Darlie - racial overtones

Darlie is a toothpaste that originates in Taiwan. Originally, it was called "Darkie". For obvious reasons, they changed the name. "They" is Hawley & Hazel, a company that is not part of Colgate.

The Museum is privileged to host Darlie - sourced from Malaysia. (Special thanks to my friends from there who brought it over for me.)

The paste itself is very unremarkable. It's basic smooth white mint flouride. If you live in the Pacific Rim, you should pick up a tube for the novelty value alone.

Finally, you must view this 1990 commercial that details the name transition.

Lovely Neem

Another neem toothpaste came to me (literally). Autumn, the CEO of Organix South, sent me a tube of their TheraNeem herbal mint flavor. It is excellent!

The country of origin is India. Natural ingredients include grapeseed, licorice, fennel, clove, peppermint, spearmint - and of course neem. I love the exceptionally interesting mix of flavors - very hard to describe. This has quickly become my current favorite paste. It's the color of coffee with milk and has more texture than most pastes.

Users are supposed to make the toothpaste part of a three-step oral health regimem - the other steps being TheraNeem mouthwash and "Supercritical Extract" - an elixir the user consumes. My neem package included the mouthwash but not the extract. The mouthwash has an amazingly complex flavor - nearly impossible to describe.

I can't vouch for all the health benefits of neem - "purifying and antioxidant", but I do like the taste of Theraneem and how it makes my mouth feel clean.

Beyond the scope of The Museum are the neem soaps Autumn sent - six "flavors". They are all natural, as you might guess. All are various shades of beige (no dye!) and have intriguing aromas.

Give TheraNeem a try! It definitely has The International Toothpaste Museum Seal of Approval.

Email Toothpaste

I love this one. (Also courtesy of my sister Amy.)

"Email Diamant" is roughly translated "diamond enamel". It's proudly French and made since 1893.

Normally this Museum does not feature boxes that pastes come in, but this time I had to show you a closeup of the bullfighter guy, since he's in full color on the box. He's a happy user of the paste!

The taste is different - with a nose of anise, to use wine terms. The paste is indeed very red - it almost stains my toothbrush.

I love the description. The translator from the original French did not have a good command of English: it "respects" the tooth enamel. And it has "natural light reflectors". (I'd recommend regular users riding their bicycles at night with their mouths wide open.)

If you're in the USA and desperately want to try some, it's a bit expensive: $19 from here. (I'd recommend instead that your sister who lives in Belgium bring you some when she visits.)

Finally, you were hoping for a joke about toothpaste relating to e-mail. Sorry to disappoint you.

Neem, 2

I've written about Neem before. But they've gone more mainstream since the first time I tried it. The tube of their new paste looks similar to the old, but the paste does live up to the "New" on the label (though funny enough, the old tube also had "New" on the label).

This time, the paste is also green, but it's a little bluer in tint than the last yellow-khaki-green. And it tastes much more like a traditional mint paste.

"Active"? I'm not sure how it makes me more active. Maybe the fresh minty flavor leaves me wanting to be more active. I doubt it.

Special thanks to my sister Amy, the lady who started my journey into toothpastes (she bought it for me) - and also to my brother Bill, who mailed it to me.

The Mongolian

Shenhua toothpaste is part of a hospitality pack given to guests at the Sun Hotel of Ulaan Baator, Mongolia. All guests are welcome!

The pack includes a lovely skinny basic toothbrush, with inside bristles in a lurid shade of green.

The paste is basic white mint with very mild flavor and unknown chemical composition or effects on human health. The paste is manufactured by the Shenhua Daily Chemical Products.Co,.Ltd < That punctuation is theirs, not mine. (I wondered why they are a "daily" chemical products company.) And I was highly amused at the lack of an expiration date - however, they had enough integrity to print "Two years" on the end of the tube. (That was the same printing as the product name.) I guess the user should discard whatever remains of the original 3 grams, if they haven't used it by the end of two years since opening the tube.

Special thanks to my buddy Shane, who made the trip to Mongolia on behalf of the International Toothpaste Museum. (Other scouts are welcome!)

Malay kids'

Mu'min is certainly one of the more unique members of the International Toothpaste Museum. Why? It's halal - the Muslim equivalent of Kosher.

You see, the majority population of Malaysia is Muslims.

A friend who normally lives in the capital, Kuala Lumpur, brought over this tube as a wonderful addition to the museum. (I won't say that was his only reason for visiting Colorado!)

Review? white paste. Flavor? complex. My 13-year old son called it similar to Stride gum's sweet mint flavor. My 8-year old daughter said it was a mix between mint and bubblegum. I couldn't figure out what I thought it tastes like.

To me, the toothpaste is a winner because of the picture of the happy kids on the box.

Colgate Wisp toothbrush

This is a departure from the norm - a toothbrush review!

Colgate came out with a totally new concept, as far as I could discover... a tiny brush that has built-in paste. It's a great idea. You just pack it in your purse (ladies) or pocket (men) - and when you need more of a clean mouth than breath mints can provide, voila!

It's only about 3.5" (90 mm) long. The "paste" is contained in that little red blob you see in the middle of the brush area. It gets released when you use it. Red is cinnamon and blue is peppermint. Flavor? fine. Clean mouth? yes.

Idea: A+ Execution: C+. It fails in that it's just too short. I realized after using one that my mouth makes a seal around a brush's stem when I brush. The Wisp is too short to allow this. So I get saliva all over, unless I'm really careful.

Finally, the packaging is excessive and wasteful. I'd vote for a longer stem that has interchangeable refill heads.