You Use It Twice a Day. Do You Know What’s In It?
Toothpaste is one of those everyday products most of us don’t think twice about. It’s been part of the bathroom routine since childhood: squeeze, brush, rinse, repeat.
But have you ever actually turned the pack over and read the ingredient list?
Once you do, there can be a lot to unpack.
Foaming agents. Abrasives. Sweeteners. Flavours. Humectants. Active ingredients. They’re not all doing the same thing and an unfamiliar ingredient name doesn’t automatically make it a “bad” ingredient.
So rather than making oral care feel more complicated, let’s look at what some of these ingredients actually do and why they’re there.
Foaming Agents: Where Does All That Foam Come From?
That familiar foam when you brush usually comes from a surfactant or foaming agent.
One commonly used example is Sodium Lauryl Sulphate (SLS). It helps toothpaste spread around the mouth and creates the lather many of us associate with that “freshly brushed” feeling.
But more foam doesn’t necessarily mean cleaner teeth.
Some people also find SLS irritating to the soft tissues of their mouth, which is one reason SLS-free oral-care products have become increasingly popular.
At ohGiGi®, we choose to formulate without SLS.
Sweeteners + Flavours: Why Does Toothpaste Taste Sweet?
Toothpaste needs to be pleasant enough to use twice a day, so many formulas contain sweeteners and flavouring ingredients.
And no, seeing something sweet in an ingredient list doesn’t necessarily mean your toothpaste contains ordinary table sugar.
Depending on the formula, manufacturers may use sugar substitute ingredients such as sorbitol, xylitol, stevia or other sweetening agents, alongside mint, fruit or other flavours.
This is where reading the actual ingredient list matters: “sweet” doesn’t tell you what the ingredient is.
At ohGiGi®, we prefer to keep our formulas simple and transparent, so you can see exactly what you’re brushing with.
Abrasives: The Ingredients That Help Do the Cleaning
Abrasives provide some of the physical cleaning action in toothpaste, helping remove surface deposits and stains as you brush.
Common examples include calcium carbonate, hydrated silica and sodium bicarbonate.
But abrasivity isn’t simply about whether a product contains an abrasive, the finished formulation matters.
Active + Mineral Ingredients
Some ingredients are included for more than texture, taste or cleaning.
One you’ve probably heard a lot more about recently is hydroxyapatite, a calcium-phosphate mineral closely related to the mineral that naturally makes up teeth.
It’s also the reason you’ll see hydroxyapatite across part of the ohGiGi® range.
We’ll dive much deeper into hydroxyapatite separately, because this little mineral deserves a whole conversation of its own.
Then There Are All the “Extras”
Toothpaste formulas can also contain ingredients that help preserve the product, retain moisture, improve texture, bind ingredients together or add colour.
Again, their presence doesn’t automatically make a toothpaste good or bad.
The better question is:
What’s in my toothpaste...and why is it there?
That’s the approach we want to encourage.
Turn the pack over. Read the ingredients. Ask questions. And choose the oral-care routine that feels right for you.
So, What Did We Do?
When we started ohGiGi®, we wanted a different approach to everyday oral care.
Our toothpowders are made with mineral-rich clays and carefully selected ingredients, with different formulas featuring ingredients such as Australian native botanicals, essential oils and hydroxyapatite.
And because we believe ingredient transparency matters, we want you to know what’s in your product and why we’ve chosen it.
No mystery. No need for fear.
Just a more conscious approach to something you use every single day.
Know what’s in it. Know why it’s there. Know what you’re brushing with.
And Yes, The Packaging Matters Too
For us, rethinking toothpaste wasn’t only about what went inside the product.
Traditional toothpaste tubes can be difficult to recycle because they’re often made from multiple materials. That’s why we chose reusable glass jars for our toothpowders, supported by refill options designed to reduce the need for another conventional toothpaste tube.
And we’re keeping count.
Our bigger goal is to help divert 1 million toothpaste tubes from landfill, one everyday brushing routine at a time.