"On a related note, I've heard of people using toothpaste to polish silver jewelry or remove minor scratches from watch faces...though I'm not entirely convinced about the watch trick."
Gotta say, I've tried the watch face thing before and honestly, I wouldn't recommend it. It was an older watch, nothing too fancy, but the toothpaste ended up leaving a cloudy haze rather than removing the scratches. I think it really depends on the watch material and coating—mine had some kind of anti-glare coating, and the toothpaste just made things worse.
For silver jewelry though, toothpaste can be a lifesaver in a pinch. My mom used to swear by it for cleaning her silver rings and necklaces, and they always came out sparkling. But again, I'd stick to plain white paste and avoid scrubbing too hard—silver can scratch surprisingly easily.
If anyone's thinking about trying toothpaste on watches, definitely proceed with caution and maybe test it on something less valuable first...just speaking from experience here.
"the toothpaste ended up leaving a cloudy haze rather than removing the scratches."
Yeah, I've seen this happen before too. Toothpaste is mildly abrasive, so it can definitely mess with coatings or softer materials. It's great for silver jewelry though—my grandma always cleaned her rings that way, and they looked brand new afterward. Like you said, gentle scrubbing is key...and maybe skip the watches altogether. Better safe than sorry, right?
I've actually had decent luck using toothpaste on watch faces, but it really depends on the type of crystal. If it's acrylic or plastic, toothpaste can sometimes buff out minor scratches pretty well—just gotta be super gentle and patient. Glass or sapphire though...yeah, that's asking for trouble. Learned that the hard way when I tried it on my sunglasses. Ended up with more haze than clarity, lol. Guess grandma's jewelry trick doesn't work everywhere.
I've actually found toothpaste surprisingly handy for a lot of random things too, but you're totally right—it's all about knowing what surfaces it works on. I'd never risk it on sunglasses after hearing your story, haha. But speaking from experience as someone who's spent way too much time dealing with braces and retainers, toothpaste has saved me more than once.
For instance, if you've ever had orthodontic retainers or aligners like Invisalign, you know how easily they can get cloudy or discolored. Regular soap usually doesn't cut it, and some cleaning tablets can get pricey or aren't always available. A tiny bit of plain white toothpaste (not the gel kind) gently brushed onto the retainer with a soft toothbrush can really clear up that cloudy residue. It honestly makes them look almost brand new again—just don't scrub too hard, or you'll scratch the surface and make things worse.
And yeah, I've also tried the toothpaste trick on my phone screen protector after noticing some minor scratches. Mixed results there... it worked decently well on those cheaper plastic protectors, but when I upgraded to tempered glass, I learned pretty quickly that's a no-go zone. Ended up making the screen look worse than before—pretty similar to your sunglasses incident actually.
But hey, trial and error is part of the fun with these DIY hacks, right? Just gotta know when to stop experimenting before you accidentally ruin something valuable.
Haha, toothpaste is definitely the unsung hero of dental hacks. You're spot-on about retainers—seen plenty of patients who've saved theirs from looking like cloudy nightmares with just a dab of toothpaste. But yeah, tempered glass screens...lesson learned the hard way here too.
