Sometimes on this blog I get asked some interesting questions. One of the questions that was asked of me lately was what is the best vegan toothpaste?
I’ve tried a lot of different vegan toothpastes in my time and I’ve also tried a bunch of regular toothpastes too. One of the problems with vegan toothpaste is that they are generally quite expensive. I know I’ve written about how inexpensive or how cheap it is to be a vegan diet wise but sometimes vegan toiletries are more expensive. But with that you get usually organic ingredients or mostly natural ingredients. And this is true with vegan toothpaste.
Unfortunately, there aren’t a ton of vegan toothpaste brands to choose from, but there are enough and at the end of the day, you only brush your teeth with one toothpaste at a time right… right? Well, you do if you’re like most of us, though now I’m tempted to try 2 different vegan toothpastes combined on my next brushing to see how it goes 🙂
So I’ll give you my top 3 vegan toothpastes in order of favorite to last favorite. I was going to say least favorite, but honestly, I still like it so it’s my last favorite vegan toothpaste and not least favorite.
First Place: JASON Natural PowerSmile Whitening Toothpaste
You can buy this vegan toothpaste here. Depending on sales and whether you buy it in bulk or not, JASON’s PowerSmile is one of the cheapest vegan toothpastes on the market too. I like it because it has a terrifically strong peppermint flavor that tastes natural because… well it is. They use natural peppermint oil for the flavor and you can tell. It also foams very nicely. A thick, tight foam that doesn’t dribble out of your mouth and onto your freshly dry cleaned shirt as you’re getting read for work in the morning.
This vegan toothpaste’s ingredients include natural oils as mentioned as well as perilla seed extract for helping combat the acids in sugar and such that can aid in the formation of tartar. This is a powerfully strong toothpaste that leaves your mouth feeling very fresh. Some might find it a bit too strong in the peppermint department, but I find it delicious. JASON PowerSmile vegan toothpaste also leaves out fluoride, saccharin, sodium lauryl sulfate and preservatives amongst other things for a natural toothpaste.
Second Place: Tom’s of Maine Natural Care, Antiplaque & Whitening Peppermint Toothpaste
By now you are probably aware that I am a huge fan of the mint family of flavors when it comes to my vegan toothpastes. If you want to find out more about this Tom’s of Maine vegan toothpaste you can click here. I’ve gotta say it’s really hard for me to choose between the JASON vegan toothpaste and the Tom’s of Maine toothpaste here, they’re really close. I like it because it is easier to buy in bulk than JASON’s and works out to be cheaper than JASON PowerSmile too.
However, they do use sodium lauryl sulfate though it too is fluoride free. If you aren’t that picky about fluoride and I sometimes don’t care one way or the other you can get Tom’s of Maine toothpastes with fluoride if that is your preference. Here is the complete list of ingredients for this Tom’s of Maine vegan toothpaste: Calcium Carbonate, Glycerin, Water, Xylitol, Hydrated Silica, Zinc Citrate Trihydrate, Peppermint Oil, Sodium Lauryl Sulfate, Carrageenan, Sodium Bicarbonate
Of course, neither of these companies chosen test on animals. The foam with this vegan toothpaste is not quite as firm as JASON’s and the taste is not quite as strong. But if you don’t like a super sharp peppermint flavor then you’ll likely be quite happy with this toothpaste.
Third Place: Desert Essence Tea Tree Oil & Neem Toothpaste
This toothpaste is a standard in many vegan homes and many folks concerned about their health and living more organically and naturally. You can buy this vegan toothpaste here.
Neem is a popular choice in toothpastes as the neem tree has been used for centuries litreally in India where it is nicknamed the “toothbrush” tree as folks use the twigs as toothbrushes, and if you chew on a neem twig it will become fibrous and brushy like a toothbrush.
This great tasting vegan toothpaste is not as strong as JASON, rather it has a less sweet and moderate peppermint or wintergreen flavor. The foam is decent but not as thick as JASON’s but it cleans well and leaves your teeth with that what I call “slippery” clean feel to them. In fact, I can’t really tell the difference amongst these 3 top vegan toothpastes to be honest. They are all excellent at giving you that slippery clean feeling to your teeth.
Where they all fall down is in their whitening aspect. I can’t say that I’ve seen much difference in the whitening power of these vegan toothpastes even after using them for months at a time. But I think that’s a problem with even the regular whitening toothpastes.
I would be remiss in this post if I did not give a special mention to the best vegan sensitive toothpaste. This Tom’s of Maine Maximum Strength Sensitive toothpaste is one that actually works. That’s because they use the FDA approved sodium nitrate which is actually the only FDA approved ingredient for alleviate tooth sensitivity.
Tom’s of Maine is now owned by Colgate-Palmolive. The toothpaste might still be vegan but the entire company still tests on animals. In addition, the original owners still live in Maine and now produce high-end wool clothing (Ramblers Way).
Please remove them from your list.
Thanks for the update Stephen. However, unless you can provide confirmed proof that the toothpaste is no longer vegan, I’ll not remove them from the list, but I’ve approved your comment so that other visitors can make their own decisions. In fact, PeTA considers Tom’s of Maine a cruelty free company even though they’re owned by CP as you mentioned: http://features.peta.org/cruelty-free-company-search/cruelty_free_companies_company.aspx?Com_Id=700&Donottest=-1&Product=0&Dotest=-1&RegChange=-1&Country=-1&Keyword=tom%27s+of+maine
Also, as I’ve repeated many times on this site, I am most interested in making veganism as accessible as possible. As such, the thrust is to get folks to stop eating animal products, and wearing animal products. In other words to get rid of those products that are involved in the most amount of animal cruelty. If you can go further than that, then I’m all for it, but I’d sooner support someone who doesn’t eat obvious animal products and who no longer buys leather, wool and silk clothing but still brushes their teeth with CP toothpaste.
We need to do the greatest good, not become militant about the smaller issues.
Thank you for this information, I will be buying the sensitive toothpaste on my next trip to the store 🙂
You’re welcome. Hope it helped.
I would like to point out that, although Colgate-Palmolive does test on animals, PETA lists the company as “Working for a Regulatory Change.” Based on PETA’s categorization, C-P tests on animals only when required to do so by government regulations and is actively working to remove requirements for such testing. I don’t believe these companies should be penalized for having to comply with regulations.
Here is the information from PETA’s site:
“Working for Regulatory Change” is a category that recognizes companies that test on animals only when required by law, that are completely transparent with PETA about which animal tests they conduct and why, and that are actively working to promote development, validation, and acceptance of non-animal methods.
While we encourage consumers to support only those companies that have committed to a complete, permanent ban on all tests on animals (please see PETA’s list of companies that don’t test on animals), we also recognize that some companies that continue to use animals are committed to conducting as few tests on animals as possible and are working openly and diligently to eliminate the tests still required by the government. These companies stand out from other companies that have never contributed to the development and validation of non-animal methods, that have tested on animals when not explicitly required to by law, and that keep all animal tests a closely guarded secret.
Source: http://features.peta.org/cruelty-free-company-search/cruelty_free_companies_company.aspx?Com_Id=829&Donottest=-1&Product=0&Dotest=-1&RegChange=-1&Country=-1&Keyword=colgate
Good point Dana. Thanks for making it.
As vegans, we should try to do the best we can, and CP can
be a vegan choice. I would not negate someone’s veganism
because they use CP products. Indeed, we need to choose the
big wins. I myself use CP products when others are not
as readily available.
Animals for food is where the most saves can be made.
In my opinion, using vegan products even if the parent company is not cruelty free is a good practice. It teaches the company that there is a market for the product. If we don’t use the products marketed as vegan, they will be discontinued. If the company is offering an alternative, at least they have given the issue some thought even if they are only concerned about their profit margin. The vegan market is exploding and companies that don’t recognize that trend will not be competitive. Some companies start out making small changes and work toward greater changes. I recently read that Wet n Wild cosmetics is striving to move to all cruelty-free products and they specifically list on their website which products are not vegan. I appreciate the transparency. There’s been a huge improvement in the last 10 years. Now you can walk into your neighborhood store and actually find products marked with the word “vegan”. I buy anything labeled vegan just to show my support. Thank you for this comparison of toothpaste brands!
Hi Kim,
I appreciate your thoughts. I’m with you on your feelings about this. Additionally, my hope is to help as many people go vegan as possible. Once you’ve gotten the animal foods out of your diet and are working on the animal clothing products, then folks can make the determination on how far they want to go vis a vis cruelty free products and/or companies.
The biggest and easiest wins are with eliminating animal foods.
I appreciate your thoughts,
Jason