Matcha toothpaste, merlot “SuperBrush”: Dental care is now an aesthetic

Do you remember the time when a hairdryer was just another tool on your dressing table? The era when your handwash was nameless? A nice-looking glass dispenser would sit on the sink and be refilled monthly, sometimes with lavender, other times jasmine, just depending on what you found at the market. Those were the good old days, well before curation went from Pinterest boards to our bathroom shelf aesthetic.

Now it’s all about Supersonic hair dryers that cost as much as some people’s monthly rent, and herbaceous, mandarin-rind handwashes at ₹3,000 a pop. Even toilet paper got gussied up with quirky illustrations and whatnot. (One brand’s offerings have even been called the ‘Birkin bag of toilet paper’.) The big shift has been declared: just because a product is perfunctory does not mean it can’t look and smell less...bathroomy. Lately, this desire to reinvent the everyday with a dash of luxury has also reached the only part of our grooming regimen that remained blissfully dull and forgotten. Hold that two-for-one pack of Colgate, because bougie, aesthetic dental care has well and truly arrived.

Need proof? Salt Oral Care, the Mumbai-based brand, lends whimsy to the mundane, twice-a-day brushing routine with separate toothpastes for ‘dusk’ and ‘dawn’. And there’s no sign of blinding reds or blues in the packaging either. The aluminium tubes (because who uses plastic anymore?) are dipped in soft saffron, warm tangerine, sky blue or even a calm olive corresponding to a whitening matcha (!) formulation. The toothpastes also come with a chic metal squeezer key, so you never have to work hard for that last dollop.

Even their mouthwashes—elderflower and sea salt or chamomile mint, in case you’re wondering—sound like something you would find on a fancy bar menu, and come in textured glass bottles that are good-looking enough to blend in with the expensive liquor in your bar cabinet. Turns out, that’s just the point. Karan Raj Kohli and Viraj Kapur, Salt co-founders, were disappointed by how their oral care products were killing their bathroom aesthetic. “We had an issue with brands like Listerine or Colgate lying on a fancy sink beside Diptyque perfumes and Aesop hand washes. That one product was making everything look ugly,” says Kohli. “So, we decided to make oral care that goes up a notch and matches your aesthetic. It’s not just about brushing; it’s a sensorial experience that elevates your morning routine.”

Other homegrown brands, like Tusk India, Protouch, Perfora, and Seven Oral Care, are also banking on this desire for dental care that comes with a cool factor. Before you ask who’s peeping into someone’s bathroom to sus its aesthetic, a gentle reminder that we exist in a world of content deluge. A flurry of GRWM videos and day-in-my-life vlogs kickstart at the sink, not to forget TikTok’s airport tray trend. When you post a curated pic of your under-100ml liquids in a clear bag, Patanjali Dant Kanti doesn’t quite cut it next to your Glossier lippie.

At a time when personal identity is inextricably linked to the things we carefully surround ourselves with, a pretty toothpaste that chooses sustainable packaging and rejects harmful fluorides can double as a statement of who you are. It says look at me, I invest in myself and my personal wellbeing, even if it is something as functional as my toothpaste. This dual promise of attractive packaging and premium quality drew Surucchi Khubchandani to alternative oral care. “All my household amenities are toxin-free, including the utensils, the detergent and cleaning liquids. Most mass-market toothpastes come with SLS, which is a health deterrent. That’s why we switched to Salt for pastes and Perfora for water flossers,” the Delhi-based consultant shares.

It doesn’t hurt that having Salt’s Tooth Colour Corrector or Seven Oral Care’s Merlot Superbrush (we’re not making this up!) adds a bit of luxury to an otherwise mundane routine. There are now countless homegrown and international brands making under-eye creams, sleeping masks, cleansing oils and face polishers accessible at different price points. As multi-step skincare becomes mainstream, an elevated oral care routine allows people who consider themselves tastemakers to inhabit a new niche, at least for a little while.

“This trend indicates that Indian consumers are increasingly open to premiumisation and differentiation, even in functional categories,” says Puneet Dudeja, South Asia director at WGSN, adding that people are looking for strong brand stories and appealing packaging that can romanticise even the humdrum. For years we’ve witnessed this in posh handwashes, objet d’art fragrances, and three-wick candles. Now it’s fancy dental care.

With the latter specifically, it is a fringe benefit that even the more opulent options are still largely affordable to young people with some disposable income. While ₹1,350 for a mouth spray or ₹395 for a tube of paste may be spenny compared to the mass-market options, here the door to luxury is easier to unlock than other plush wellness experiences that go up to lakhs. Think of it as buying an Hermès perfume to smell the thrill of the otherwise exclusive French luxury house.

In some ways, Salt's Butter Yellow toothbrush and Perfora’s plastic-free mouth freshening gum have the same effect. In today’s unpredictable economy, most young Indians believe we’ll never be able to buy a house. What used to be traditional adult milestones have now become dream-like miracles. But in the meantime, at least we have aspirational toothpastes to match overpriced Aesop handwashes.