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 to take on 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 than 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, and the local farmers’ market.
Maybe one friend grows a loofah, and you trade. Little fixes aren’t just about the products; they’re about lifestyle changes that make for a simpler, 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 became 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 also because the body of Christ is more than what 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.
