The Many Uses of Toothpaste

This morning I woke up and was unable to brush my teeth. I had completely depleted my traveler size toothpaste the night before on something far more important than clean teeth and pleasant smelling breath. Bug bites. If you’ve never heard of this home remedy it’s probably because you’ve chosen to go the commercial route and buy something from the store that actually says on the packaging it relieves itching from pesky little tropical critters who’s main purpose in life is to drive you absolutely bonkers. But I didn’t have the luxury of a store. What I did have was a computer and an internet connection. Turns out there are a ton of common household items that will relieve itching, but since I also didn’t have a household, my choices were limited even more by what I could find in my toiletry bag. It was either toothpaste or nail polish. And while nail polish would have been a less needed commodity for the rest of the trip, I only had hot pink. I’m not above plastering myself with hot pink circles for a little relief, but I figured I would go the minty freshness route first that at least I could wash off come morning.

I don’t really know if the relief was real or imagined. It certainly didn’t make it disappear altogether per say, but I felt like I could at least manage it and fall asleep. In fact, I woke up in the middle of the night in complete panic as my middle toe was on fire (it seems I accidentally skipped one) and hurriedly tried to squeeze the last bit from the tube so I could cover my toe and fall back asleep. It worked.

Today I will walk until I find a pharmacy. Either that, or I’ll stop by the store and get a larger tube of toothpaste.