Tom’s of Maine

Their products are not from Tom or from Maine. They’re actually from Colgate-​Palmolive. Sites like Skin Deep and Goodguide will tell you exactly what ingredients are in your products. The fact that Tom’s products have chemicals like zinc-​chloride, titanium dioxide, sodium laurel sulfate (SLS) and carrageenan tell me they’re not natural. Organic is the word to look for. Anyone can say anything is natural. They’re not the same. Just research. Good luck.

Horrible toothpaste. I was using Sensodyne before and had no issues but wanted to try something more natural. Please tell me what’s natural about carrageenan and titanium dioxide? This Tom’s of Maine toothpaste is a joke, it actually caused plaque and I brush at least twice each day. Now I see you’re owned by Colgate? What a fraud, take «Natural» out of your marketing, you’re just as bad as the lies the food industry tells.

I’ve been a user of the Tom’s spearmint anticavity toothpaste for at least ten years. I do like the taste, but the company has done three things that are turning me to an alternative from another company. First, they replaced the recyclable aluminum tubes with non-​recyclable plastic (you can collect them yourself and send them in boxes to Terracycle, but you have to accumulate a huge box before Terracycle accepts them.) Then, they practiced «shrinkflation» and shrunk the size of a tube from 6 oz. to 5.5 oz. and of course didn’t change the price. Finally, the last straw is that they dropped ADA approval for their toothpaste. I did send in an email asking what happened, but they didn’t respond. All ADA-​approved toothpastes must pass an abrasion test and I have exposed root surfaces. I can’t risk abrasion, so until they pass approval again, I’m no longer buying their product. If I receive a response I’ll update this information.

I got no qualms about their toothpaste itself, I actually rather like it. What I don’t like is their tubes that the toothpaste is in! Every time I buy toothpaste from Tom’s way before the toothpaste is out of the tube and nearing empty from normal use I start getting leaks from the tube from the sides. In the end my toothpaste is more all over my hands and in the sink than on my brush. Perhaps the tubes are more green for the environment or maybe they want to make cheap toothpaste tubes… I don’t know. What I do know is that I feel like I am not getting my moneys worth from it. And no I am gentle with the tube when I start… nothing aggressive but nevertheless the end result is the same. You know the humorous saying of trying to get toothpaste back in the tube once it comes out? Their tubes have that written all over it.

I never got used to the toothpaste. It seemed like for a while they were branching out into all kinds of products, but I don’t see them in the stores as much as I used to. They seem to make good stuff, they’ve got the right idea, and I’d love to support them. More stores gotta carry their products, though. 40,000 retail outlets sound pretty good, but this is a Maine company and I don’t see them a lot when I’m in New Hampshire. I’m going to look harder next time I’m in the store.

Okay, so my inner hippy only goes to a certain extent and when my corporate sell-​out husband (I mean that in a loving way) wants to try something that has the word «natural» on the label – I know there’s something wrong.
The truth is, I couldn’t justify spending so much on toothpaste. I mean, I like my generic, crappy Aquafresh that I’ve been using for years. You can get them in a three pack at Costco and your set for months.
But I got suckered in. So we bought some for him. And I continued onward with my Aquafresh. Until I ran out. And didn’t want to go to the store just for toothpaste. So I tried his Tom’s. And hated it. And yet, I was so lazy for the next week that I continued using it and grew to love it. Now, I can’t go back to toothpaste that tastes like candy.
After the toothpaste experience, I thought that would be the end of my hubby’s experimentation with anything outside of the box. Until we were buying another tube of Tom’s toothpaste and we saw that Tom’s has a deodorant. Being Asian, I hardly ever sweat (yep, be jealous), but those hairy Germans can get a nice funk going if they’re not careful and he’d been wanting to move away towards anti-​perspirants for a while. We left with the apricot deodorant (I thought it was a little girly too – go ahead, make fun of him).
It took a while for him to get used to not using anti-​perspirant, but he likes the deodorant a lot. I tried it once, since all the cool kids were doing it, and was incredibly weirded out that it goes on wet. Granted I’ve only ever used any type deodorant a few times (and I JUST found out that they even make some kind of aerosol deodorant.. .wha!!!), so I’m not the best judge. However, I smelled delicious all day long.
We’re now on our second deodorant (we went with lemon this time, for kicks) and are still in love with it. I’m sure I’ll continue expanding my knowledge and expertise of Tom’s, but I wholeheartedly encourage people to check it out. Cause stinkiness sucks whether it is morning breath or nasty pits.