This Black Toothpaste Actually Made My Teeth Whiter

There are plenty of toothpastes out there that make claims to whiten teeth, but the claim is often followed by an asterisk. As a beauty editor, I receive hundreds of beauty pitches on a daily basis, so I’ve gotten pretty good a studying the ingredients and reading the fine print to determine which products will actually live up to their promises. So, when I received yet another pitch advertising a toothpaste that that would give me a brighter smile, I was a little skeptical but one ingredient in particular drew me in: charcoal.

Ask any beauty girl—or maybe just me—what her favorite products are and charcoal is likely to fall somewhere in her top five. Like K-beauty (Korean beauty), activated charcoal is one of those phenomenon that has really changed the landscape of the beauty sphere and become a staple is a surprising number of ingredients–the most recent and perhaps most shocking of which is toothpaste. 

I’ll admit that I’ve made a habit of being somewhat of a beauty guinea pig, so the idea of brushing my teeth with a charcoal-infused black paste was somewhat exciting to me. So aside from being a beauty editor, why would I want to brush my teeth with charcoal? It’s a natural ingredient that uses carbon to rid your teeth of discoloration (bye-bye coffee stains, see you never!) without bleaching or harming the enamel on your teeth. The best part, however, is that I actually noticed results. About three weeks into using the product, I had a photo shoot to take a new headshot, and my smile was —quite literally—brilliant! Granted, I didn’t have much discoloration before, but my teeth have become noticeably whiter. I also like the somewhat natural taste of the toothpaste over the artificial flavors commonly found in other popular brands. Black is White goes back to enamel basics—no bells and whistles. My teeth look whiter and my mouth over all just feels cleaner.

There is a downside; Curaprox Black is White toothpaste is a little pricey at $29.99 a tube, but It’s worth the splurge for the results. The other downside is that if you have roommates or guests, they may be a little startled if you happen to emerge from behind the bathroom door with black foam oozing from your mouth, that’s all semantics anyway, right? I mean, you can’t really put a price on pearly whites.