16 Unexpected Uses of Toothpaste other than Brushing

Edible toothpaste was first created for astronauts in space, so that they wouldn't have to spit anything out into a zero gravity situation, and also eliminated waste management. Today, this edible toothpaste is used for toddlers below the age of 3, since there is a high risk of them swallowing toothpaste.

Before you begin to use some of these tips, make sure that you use a traditional, opaque white toothpaste, and not a gel-based one. This is because the ingredients in traditional white toothpaste are different from the ones in gel-based pastes.

It alleviates the sting emanating from the site, neutralizes the acidic venom with alkalinity, and glycerin/menthol/fresh flavor components in the mixture dry out the fluid from the sting.

Using toothpaste for treating acne and zits is a good idea as an overnight remedy. The flavoring agents in it like spearmint and menthol act as drying agents and drain the zit out by morning if applied at night. It also absorbs oil from the skin, making it clearer by preventing acne.

However using it for long will leave your skin looking super dry, along with itching and rashes, so it is not to be used as a regular remedy because it has not been dermatologically tested.

All your silver jewelry and chrome bathroom fittings will gleam with a new light if you evenly spread toothpaste with a brush and wipe it away after ten minutes of waiting. The abrasives present in it will clean and exfoliate the metals thoroughly and polish them, which leaves them looking like new.

Headlight restoration can be achieved with toothpaste due to its exfoliating effect. The headlights of your car become dirty over time, and if you scrub some toothpaste on and wipe, the headlights will look good as new. This method can be used to clean all other glass products in case normal cleaning agents are unavailable.

Rub it in a circular motion (do a 24-hour patch test beforehand on a small patch of the wall) until the crayon cannot be seen any more. However, the base paint you of your wall should be resistant to abrasions.

The smells that emanate from your hands hours after chopping onions, garlic or ginger, can be removed by washing your hands with toothpaste. Mix a drop of the paste in a little water and wash your hands with the mixture. This is guaranteed to negate hours of garlic-induced odor.

It even works on plastic keys and other objects made of plastic, like outdoor furniture on the patio. All you have to do is scrub the keys with a toothbrush and paste, and hey presto! All clean.

The toothpaste you use helps break down sugar, which when applied to gum, will reduce the stickiness of it by breaking down sugar, so that you won't have to literally pull your hair out if you have gum stuck to it.

Apply some paste on to the hair and gum, and wait for about 15-30 minutes. It'll not be complete salvation, and you will still have to scrub a lot, but this is better than having to cut your hair out of desperation.

Dark nail polish, once removed with the removing agent, tends to leave a discoloration of residue on your nails. You can eliminate this issue by rubbing some toothpaste on to your nails and washing them off.

The keratin which your nails are made of is similar to some organic components in the enamel, so the fluoride compounds end up thoroughly cleaning the material of your nails in a similar fashion.

Anything made of ceramic (like pots and tiles) which has not been painted over with chemical paint, will react positively to a good brushing with toothpaste. This will make the task of keeping your bathroom clean fairly easy.

When you do one of your terrible home hair dyeing jobs and have to walk around with dye that has leaked on to your forehead, try rubbing some toothpaste on the skin and leaving it for about ten minutes. This will unstick the dye from the skin, and you will be able to pull it off your skin by vigorously rubbing it.

Instead, scrub some toothpaste on, leave for ten minutes, and wash the cloth. Do it multiple times and the stain will vanish. Leather cleans up very well if it has been scruffed and scratched and looks old over time. The polishing power of toothpaste gives leather a spanking new shine.

Since it solidifies over time, especially when exposed to air, small holes in your white wall that have been left empty by vanished nails can be filled up with it. This works on only white walls though, and cannot be used for colored walls since toothpaste cannot be painted over very well, though you may try.

You can also apply the toothpaste directly on to the pine freshener so that it diffuses the smell directly over a longer period of time. The only thing is that it will just have a minty fragrance rather than a "piney" one.

Toothpaste works as residue-free glue for emergencies. You can hang up light paper and posters on your walls, and it will not fall down for a really long time. Just pull it back out once you wish to remove the poster and that's the end of it. Neat, eh?

Ever since you burned that pretty chiffon dress your clothes iron will have bits of chiffon gunk left over on the heating plate. Scrub it with toothpaste and a brush, and wipe it off.

The polishers will do their work with the residue, and the iron will look spotless. This will eliminate any risks of melting any residue over unspoiled clothes, thereby ruining them too.

A lot of people tend to use toothpaste to treat minor burns at home, because it feels like it will cool the skin if it can cool the mouth. This is the wrong logic to apply. Though it provides immediate numbness and relief from feeling the pain, menthol present as a flavor in toothpaste aggravates the skin by drying it out.

Menthol can even cause burns if a big amount of it touches the skin for a few minutes. Other components present, like peppermint or calcium, might lead to infections.

A knowledge of these little tricks will aid you as a suitable substitute for other task-specific products that you cannot access as urgently as toothpaste. You can also source any individual components used in its manufacturing, to target specific tasks.

This works only when you know in what way the component will work on the given material that is to be treated. A basic knowledge of the effects of abrasives, fluorides, etc., will guide you in deciding which component you can individually choose. So go ahead, get scrubbing!