The Two Sisters Who Are Changing The Notion of Flossing

“It sounds a little ridiculous,” says Catherine Cu, co-founder of Cocofloss. “But she’s the type of person who will potentially start tearing up.” Cu is referring to her sister Chrystle, a dentist who gets upset when she has to break it to one of her patients that she may need to remove one of their teeth. Based in the health-crazed San Francisco Bay area, Cu (the dentist) couldn’t understand why her 20- and 30-something patients guzzled green juice and lived at SoulCycle but their devotion to wellness didn’t extend to their teeth—in particular, daily flossing. The sisters wanted to figure out why it was so neglected, given that many dental procedures like fillings and restorations could be avoided if people took the time to remove the tartar and bacterial buildup that is easiest to reach with floss.

After embarking on a 21-day flossing challenge with their friends, the sisters discovered that, for one thing, people didn’t see or feel results from the oral-hygiene task. Most of the traditional smooth, flat, white flosses don’t make enough contact to remove plaque, and even if they did, it wasn’t visible. “So how can you tell someone to build a new habit when they can’t even measure or feel progress?” says Cu. The other issue: People just don’t care. “Telling someone to floss is like the most boring thing you can tell them to do,” she says. “No one wants to do it.”

To turn that notion on its head, they launched Cocofloss in 2015, addressing both of these deterrents. Their floss is made of over 500 polyester filaments woven together in such a way that it can access tight spaces with the help of coconut oil, which is also anti­microbial. It’s also more textured than typical floss. “It pulls off so much more plaque than anything else out there,” says Cu. “We call our product ‘the loofah floss.’” Whatever is removed contrasts against their blue floss so that the results of your efforts are immediately visible. To steer the concept away from feeling sterile or clinical, the language used by the brand is fun rather than serious and the product itself comes in bright tropical-coloured boxes that correspond to the scents they offer: mint, coconut, orange and strawberry.

And it’s resonating: Both Goop and Anthropologie have started carrying it, and Cu’s sister’s patients are practising the habit. But ultimately it’s the sensation of superclean teeth that Cu believes keeps Cocofloss’s customers on track with their oral hygiene. “It’s a totally different feeling,” she says. “That’s kind of the surprise, you know?”

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