For the past four years, I have spent every waking moment taking care of someone else. I eat my meals after everyone has made their plates. I hold my bladder so that the potty training toddler can be first to the toilet. I meticulously iron my husband’s office clothes but then simply throw my outfits loosely on a hanger as I can’t fathom ironing one more thing. And most mornings I wake up with a crooked neck and shoulder because of the 20 pound baby that slept on top of my arm all night. It’s a glorious form of chaos that I have always longed for. But it leaves little time for self care.
So I guess you could say my self care routine was nonexistent. Unless you count the hot shower I take alone at the end of the night. But let’s face it, a shower alone should not be deemed as self care. It doesn’t count. I deserve more. You deserve more too, people.
I decided last summer, I would start taking care of someone other than the boys in this house: I would start taking care of ME.
The first thing I decided: I wanted whiter teeth. 
Why I Wanted to Have Whiter Teeth
I will be honest with you, and although this might come off as vain, I did not know how yellow and stained my teeth were until I started posting photos of myself on the blog. And I know in the grand scheme of things there are far more concerning things happening in the world. But I wanted to give it a try and see if I could boost my confidence in photos. It’s silly but true. And if this was something I could do from home, it would force me to take some much needed time at night for myself. So creating a new teeth whitening routine became my first conquest.
My Past Journey to Teeth Whitening
I have tried in the past different methods of teeth whitening. First I tried the Crest White strips in 2012 before my wedding. They were so messy, they never wanted to stay on my teeth, and they just ended sliding down into my gum line like a pair of bad baggy jeans. And after months of trying, I eventually gave up without any real results. A few years ago I tried an expensive whitening toothpaste. Which I found out later from my dental hygienist that there is no way it could actually be whitening my teeth as whitening agents need time to sit on your teeth to remove stains, and toothpaste just gets brushed on for two rounds of “Happy Birthday” and is then spit out into the sink. So I quit that. Now fast forward to last fall. I was contacted by Smile Brilliant to try their system and give a review. I was initially hesitant but I am so glad I decided to do it. Because it really worked! 
My New Teeth Whitening Strategy (That Actually Worked)
When your kit arrives in the mail the first thing you do is use the mixing putty to create your own custom trays. It was pretty easy to do this step if you limit distractions, sit down, and follow the instructions given. You mail the molds to Smile Brilliant and they send back the custom whitening trays made just for your teeth. Then you are ready to get started. Inside the kit are packets with syringes of whitening gel and desensitizing gel. I started off at 45 minutes the first week but by week two I was doing the whitening for about 2-3 hours at night (depending on when I was ready to go to bed). You can’t eat or drink while whitening so ironically this helped stop my usual late night snacking. So that was a win-win. After you take out the whitening trays, you follow up with the desensitizing gel, which takes only about 20 minutes, and then you are done! Go to bed and wake up and start your day as usual. After one week I already was seeing results.
<–Before and After –>
Good news to all of you! You can win a free whitening kit by entering here: www.smilebrilliant.com/g/thehopefulwanderers
Also, Smile Brilliant has given me a 15% off store wide code to all my readers if you want to get started. Enter code: thehopefulwanderers15 at check out. xx
