Last night, I rubbed charcoal in my mouth.

Thanks to pinterest, I have become addicted to trying "natural" or "home" remedies for all sorts of things:  vinegar and Listerine footscrub?  "Sure!"  Homemade laundry soap?  "Absolutely!"  Elmer's glue as a pore-cleaning strip?  "Why not?!"    I've been pretty pleased with most of these experiments, and I really do wonder what I ever did before the MOST addictive website existed.

I have to say, last night's experiment pretty much beats all other odd experiments...

I rubbed activated charcoal on my teeth.

I saw this on pinterest (where else?) and decided to give it a go.  My teeth are stained from years of coffee, tea and red wine- and from some bad years of smoking in my twenties. 

Finding the activated charcoal was the hardest part.  (They sell it at Walgreen's- I just didn't know where to look and finally had to ask.) 

Activated Charcoal, aka "Black Magic."

Here's a lovely shot of my "before."  Taking this picture felt very... awkward.

  

The instructions were simple enough:  break a capsule open ((harder to do than I expected)), scrub the black powder on your teeth with your finger or toothbrush for about 5 minutes ((this kills my gums- I brushed for a couple of minutes and then just "swished" it around my mouth for another 3 or 4 minutes)), and then rinse/brush teeth with toothpaste.   The process is a bit odd, as your mouth/lips/chin/fingers turn BLACK.  Don't worry- it won't stain skin.  ((I was extra careful to keep it from getting on my clothes- not sure if it would stain fabric.))   I also IMMEDIATELY cleaned my sink, as I was terrified to stain the hotel sink black.  ((Oh yeah, I'm currently in St. Louis on a work trip...))

 

Here's a lovely shot of the "during"

Again- super awkward.
 

And here's my "after"

Hot, right?
 

Here's a before/after comparison:

Before, Top.
After, Bottom.
 

Overall, I am THRILLED.  I'm planning on doing this nightly for a week, and then cutting down to about twice a week for "maintenance."  From all that I've read, activated charcoal is all-natural and will not harm the tooth enamel.  I'll probably post the "before/after" again after a full week to see if I get any whiter. 

This bottle of activated charcoal cost about $20 and has 100 capsules.  One post I saw stated that you only needed a "half capsule" of powder for one session- but there is no way I'm going to attempt to save a half-capsule here and there.  That powder is fine and black- I can just imagine it getting everywhere.  :)

 

Have you ever tried any crazy home-remedies?  What works?  What doesn't?  Let me know!