Hello Activated Charcoal Toothpaste Review By Dentist

This is my personal review of the Hello Activated Charcoal toothpaste with nothing but all of my subjective opinions as well as the objective facts about it.

Yes, I am a dentist so this is a dentist review. That means you shouldn’t the skip the section about how this toothpaste works. After all, everyone is always curious as to whether charcoal can really whiten your teeth.

Hopefully you’ll have a better idea of whether to give this oral care product a try after hearing about my experience with it.

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Overview

The Hello charcoal toothpaste is supposed to effectively whiten your teeth with activated charcoal. The claims are that it is safe for your enamel and it can fight bad breath while its at it.

A common concern with charcoal based toothpastes is it’s potential to be too abrasive, which may damage the enamel in the process.

However according to Hello, their product is enamel-safe and can be used on a daily basis without harm.

Featured benefits

According to Hello, using their charcoal toothpaste should result in “noticeably whiter teeth” along with many other benefits.

They make it known that this toothpaste does not contain questionable ingredients.

• directions are meant for adults and children 2 years or older. Children under 2 years old will require a consultation with a dentist.No peroxide
• No artificial sweeteners
• No artificial flavors
• No dyes
• No fluoride
• No sodium lauryl sulfate
• No parabens
• No titanium dioxide
• No brainer

Directions for use

The instructions on how to use the product are directly from Hello. They definitely keep the wording very friendly and casual. That seems to be the overall trend/feel with their branding image.

They do warn you that the dark color of the toothpaste can potentially cause a mess if you’re not careful with spitting.

You have been warned.

Product specifications

Note: There is a fluoride-based and fluoride-free version of this toothpaste.

Ingredients

Below is a list of ingredients in the activated charcoal toothpaste By Hello.

I do appreciate how they list the function/effect of each ingredient so you don’t have to look it up yourself. Although there are more effects than they listed.

Remineralization agent:

• Sodium monofluorophosphate (0.76%) – anti-cavity.

Whitening abrasives:

• Hydrated Silica – mild natural whitening polisher/cleaner. Thickener.
• Charcoal Powder – natural abrasive for whitening polishing/cleaning.
• Sodium Bicarbonate (baking soda) – abrasive/thickener.

Stain and tartar prevention:

• Tetrasodium Pyrophosphate – anti-tartar.

Flavoring:

• Sorbitol – sweetener/humectant.
• Erythhritol
• Xylitol
• Flavor
• Rebaudioside (stevia sweetener)

Others:

• Glycerin – humectant
• Water – solvent.
• Xanthan Gum – thickener.
• Potassium Citrate – stabilizer but it can also desensitize.
• Sodium Cocoyl Glutamate – vegetable surfactant.
• Cocamidopropyl Betaine – surfactant/detergent.
• Cocos Nucifera oil – humectant.

Unboxing

The Hello activated charcoal toothpaste comes in a recycled cardboard box with black, brown, and white coloring. You can definitely tell that it was made of recycled material because the texture gives it away.

So far, my initial impression is that the Hello brand is incredibly friendly with their casual language and copywriting. Their brand name greets you when you read it.

I also noticed when I looked at the bottom bar code, it was in the shape of a toothpaste tube which I thought was cute. Their approach reminds me of a friendly golden retriever.

Anyway, once you try to open it, you’ll realize that the inner flaps do have glue which means it is securely sealed for your safety.

After opening it, you can find the inner contents which is just the tube of toothpaste with nothing else inside.

The toothpaste tube is as dark as the night sky and it is made of plastic. The design will definitely speak to you if you’re a native new yorker who is used to wearing a lot of black. It kind of reminds me of a black and white cookie.

The tube also has a flip cap design which I do appreciate and prefer over a screw cap. It can also be stored in an upright vertical position since the base of the cap is broad and flat.

Another nice touch that I found was that they had a freshness seal once you opened the cap. You have to unscrew it first to remove the Life n Peel seal before you can actually use it.

I usually see a small aluminum foil seal but this my first time seeing the lift and peel. Don’t forget to screw back on the cap afterwards!

All in all, I’ve a pretty good impression and feeling about this product just based on the unboxing. Loving their design and their attention to detail thus far.

My experience

My initial impression of the Hello charcoal toothpaste is that the brand is very friendly. Their brand name greets you as you read it.

Perhaps you may even call them overly friendly because of their casual copywriting. Nonetheless, it is very welcoming and gives you a good feeling.

Overall, my teeth did feel clean afterwards and the black colored paste was fun while I was brushing it. Although like they said on the label, it can leave a mess in the sink due to the black foam.

Nonetheless, below is a summary of my experience.

Color

This toothpaste is pitch black in color like the countryside starry sky with no streetlights. Needless to say, it fulfilled all of my expectations because I was expecting black and I got black.

The reason I mention this is because the first two charcoal toothpastes that I reviewed were from Crest and Colgate and those had black/white stripes. As I was brushing with those two, the color diluted to white.

There was nothing wrong with those two toothpastes, it was just that I was expecting my mouth to be completely black. Therefore I was very happy when I got to see my mouth black with this product from Hello.

Smell

Surprisingly it just smells like mint despite how black and charcoal looking the paste is. It’s not the menthol smelling type of mint, it was more of on the sweeter side but the smell was light.

Taste

If you were expecting this toothpaste to taste like the burnt ends of a charcoal BBQ grill, you’re going to be disappointed. It was predominantly mint flavored with no hint of that BBQ flavor anywhere.

That’s not a bad thing because it would be weird to have BBQ flavored toothpaste.

Nonetheless, taste-wise it was very pleasant and right up my alley since I do like mint flavored items.

Texture

Due to a lot of concerns about charcoal being excessively abrasive, I was expecting it to feel very gritty. However, I was pleasantly surprised to find out that it did not feel abrasive at all.

The texture of the paste felt very smooth and non-abrasive. This actually made me feel safe because it tells me that it won’t damage my enamel.

The body and texture of the toothpaste does maintain its shape pretty well. It did not drizzle out or ooze out as I was dispensing it. The ones that are too watery can make a mess but this one kept its shape really well.

I also like to do the upside down toothbrush test to see how it holds up to gravity. There was slumping or falling off as I inverted the brush head.

Foaminess

This is no SLS in this toothpaste but it still lathered pretty well. You can see in the image below of how much foaming I had by the end of 2 minutes of brushing.

Certainly not the most foamy but the thought that it didn’t foam enough did not cross my mind at all. It was only when I had to compare it to other brands that I became aware of it.

Cleanliness

My teeth felt as clean as they could be after I finished brushing with it. Absolutely no qualms or complaints in its cleaning efficacy.

My only hesitation is in the black colored mess in the sink afterwards.

Obviously since it is a dark color, it would leave splatter and splotches while you’re drooling and after you spit. It’s not that white colored toothpaste doesn’t make a mess, it’s simply that we don’t notice it since it is white.

Nevertheless, don’t forget to clean your sink after you finish brushing. Hello did warn you about this on their label so don’t go blaming them!

Sensitivity

Each time that I brushed with this toothpaste, I did not feel any sensitivity at all. There were no peroxides in it so sensitivity was not to be expected.

The texture of the paste was also on the less abrasive side so it was definitely not stripping away enamel as I was brushing with it. In other words, it is safe to use.

Pros & Cons

Overall this was a very fun product to use and try. It definitely lives up to its hype on how it can turn your mouth completely black.

You just have to be really careful with the clean up afterwards. I found myself having to wipe away the black splotches on the sink every time after I brushed.

Does it work?

Charcoal toothpaste can definitely whiten your teeth but not in the way that you’re probably thinking of.

• It can mechanically scrub away extrinsic stains on the tooth surface
• It can’t chemically bleach away intrinsic stains within the tooth.

So yes, it is a whitening toothpaste but in a different kind of way.

Mechanical teeth whitening

Mechanical teeth whitening involves using abrasives within the toothpaste to scrub away stains on the exterior surface of the teeth.

What we mean by mechanical abrasion is similar to using a sponge and scrubbing a food stained dinner plate. When you remove that piece of stuck food, it is now cleaner and whiter.

That is essentially how charcoal toothpastes whiten your teeth but that is probably different from the type of whitening that you’re thinking of.

Chemical teeth whitening

When most people hear the words teeth whitening, what they’re thinking of is chemical bleaching with hydrogen peroxide. This is the whitening method that your dentist uses for in-office whitening sessions.

Peroxide is the only ingredient that can chemically whiten your teeth because it can form powerful free radicals that oxidize intrinsic stains.

How hydrogen peroxide whitens teeth:

1. Peroxide will form free radicals that can diffuse through the tooth.
2. It oxidizes stains by converting double bonds to single bonds.
3. Stains with less double bonds will absorb less light and reflect more of it, thus appearing whiter in color.

Most teeth whitening toothpastes don’t actually contain peroxide so that isn’t unique to charcoal. Put another way, charcoal is the same as every other whitening toothpaste out there.

However, there are a select few which do have peroxide in them such as the colgate optic white pro series toothpaste with 5% H₂O₂.

Is it safe to use?

The activated charcoal toothpaste from Hello is safe to use on a daily basis. They even state their claim as so on their website.

Based on our experience using this product, the paste texture felt very smooth and non-abrasive. That tells me that it is unlikely to cause enamel damage.

Yes, I am aware that pure charcoal when used as toothpaste can be incredibly destructive to teeth.

A study which observed 350 people in two Malaysian villages which used salt and charcoal as a toothpaste had disastrous results. It was so abrasive that all of the local residents had damaged enamel.

Nonetheless if you use the one from Hello you’ll be pleasantly surprised by how smooth the texture is. They might’ve made it very fine in texture or they held back from adding too much to protect you.

After all, it is the 8th ingredient on the list so there isn’t an excessive amount of it.

Verdict

Overall the Hello activated charcoal toothpaste is a good everyday toothpaste which you can use in place of your usual one. I do recommend getting their fluoridated version rather than the non-fluoride one so you can reap the anti-cavity benefits.

However, the choice is yours to make…

Would I use it long term? Personally since it kind of leaves a black mess in the sink, I would only use it sparingly. When I want to spice up my everyday routine I”ll probably give it a brush.

Would I recommend it? It’s a good toothpaste and it is definitely fun to use. If charcoal or a black mouth excites you, this is the product to use.

And that concludes the hello activated charcoal toothpaste dentist review.