Bzz Agent Review: Listerine Whitening Strips

I'm going to be really honest with you. I had a hard time getting excited about this product. Maybe it's because I don't use teeth whitening strips as often as I chew gum, but I just wasn't motivated to share my thoughts about this product.

Two important things to know:
1) I am a Buzz Agent for Listerine Whitening Strips, which means they send me free product so that I will try it and tell you about it.
2) The only whitening strips I had used previously were Crest samples from my dentist. Those are stronger than what is available in stores, so this wasn't really a fair comparison (prescription strength vs. regular strength). But hey, it's what I had.

The Good:
The main selling point of Listerine Whitening Strips seems to be their ability to dissolve in your mouth. That worked fairly well. It was kinda weird at first....after 10 or 15 minutes, I had bits of the strips left on my teeth, and that felt strange. Everything had dissolved after 20 minutes, which makes this a good product for someone who wants to whiten on their morning commute. (In case you don't know, most whitening strips must be peeled off after the allotted time increment.)

The other selling point is that the strips taste good and help freshen your breath. The strips certainly tasted better than the prescription-strength Crest strips. The Crest strips tasted like peroxide and made me feel like I was foaming at the mouth. The Listerine strips hid most of the peroxide-taste with a nice, minty flavor, and my mouth felt slightly less foamy (still a little bit, though).

The Bad:
So, the commercials for these strips talk about how they are almost invisible when they are on your teeth. I wouldn't go quite that far -- you can see a thin film when you have the strips on -- but here's the kicker. The strips are almost invisible in the package. When I opened the first package, I thought the strip had been left out somehow, so I threw it away. When I didn't see one in the second package, I started feeling around for it like I was searching for a contact lens. I found it, but I wrinkled the strip so much trying to grab it that it was unusable. I appreciate Listerine trying to make their whitening strips "prettier," but I don't care how pretty a strip is if I can't get it out of the package.

Did They Work?
Once I got the strips out of the packaging, they did seem to whiten my teeth some. I didn't see the immediate results I noticed with the prescription-strength Crest Whitening Strips, but I did feel like there was a small difference even after my first try with the Listerine strips. I imagine that someone who did the full regime would notice a nice difference in teeth coloration. (No promises, though!)

Free Stuff!
Four Beyond the Fried readers get to try Listerine Whitening Strips for themselves. The first four people to leave comments will get a few sample strips plus a coupon.

The Hair Dilemma

To cut or not to cut? That is the decision looming on the horizon for me. My hair is the longest it has been in several years, and I am trying to decide what comes next.

I find that my inner fairy princess is battling my inner cool kid. Do I want long, flowing curls or an edgy, hip cut? I've started asking people their opinions over dinner, hoping to find a consensus. Even if I do make a decision, I usually change it the next day.

Here's what the past few days have been like:

Friday: Hair is a static-y, frizzy mess. Definitely cutting it.
Saturday afternoon: At Holiday Craft Market. Seeing many hipsters with cute haircuts. Definitely cutting hair.
Saturday night: Watching Enchanted. Wavering on that haircut idea.
Sunday: Hair is cooperating and falling into princess curls. No frizz in sight. Keeping hair long.
Monday: Hair is flat and stays in a ponytail all day. Husband mentions he likes the shorter hair cut. Thinking I might cut my hair.

So you see, I definitely have a problem here. Right now I am wondering if I should shave my head and buy wigs to fit each mood. Or I can cut my hair but get some clip-on extensions for those princess days.

In reality, I probably need to lighten up on the vanity and stop worrying about my hair. I think my hair angst probably represents other things in my life that I can't control, and my indecision reflects my inability to accept my powerlessness. Or maybe I'm just wishy-washy.

Sacrifice for the digital experience

Why on earth would anyone write a song that mentions someone's water breaking? Ewwwww. I guess people write songs about everything, so the real question is, why would someone record it?

I heard the song last night at the movie theater while waiting for Enchanted to start. My very own handsome prince had invited me on a date night for dinner and a movie.

Dinner turned out to be a spontaneous double date. We went to Macaroni Grill, which has been a favorite date restaurant for us since our first date many, many years ago (mostly due to my obsession with Macaroni Grill's chocolate cake -- best dessert ever!). We knew we would have quite a wait, but decided to tough it out. Just after we put our name on the list to be seated, a girl walked up and invited us to sit at a table with her and her date. They had just gotten a table, and hated to keep it to themselves when so many were waiting.

We decided to give it a try, and ended up enjoying a nice dinner with two charming people. The girl is a DJ at a radio station in Cookeville, and she said she figured the situation would make could subject matter for her show on Monday. So I decided it was fair game to blog, too.

Anyway, back to the movie theater with the gross song.

Paul has been a proponent of watching movies with digital technology instead of film for a long time, and I definitely prefer to watch them that way. As a result, we have an interesting choice of theaters when we want to go see a movie.

Saturday night we were at Opry Mills to eat at Macaroni Grill, but rather than see a film in all its grainy goodness at Opry Mills, we drove an extra 20 minutes to a theater with DLP. Green Hills is one of my favorite theaters as far as atmosphere goes (especially after I saw Nicole Kidman there), but the viewing experience there just doesn't make the cut.

Our theater of choice? The Carmike theaters at Rivergate. Crystal clear picture, ghetto-fabulous surroundings.

Perhaps ghetto-fabulous isn't exactly the right word. But the theaters are not in the best shape, either. Clean freak that I am, I refuse to sit on the chairs in the lobby. The walls and seats are dingy and torn, and the staff --while very, very nice and polite -- seem a little confused.

Example:
[Waiting in line while the guy tears our tickets]

Paul: Has the movie started seating yet?

Ticket-Taker: [About to let us walk back to the theater.] What? Oh. Um, no.

Paul: Should we wait in the lobby, then?

Ticket-Taker: Uh, yeah. That would be good.


We wait for a few minutes in the lobby, and then the guy tells us we can go back to the theater. When we get there, we find that the movie literally has just ended. The credits are rolling and people are filing out. We beat the cleaning crew in there by several minutes. Funny.

Despite all the foibles, the viewing experience at this theater consistently has been the best in Nashville. Crystal clear digital picture and faultless sound mean that I will go back to this theater again and again. So many times at theaters in ritzier parts of town I have watched movies that include a hair down the middle of the screen or a splotch on a section of the film for much of the show and "surround" sound that fades in and out and occasionally disappears entirely (during Return of the King!).

Thanks to their investment in state-of-the-art equipment, Carmike Cinemas in Rivergate (there are two separate buildings that split the movies) has earned two faithful patrons.

[P.S. - Sigh. I switch verb tense a lot in this post. I just don't have the motivation to fix that right now. Do you care? Will you still read me? Will you give me an F on my post?]

Preds Rally Today at 11

The new ownership of the Nashville Predators is holding a rally and press conference at the Sommet Center this morning at 11am.

Paul McCann explains why you should go:
Rally!!! at HockeyBuzz.com

Spend, Spend

I hate spending money.

Apparently I have some cheapskate gene in me somewhere that makes it inordinately hard to spend. Sometimes that's a good thing. I like not having to battle credit card debt and impulse buys. But sometimes my cheap gene gets in the way when I really do need to spend a little bit.

Today, for instance.

I am trying to restock some of my most popular items for ghia. Thanks to my customers, I have some money to do this. I need to do this. I even have fun placing these orders. But oh, the money. Spending the money is so hard.

I just placed an order for organic tote bags so I can replenish my supply of 'Shop Cool' totes. And they want how much for shipping?!?!? It was almost literally painful to hit that checkout button.

Next I need to place an order with one of my fair trade providers for purses and jewelry. Usually I like placing orders with this company, but today my cheap gene is in full force and I am very worried about spending this money in the best way possible. Not just the BEST way, but the PERFECT way. Alas, I am human, and perfection doesn't really happen for me.

So, I am trying to decide which products to order. In general, I have fabulous ordering mojo, and I immediately sell out of the products which were my first instinct to order. (Products where I think, "Hmm, maybe I should order that," don't sell nearly as quickly.) Today, though, my cheap and perfection genes are getting in the way, and I can't hear my mojo. It's been this way for a few days, so I'm not sure waiting any longer will help.

Well, now I have myself all depressed talking about this. Maybe I'll go through the catalog and see which products make me happy, and pick them that way.

Thanks for listening, gang.

Thoughts for November

• Haven't been into blogging much lately. Not sure why. Just busy, I guess. When I get very busy and/or stressed, I often lose the introspection that makes for good blog posts.
  
  
• The Preds are winning again. Good stuff.
  
  
• I'm a bad kitty mom. I have a Kaboodle wishlist for Cameron and Loa, but so far I've added items only for Cameron. I don't think Loa wants much besides more food, more paper wads, and a house without a dog.
  
  
• Extreme Makeover: Home Edition is fabulous. I mean, it's this incredibly popular TV show based on helping people. I think what works about the show is its simplicity. Find people who need a house, and then build it. No competitions, just engaging back stories and happy endings.
  
  
• I love presents. My parents recently e-mailed me and requested my wishlist for this Christmas, and I clapped my hands like a little kid.
  
  
• I find this quote rather autobiographical:
  "There nearly always is method in madness. It's what drives men mad, being methodical."
  -GK Chesterton