23 Tubes 1 Bowl

 

 

Over the years I’ve ended up with quite a few sample-size tubes of toothpaste. I dislike the strong, lingering flavors of most of these toothpastes, so I normally use Tom’s of Maine (or Trader Joe’s equivalent, but not Tom’s of Finland) plain mint toothpaste. As a result, I had a bunch of old tubes which were past expiration and needing to be thrown out. 23 tubes (and four small sample packs), in fact.

Before throwing them out I decided to squeeze them all into one bowl. Next I stirred it all together, found that a spoon will almost stand up in it, then put some on my toothbrush and brushed my teeth with it.

This multi-sample toothpaste concoction didn’t taste bad, but was overwhelmingly mint backed by a few other unidentifiable herbs. Even after rinsing my mouth a number of times the taste still lingers, but this matches my experience (and complaint) with all of the Colgate, Crest, etc toothpastes I’ve tried in the past.

Now to figure out how to dispose of it. Maybe dumping it in the trash then attempting to wash the bowl…

Here’s an index of the photos taken of the 23 Tubes 1 Bowl ‘experiment’:

· 23 small tubes and four sample packets of toothpaste from companies like Crest and Colgate.
· The 23 tubes of toothpaste and four sample packs squeezed into a bowl, surrounded by the remaining packaging.
· Labeled image of the bowl filled with toothpaste showing which is which.
· The previous image of the bowl filled with 23 tubes (and four sample packets) of toothpaste, without the labels.
· Closer view of the bowl containing 23 tubes (and four sample packets) of toothpaste.
· The bowl of toothpaste was rather difficult to stir and made an interesting swirled pattern before coming together.
· Mostly homogenized, it is almost possible to stand a spoon up in the bowl of toothpaste. It falls over after two or three seconds.
· Top down view of the nicely mixed bowl of toothpaste.
· Having mixed together all the toothpaste I decided to dip my toothbrush in and try brushing my teeth with it.
· The damage: empty toothpaste tubes, packets, boxes, and a bunch of caps.

For reference, the following brands / models of toothpaste were used:

· Colgate Total Advanced Fresh Gel
· Crest Cavity Protection Regular Paste
· Crest Kids Cavity Protection Sparkle Fun Flavor
· Crest Multicare Cool Mint
· Crest Pro Health Clean Mint
· Crest Pro Heath Clean Cinnamon
· Crest Whitening Expressions Cinnamon Rush
· Crest Whitening Expressessions Cinnamon Rush
· Crest Whitening Expressessions Extreme Herbal Mint
· Crest Whitening Expressessions Fresh Citrus Breeze
· Crest Whitening Expressessions Refreshing Vanilla Mint