Why I love Charcoal Toothpaste
When the easy energy’s been burned from wood, sugar, or bone, it turns to charcoal, leaving stillness and purity. My friend Kathy recently gave me a tube of Charcle – charcoal toothpaste from Korea – and it got me thinking about the meaning, beyond taste, that charcoal conveys.
The package’s pearly finish and color suggested the toothpaste inside.
I knew this was charcoal toothpaste, but this plume of shiny gray still surprised me when I squeezed the tube for the first time.
I liked how elastic the stream of paste was compared to standard toothpaste. Unlike my pal Michael , I also liked brushing with it – the taste wasn’t too sweet, the foam was unusually thick, and spitting out blue-gray foam at the end was somehow satisfying. It’s actually the best toothpaste I’ve ever used, but not for these reasons. The physical experience could have been completely different and I would have still loved it.
Here’s why: I first saw pictures of the toothpaste on DesignNotes, then contacted Kathy about scoring some. It was a few days until we were able to meet. When we did, we ended up sharing beer and ideas and becoming better friends. I think waiting in line for an iPhone, hearing a song from a friend’s band before anybody else, or even saving up for a product you wouldn’t normally buy has the same effect. Narrative is like a codec for storing and playing back memories, and people seek opportunities to build small stories in their lives. People judge products that are unremarkably easy to acquire on how well the thing works, rather than on a story they’ve built around it (if a product is super-easy to acquire, that ease could be a story itself).
It’s also toothpaste made from charcoal, a gorgeous material that’s hard not to love.
burnt chaise lounge by Maartin Baas
4 Comments
November 25th, 2007 at 10:06 am
[...] Here’s a quote from his blog that I really liked: “Narrative is like a codec for storing and playing back memories, and people seek opportunities to build small stories in their lives. People judge products that are unremarkably easy to acquire on how well the thing works, rather than on a story they’ve built around it (if a product is super-easy to acquire, that ease could be a story itself).” (source) [...]
December 1st, 2007 at 10:57 pm
[...] Your page is on StumbleUpon [...]
December 6th, 2007 at 6:31 pm
[...] Receiving an object as a gift rather than buying it for yourself drastically changes the object’s meaning. As I wrote in my post about charcoal toothpaste, everyday products are sponges for meaning. A gift comes with a built-in story, a communication about your relationship to the giver that will color every interaction you have with the object. Like every product, the more practical the gift, the more you’ll consider its function, rather than its underlying story. That might be why money is rarely given as a gift, except to children – it’s so practical that it leaves no room for this communicative kind of narrative. [...]
May 4th, 2008 at 4:27 am
Can I go to Korea Town and by charcol toothpaste or do I have to order it…
Thanks for your blog
GloZell