Dear Conscious Readers,

OK, there's now more than 150 of us here. I still cannot believe it! Knowing that we're all doing this together is so exciting, right?

For those of you who just joined us. WELCOME! Here's a link to last week's challenge should you feel like catching up (not mandatory at all).

ZWswitchallenge #2 - Make your own toothpaste

Last weeks' challenge was pretty easy, so I thought that this week, we could get our hands a little dirty.

OK, now. Why would you want to make your own toothpaste?
Because:
- it's usually packaged in plastic (#plasticpollutes)
- it's full of chemicals (second degree, always!)
- it's not cheap

I remember this passage of the book by former advertising copyeditor and now famous French author/TV personnality Frédéric Beigbeder where he explains that toothpaste is useless since dental care basically consists in brushing your teeth and the actual paste is only meant to freshen your breath.

I won't go as far as telling you to ditch the toothpaste, but just want to emphasize on the fact that all you need is a good brush (you should floss too, but that's not the focus of this challenge).

So don't worry if this recipe does not contain the usual fluoride, whitening agents, etc. These are all sales arguments. You want your mouth to feel clean and fresh. That's about it!

Here's my favorite recipe:

INGREDIENTS:
- 1/2 cup of coconut oil
- 2-3 tablespoons of baking soda
- 15-20 drops of essential oil (peppermint is my favorite, lemon sounds refreshing too)

INSTRUCTIONS:
Mix all the ingredients in your container (I usually use a chopstick for that). And voilà!

There's a million recipes online. I first tried the baking soda/stevia powder toothpaste, but it rapidly became hard because of the humidity in my bathroom. I also made some with coconut oil, baking soda or salt, green clay and peppermint essential oil which I keep in my camping drop kit.

But I'm now sticking to the one above. First because I like the texture better, And then because it only requires 3 ingredients that I use all the time: coconut oil for cooking and moisturizing my face, baking soda to clean the house and peppermint essential oil to relieve headaches.

I don't want complicated recipes requiring ingredients that I will only use once. I want things to be SIMPLER & GREENER, so that they can make me HAPPIER!

Now it's your turn, please share pictures of your weekly challenge with us on Instagram! I can't wait to see all the different containers you'll be using! And don't forget to use #ZWswitchallenge so we can all follow each other's progress.

Again, if you want to invite your friends, please do so. The more we are, the merrier! As you already know each individual challenge can be achieved on its own, so anyone can enter the challenge at any time, there’s no need to start from the beginning (even though the difficulty of the challenges might increase over time).

See you next week!

Consciously,

Chloé