Why People Rub Toothpaste On Their Headlights (And Should You?)

We all know toothpaste is for cleaning teeth and to help maintain good oral health, but that minty goo in a tube has some other uses as well. Some people swear by toothpaste's effectiveness in relieving the irritation caused by insect bites or bee stings, while others use it to remove crayon marks or other stains from an otherwise pristine wall.

Speaking of walls, did you know that toothpaste could fill in those unsightly nail holes on your walls? Squeeze a small amount of white toothpaste into the hole, scrape off the excess with a small putty knife, and let it dry. The best part? You could paint over the patched hole when fully dry.

Toothpaste has other uses outside your home or bathroom. For instance, it's been a longstanding DIY solution to restoring foggy headlights, making it a cheap fix to make any old car look new again. Toothpaste contains mild abrasives to clean teeth. As it turns out, those abrasives that help remove tooth stains are also ideal for eliminating haze and oxidation on plastic headlight lenses.

Yes, but it all depends on the actual condition of the headlights. Toothpaste could be all you need if your car's headlights are mildly yellowish or foggy. After cleaning the headlights with soap and water, you only need a small, damp microfiber towel and a tube of white toothpaste. Squeeze a small amount of paste onto the towel, rub gently in a circular motion, and repeat if necessary.

The final step is to rinse the toothpaste-covered headlight with clean water and wipe it dry. Don't be disheartened if the headlights are still yellowish or cloudy after rubbing since toothpaste can only remove mild surface contamination. For more challenging jobs, you could use paint polish or varying grits of sandpaper by hand or machine.

If you have money to spare, there are readily available headlight cleaning kits explicitly formulated to restore the clarity of hazy, yellowish, or foggy headlight lenses. Most will still involve sanding, polishing, and some elbow grease, but any handy DIY person could finish the job and expect better results than using toothpaste alone.