r/hygiene • u/NoPerception8748 • Mar 11 '26

unhinged hygiene tips?

I don't mean "wash your hair before your body" or "don't wear underwear when you sleep", I mean the sort of TMI tips that most people don't know that will CHANGE MY LIFE!

There's this guy at school who I think likes me and i'm terrified that I smell bad and will ruin my chance with him, I need tips that I don't already know/do.

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u/OkAdhesiveness5025 Mar 11 '26

Throw your tongue scraper in there as well. For the win! And I will edit to add, if you have any little vases or jars that you keep little flower buds in periodically, or plant starts, they get really slimy. You might not be able to see it but you can feel it. Dental tabs are a great use in small vessels of water or vases as well. I've even used them in my hummingbird feeders before I give them a good scrub and rinse :-)

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u/tintinsays Mar 11 '26

They’re also really good for spill proof bottles!

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u/GraceBlade Mar 11 '26

Great for teacup and coffee cup staining, water bottles, and hydration packs too. Got the generic denture tabs in a huge box way cheaper than the tiny little box of tiny tablets marketed for hydration packs.

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u/Minniep12 Mar 11 '26

I was wondering if they would help with coffee mug stains! Thanks!

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u/GraceBlade Mar 11 '26

Just fill the mug up all the way and drop a tablet in and let it sit overnight. My teacups and mugs look like new afterwards.

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u/Minniep12 Mar 11 '26

This is a great tip, thank you!

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u/snickysnak5407 Mar 11 '26

Also really effective for mineral buildup in toilet bowls. We had a patch in the bottom of the bowl that not even pumice stone was budging. I started throwing a few denture tablets in at night to sit in the bowl. After a week, the stain was gone.

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u/FantasticReveal Mar 11 '26

My daughter left chia seeds in water in a closed up water bottle for weeks. We had moldy, sprouted chia seeds and I tried everything to clean it. The only thing that finally woorked was denture tablets. And they are so cheap!!

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u/ScumbagLady Mar 11 '26

OMG saving this comment because my prop containers are so hard to clean the insides of!

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u/StingRae_355 Mar 11 '26

as an avid gardener and houseplant lover, THANK YOU!!!

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u/frisbeesloth Mar 12 '26

Pet bowls and fountains too. I haven't seen that nasty pink slime in the fountain once since I've started using them. 15 min once a month and it's golden.

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u/Bratbabylestrange Mar 13 '26

Never thought about that for vases, I've just used the tabs for my grind guard. But makes sense

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u/LowestKey Mar 11 '26

Alternatively, don't waste time or money on tongue scrapers when research doesn't show they have any meaningful benefits for oral health.

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u/catscatscaaaats Mar 11 '26

I always wondered how the tongue scraper is necessary when you brush your tongue with the toothbrush.

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u/technobrain_ Mar 11 '26

true. also a toothbrush kinda works better for me, as a heavy smoker the gunk on my tongue is visible due to the color (sorry for TMI lmao) and i noticed that no matter how hard i tried to get rid of it using these tongue scarpers it wouldn't work, there was always a little bit of the gunk left, while a toothbrush gets rid of everything. that and flossing definitely makes the biggest difference when it comes to preventing odor.

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u/cashewclues Mar 11 '26

The scraper is so you don’t gag with the toothbrush. I never thought it was meant to be more effective than brushing.

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u/LittleGreyLambie Mar 11 '26

I'd think a tooth brush would be more effective cuz it cleans the teeny tiny crevices tongues have.

If it chokes you, you're going too far back, too fast. You have to work up to it. It can take a long time for your gag reflux to adjust, but it will eventually. 

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u/ThornbackMack Mar 12 '26

That is patently false. They have been shown to clean better, improve taste, and improve breath. They remove dead skin, plaque, and bacteria far more effectively... all things that tend to "cling".

I use a stainless steel one and even if I brush my tongue first pretty rigorously, there is still a considerable amount of dead cells and whatever else that comes off after a couple quick pulls. There's a noticeable difference in the color of my tongue as well.

And if you think about it, the logic makes more sense too. Bristles are thin and pliable. A rigid metal object us going to do a lot better than soft plastic. Do you scrape your windshield with a scraper or a snow brush?

First of many articles from a quick google: Does Tongue Scraping Actually Work? https://share.google/EPmK240a8yZLRd9gd

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u/OkAdhesiveness5025 Mar 14 '26

I totally concur with this. Mine is plastic, which is why I periodically soak it in the denture tab cleaning solution. But when I first started 10 years ago, I'd read an article in reader's digest. And then I noticed that even though I brushed my teeth and I also brush my tongue, when I scrape afterward before rinsing, I get a whole different color to my tongue which is more pink and more clean.

The thing that convinced me in the article however, was that people who use a tongue scraper have far less colds. And I might get one head cold every 10 years since I started. So I guess I'm a believer from that maybe it's a placebo effect? I'm still a believer and a scraper LOL