking soda and organic peppermint
oil on hand. I put together a shopping cart ready take to task making my own toothpaste.
My findings: at a rate of about 4 dollars per jar ( if I put these in individual jars). Bulk is around 1.50 per serving (120) uses for nearly 3,800 uses utilizing the 50$ of ingredients I purchased.
For my family of 3 (counting from when my infant is able to brush his teeth. We’re looking at about a 2 year supply of toothpaste at 25$ a year.
The mineral tooth powder I had originally gone online to buy was 17$ for one jar. That’s about 2 months of cleaning for just me and my husband.
I will do an article about the process when my order comes in, but what I really want to emphasize here is that all these new products claiming to be sustainable and healthy are doing a great job but they need to make a profit just like anyone else. What we’re learning is that big industry with its shipping costs and labor is always going to be more expensive that making things at home…provided we have access to the ingredients, ability , time and knowledge.
Everyone doesn’t have to make their own toothpaste. It would be great if we all could. It would be one less manufactured good that emits thousands of microplastics every year but people don’t need to do it all themselves. Have one person in your community make the toothpaste and sell it at a small cost to their friends, their neighborhood the local farmers market.
Maybe one friend grows loofah and you trade. Little fixes aren’t just about the products they’re about lifestyle changes that make for a more simple , cost effective way to reduce our impact on the environment that was made to sustain us.
Think of what community meant to the early Church. It was naturally made up of our butchers, doctors, farmers and teachers. We didn’t have to outsource from so far afield. We didn’t have to wear every hat being self reliant to the point where our homes become a hermitage. Making small groups that sustain one another is the best way to bring back that sense of care for our neighbors.
Truly loving one another by sharing our gifts and our burdens. We must learn to lean on those closest to us and reciprocate.
For when times get hard, and they will. We must not be afraid in short because we have The Lord but too because the church body of Christ is more than who we see on Sunday. We are a living ecosystem of talents all spun up into a net ready to catch one another in hard times.
Leave a Reply