The $10 Teeth-Whitening Kit That’s Just As Good As Crest Strips
When my teenage daughter got her braces off, she asked for an in-office professional whitening treatment. We’d just spent our, ahem, teeth on orthodontics, so I wasn’t exactly eager to throw more money at her smile. Instead, I suggested Crest teeth-whitening strips. She loved the results and wanted to keep using them for maintenance. They’re significantly less expensive than a professional treatment, but at the drugstore, Crest is still one of the pricier options.
So I was thrilled — and intrigued — when she came home from CVS with a $10 box of GuruNanda Premium Whitening Strips. She tried them and said they worked just as well, if not better than Crest. She always gets compliments on her bright, white teeth. At a fraction of the price, they certainly sounded worth trying. So I put them to the test.
The whitening ingredient is the same
Both products use hydrogen peroxide as their active whitening ingredient, which is what actually breaks down stains on the teeth. They also both contain PVP, a polymer that helps the whitening material adhere to the teeth. GuruNanda’s version has what it calls a dry-strip design, with coconut oil and a four-layer construction designed to release the whitening ingredients gradually while keeping the strip in place. Crest’s strips are coated with a peroxide-containing whitening gel and use a no-slip design to help them adhere.
You wear them for about the same amount of time
The GuruNanda seven-day treatment has seven treatments: five “professional” treatments that are worn for 30 to 45 minutes and two “express” treatments that are worn for 60 minutes. Crest’s wear time depends on the version. The Classic Vivid strips, for example, are worn for 30 minutes a day for ten days, while the Professional White version is worn for 45 minutes a day for 20 days.
My results
The GuruNanda strips stayed put on my teeth with no shifting. I wore them for about an hour, and removal was easy. My teeth were a little gooey afterward but wiped clean quickly. Even after one wear, I could see a difference in brightness and my coffee stains looked lighter. After five days, my teeth looked two to three shades whiter.
I didn’t experience any sensitivity from GuruNanda, but that doesn’t typically happen to me with Crest either. The results were impressive enough that I’d happily spend the $10 on another box.
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