Trying Out Charcoal Tooth Whitening

All you seem to see on Instagram these days is detox teas, gold face masks, liquid drop highlighters and charcoal tooth whitening kits. It's so easy to get sucked into the trends and waste your money. You usually find those photos are celebrities that have been sponsored to promote them whether they like them or not. 

But when I was approached by Carbon Coco (an Australian charcoal tooth whitening company) it got me thinking...shall I give it a go? So I'm taking one for the team and decided to try it out and no this isn't a sponsored post!

I was very kindly sent the Ultimate Carbon Kit by Carbon Coco. This usually retails at $89.95 so for that price I would want some pretty spectacular results! 

HOWEVER it is currently on sale for $44.95 which is about the same price as a lot of tooth whitening kits so that's not SO bad. 

So what do you get in the kit?

1 x Activated charcoal toothpaste

1 x Activated charcoal tooth polish

1 x Toothbrush with bamboo bristles

Let me tell you a bit more about the products before I explain the results.

So the main ingredient is obviously activated charcoal , it is all natural ingredients, no toxic chemicals that you get in a lot of other tooth whitening products. I usually find natural ones don't have such intense results, so if you're looking for that bright white fake Hollywood smile, I can tell you right now that isn't gonna happen. 

Other ingredients are bentonite powder and lemon myrtle. 

Apparently this set can help change the PH levels in your mouth helping to reduce things that cause cavities, gum disease and bad breath. It polishes your teeth, strengthens the enamel and detoxifies your mouth. It can help to reduce bacteria build-up by 90% for 12 hours!

So! First impressions...

It arrived in a cute little satin bag to keep it all together.

Inside was my INCREDIBLY SOFT toothbrush!

A nice big tub of tooth polish and some toothpaste. 

To use you simply wet your toothbrush and get the tiniest amount of tooth polish powder on it. This stuff gets super messy so try not to splutter it everywhere. It doesn't have a very intense taste. It's quite neutral but its not really enjoyable. I guess if you're not used to having powder in your mouth it can be a strange feeling at first. 

It lathers up and makes your mouth quite watery, you brush for two minutes then spit it out. You will need to clean your sink every time you use it, so that put me off a little. Places to go, people to see etc...who am I kidding? :')

Then you use the toothpaste which lathers SO MUCH, so again, the tiniest amount of product is needed. 

Because with both products you only need a small amount I do think these products will last a VERY long time which almost excuses the price because most kits will last 2-4 weeks depending on use. It's rare you get one that lasts a long time but I can see this lasting over 6 months and because it's natural you don't have to worry about use over a long period of time ruining your teeth. 

This is more like a natural everyday whitening top-up rather than a quick fix whitening session. Results are seen 7-14 days later so I gave it a two week trial. I imagine the longer you use it, the 

better the results? But I'm not certain. I'll keep you updated ;)

Anyway, you repeat this process twice a day. One thing I did find was the toothbrush was SO soft that it kept getting in my gums and making them a bit sore? Maybe I was brushing a little too hard because I'm used to a firm toothbrush though.

Results? 

After 5 days-ish I noticed my teeth certainly looked whiter. It wasn't like a magical miracle but I definitely started to see a difference so I was excited! 

After 14 days I thought yep my teeth look whiter, maybe 2 shades whiter? I didn't notice a massive difference between the first and second week. But the results were quicker than I expected. 

I noticed when taking blog photos for something else that my teeth looked particularly white (see photo)

Here are some before and after shots where you can see for yourself. Not a huge difference and these photos were taken in yellow lighting in my bathroom so probably not the best place but I wanted somewhere that the lighting would always be the same so not to change the brightness of my camera. 

                                                                                                                                                                 

Here are the same photos but bigger...

This photo is off Snapchat, it's not filtered and I couldn't believe how great my teeth looked! Different lighting is causing different photo results but when I ran to the mirror they did genuinely look great!

It's not a huge difference but there is one! I would say the product does what it says it will but I think people might expect more for their money or even whiter results. 

I personally have tried a fair few different teeth whitening kits, I've never used a bleaching one but always more natural ones, although this is my first charcoal one. 

I would say out of the 4 or 5 kits I've tried this is the best one. 

I will continue to use it, I would recommend it for stain removal, although I don't have stained teeth, any parts that were a slightly darker shade nearer the gums improved a fair bit so I imagine it really works well on stains. 

This is a nice kit for anyone wanting to try out charcoal toothpaste looking for a successful natural tooth whitener. 

Don't be fooled by any photos of girls with extremely sparkly white pearls on Instagram because I can guarantee they've had that done at a salon but I hope this post gave you an insight into some realistic results and yes I would give this product a thumbs up. I would say this isn't a gimmick and it does work but just don't expect too much :)

Plus bare in mind, it's not all about the whitening, it keeps your teeth super healthy too, lots of other perks to this set!

Thanks for reading,

You can try out Carbon Coco here! 

Much love, 

Disclaimer: I was sent this product free of charge in exchange for a review and social media promotion. All opinions are my 100% honest opinions, all words and photos are my own. This is not  a paid collaboration.