A few months ago, all I saw on my Facebook feed was advertisements for a brand called HiSmile, “the most advanced teeth whitening products and teeth whitening kits.” As someone who deals with less than perfect pearly whites despite brushing and flossing twice a day, I was intrigued.
Image Courtesy of HiSmile
After seeing another one of their videos showing the unbelievable results you could achieve for hundreds less than going to a professional, I finally gave in and decided to give it a try. I was even more excited after discovering that they also have a teeth whitening pen, mouthwash, and toothpaste that I could buy if I ended up liking the whitening kit.
The product claims to be a “10 minute whitening treatment,” which is only partly true. According to the website, to be able to see your guaranteed 2 shades of whiter teeth, you have to go through 6 10-minute sessions, and you can only do one session a day.
Image Courtesy of HiSmile
The general Teeth Whitening Kit I ordered for $59.99 USD plus shipping— free shipping only on orders over $69—came with 3 syringes, filled with enough of the gel for 2 applications each. This was a little bit confusing when first opening the package, as the syringes are not labeled to indicate this.
The instructions only had three steps:
- Fit the mouth tray to the LED light
- Apply the gel to the mouth tray
- Place in the mouth, turn on and whiten
Image Courtesy of HiSmile
Steps 1 and 3 were fairly self-explanatory, but I paused on Step 2. Images like the one above were not any help, considering that they clearly show more than half the gel being dumped out of the syringe. Where exactly was I supposed to apply this gel? The mouth tray was shaped so it could situate itself along my top and bottom teeth, so do I apply half the gel to the top and half to the bottom?
Since I was only supposed to use half of what was in the syringe, this would mean only a quarter of the very small amount of gel provided would go to each side. And should I spread the gel out, or concentrate it in the very front and it would spread out on its own? I am still not confident that I did it correctly, as the instructions were very vague.
Image Courtesy of HiSmile
The box suggested to bite down on the mouth tray for the duration of the 10 minutes in order to get the best results, which definitely caused some discomfort in my jaw. But overall the process was just as they claimed: easy and over in just 10 minutes. HiSmile also claims that there would be no teeth sensitivity (unlike Crest Whitestrips, which is why I don’t use those), and this ended up being true. I felt zero sensitivity in my teeth when the gel was on them.
I’m not going to lie, a little part of me hoped that I would see results just after the first session. They even give you a little card to compare the before and after results (see in the images below.) I wasn’t too discouraged when that wasn’t the case—after all, I still had five more rounds to go.
But after 6 days, I was very sad to see that the HiSmile Teeth Whitening Kit had not lived up to its name. I could see no visible difference in the whiteness of my teeth. The whole thing felt like a huge waste of time, from ordering the product to the hour total I spent biting down on that gelled-up tray in my mouth.
So unfortunately, no, HiSmile was not my easy fix for whiter teeth. What I took away from my experience (besides the fact that some things really are good to be true) is that maybe I just be happy with my teeth the way they are. After all, I never get cavities, brush every day, and go to the dentist regularly. So instead of furthering my quest for a cheap, easy solution to whiter teeth, from now on I’m going to be grateful for the healthy teeth I already have.
A note: The company does have a “money back guarantee” in the event that their product does not work, which, to be fair, is at the bottom of each product description page. The steps are as follows:
- Take a photo of your teeth before using our Teeth Whitening Kit
- Take a photo of your teeth after completion of The Kit, along with a photo of the used product
- Email our customer experience team (help@hismileteeth.com) with the above
- Your application will be processed within 3 days of submission
Obviously, I did take before and after pictures to show the lack of improvement. Unfortunately, due to the timing of my order being in between midterms, finals, and a holiday, I did not actually try the product out within 30 days of receiving the product, which is the cutoff for being eligible for the refund. So sadly, I didn’t get to see if this money back guarantee is really as good as it sounds. Totally admit, this was my loss!