What's something that's classy now, but trashy in the past?

Srinath Nalluri, Research Assistant at Solar Energy Research Institute of Singapore

Answered Aug 19

Few decades back, Indians used charcoal, neem sticks and salt to clean their teeth.

This is the newspaper advertisement from Colgate made in 1985. It says “Using salt and charcoal can damage the enamel”.

Colgate also launched a commercial in Doordarshan in 1970’s, which goes like this: A bodybuilder in a village asks his sister-in-law to bring him almond-milk and charcoal. The girl says: "A health drink for the body but charcoal for the teeth?".

When I was around seven, I remember the only store in the village displaying Colgate and close-up sachets and educating people that it was the best way to clean teeth. Even during my primary school-days in chennai, when I used to tell that people in my village use neem-sticks, friends use to see it as an outdated and penniless people’s way of brushing their teeth.

At one level, all these made it seem like ancient Indians didn’t know the right way to clean teeth.

Cut to 2016, the same Colgate now launched these - Colgate Active Salt, Colgate Charcoal Deep Clean and Colgate Active Salt with Neem. And people have no qualms using it now.