Take a gander at my product page (where I’ve featured my favorite health & wellness products that I use almost everyday) and you will notice that I shared a tongue scraper front & center as a beauty item. Tongue Scraping is one of the quickest, easiest, and cost friendly aspects of my self care routine.
WHAT IS THAT you ask…? We were told as kids to maybe brush our tongues but until recently I had never heard of scraping the tongue. The realization was big. The breath freshening was big. The shiz you scrape off your tongue is also big.
Tongue Scraping has been touted to:
- Freshen Breath
- Clear Toxins and Bacteria
- Improve Digestion
- Enhance Taste
- Stimulate Internal Organs
- Remove the white film on your tongue; which is a buildup of dead skin, plaque, food particles, and sometimes even yeast that can overtime release sulfur (grossssss).
Well & beyond addressing the list of health benefits of keeping your tongue clean, I think the most important element of this self care act is the increase awareness to your state of health – a check in, if you will.
It has long been believed that the tongue holds information to deeper issues such as yeast infections, vitamin deficiencies, diabetes and digestive diseases. I’ve been tongue scraping for a few months now and let me tell you, once you start, you won’t want to stop.
Here’s what you do:
- Use a stainless steal or copper tongue scraper (or the back of a spoon if you don’t want to splurge for the $5 scraper or forget it!)
- Store the scraper in a clean place
- Rinse the scraper with hot water before and after use — you’ll see some leftover residue that’s best to rinse off
- Apply slight pressure to the top of the tongue from back to front, but not too much that it hurts!
- Push down and scrape off the end of the tongue so that you’re bringing the gross, dirty spitty mixture right to the sink. Give it a little lovin’ side to side as well to be sure you’re getting everything off of your tongue while you have the chance.
- Your tongue will feel really dry afterwards but you’ll be feeling minty fresh and clean!
- Do this as much as 3x a day if you want to! I do it at breakfast and before bed. Actually, it’s one of the FIRST things I do in the morning because overnight your body is naturally detoxing and produces a lot of mucus, sweat, gets ready to poo, with hopes you’ll dispose of these toxins! Hook it up. Also, do this ASAP (before you drink a big glass of water and begin your morning routine) so that you’re not drinking this bacteria and swallowing the toxins into your gut first thing in the a.m. — seems obvious… just sayin’!
Want to Know More?
Here are some additional resources:
TSC HIM & HER Show ft. Sahara Rose
Health Line – Tongue Scraping – Dental and Oral Health
Ayuvedic Specialist: Sheila Patel, M.D. on Tongue Scraping