This Is Me--2024 A to Z Theme

My A to Z Themes in the past have covered a range of topics and for 2024 the theme is a personal retrospective that I call "I Coulda Been" which is in reference to my job and career arc over my lifetime. I'll be looking at all sorts of occupations that I have done or could have done. Maybe you've done some of these too!

Tuesday, November 17, 2009

Getting a Bit Long in the Tooth Paste Aisle

                Things have gotten so much more complicated than they used to be.  It used to be that when you needed toothpaste you'd just go to the toothpaste section of the store and grab a tube.  There would be just a few choices. If you needed to get rid of the yellow on your teeth and had their advertising jingle in  your head,  you'd grab a tube of Pepsodent.  Or there was Ipana with the cute Bucky Beaver commercials like you might have seen in the movie GREASE.  All in all the choices were few.
                                  
                Why I can recall when you could find tooth powder in the store. Tooth powder was the precursor to toothpaste.  It was basically something like baking soda, salt, and some flavoring and it came in a can.  It was the next best thing to brushing your teeth with Ajax because it tasted better.

         But when it came right down to it, back then the toothpastes were all pretty similar in that they all had that "minty fresh taste".  They were all white at first.  Then they started making toothpaste in shades of blue and green and even making them come out striped. There were more brands and more gimmicks.  Still it was all pretty simple for a while.  You might have been swayed by reports of which ones four out of five dentists recommended or which ones prevented cavities, but I don't think you could tell that much of a difference if you were doing blind taste test.

           Then something happened.  Each brand name started adding more and more flavors, colors, functions, and formats.  There were new kinds dispensers that went beyond the traditional tubes.  There were pastes that did different things for different users. Now beyond mint there was an array of mint--peppermint, spearmint, cool mint, arctic mint, fresh mint and all other kinds of mint.  New flavors such as bubblegum, tuttifrutti, and cinnamon were added .  I'm waiting for food in a tube that you can eat and clean your teeth at the same time. Hey!  How about lasagna or kung pao chicken flavored toothpaste for your next time saving meal with teeth cleaning included. Yuk!

           So which toothpaste is best?  Well, no scientifically backed opinion from me.  I go by what's on sale as the first criterion for my purchase.  And the winner is usually Colgate.  It seems like whenever I'm ready for new toothpaste, more often than not the grocery chain where I usually shop, Ralph's Supermarket, owned by Krogers, has Colgate on sale. Sometimes it's Aquafresh, and more rarely Crest-- but usually it's Colgate that's on sale when I'm buying.  That's fine with me because I have become mighty partial towards the Colgate Cinnamint and Luminous Paradise Fresh.

       The Colgate flavor that I usually have on hand is Cinnamint.  I've always preferred cinnamon to mint.  One bad thing about the Cinnamint is that it looks like your gums are bleeding when you rinse after brushing, but the toothpaste is red so what do you expect.  The Colgate Luminous Paradise Fresh is a sparkly paste that looks like it must be filled with some kind of radioactive substance.  The taste reminds me of some sort of candy I used to eat when I was younger, but I can't quite place what the flavor is.  Looking at the paste I'm thinking that I might glow in the dark, and the name might seem to suggest that it glows in the dark, but I haven't checked yet.

       Yes things have changed.  I don't know why we would need all those different kinds of toothpaste.  Sometimes it seems like we Americans just have too much time on our hands.

        What kinds of silly little things do you find yourself making decisions about? 

         Don't forget to make the decision to read my post tomorrow.  Up-and-coming artist Ada Jackson will be featured.  She will be telling us about her work and her art business.  I think you might enjoy hearing about Ada.


8 comments:

  1. >>["GETTING A BIT LONG IN THE TOOTH PASTE AISLE"]<<

    Ha! That was a GREAT title for this Blog Bit, Brother rLEE. Classic "stuffs" there!

    ~ "Lonesome Dogg" Stevieboy

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  2. Hey! I found your post on The Literary Lab-- great blog!

    I like cinnamon toothpaste the best, too. My husband hates it. So we have to keep two types of toothpaste in the house all the time.

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  3. Ha! We have too much cinnamon toothpaste in the house because my parents stocked up when it was on sale (or, better yet, free with rebate) but I much prefer mint. We have 3 toothpastes going at all times for me, my husband, and my daughter.

    Come back tomorrow, Lee, I'm going to address your questions about profanity in fiction/media.

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  4. True enough, this topic and post. And how about when ordering a cup of coffee you only had three choices - black, or with cream and/or sugar? Nowadays ya gotta read French & Italian in order to understand the 12' tall X 6' wide menu at a coffee shop!

    And don't get me started on trying to figure out which TV channel to watch. When I was a kid there was 3 channels. Period. Now you can get like a bazillion channels on your cell phone.

    The Old Silly

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  5. Thanks for your visit and comment.

    Toothpaste, yes back years and years ago, we use to use baking soda and sometimes a little salt mixed with it, I guess it was the scouring part and the soda sweetened the mouth. LOL Simple times.

    Now we use Sensodyne all the time, mint flavored. I found when I used Colgate, the skin inside my lips would peel off. Guess it had something in it I was allergic to.

    I hope you got your Mother phoned.

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  6. Thanks for the comments.

    Carrie, I'll be looking forward to what you have to say tomorrow.

    Marvin, for the longest time I was intimidated about going to Starbucks with all the choices and even the special size names. Now when I go I've got my standard choices that I stick with and ignore everything else.

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  7. Oh how absolutely HYSTERICAL!!! As with toothpaste, so with feminine hygiene products. First you have to decide "Tampon, or Pad?"

    Then do you want the light days? Normal Days? Heavy Days or Over night? With wings or without? With applicator, or without. Scented for daisy freshness or Sans deodorizor. And so it goes.

    Often I will stand befuddled before the many choices and ask my SO which one he thinks I look best in. Funny how that doesnt help in the decision making process!

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  8. aieee! Didn't think of that one, but then again it's usually not on the top of my list.

    Thanks Sig

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