In 1873, when Colgate introduced its first toothpaste to the American market, customers didn't squeeze a tube—they opened a jar. The product was packaged in glass containers, much like cosmetic creams of the era. Users would dip their toothbrush directly into the jar, a practice that seems almost unthinkable by today's hygiene standards.

The company had been in the soap and candle business since 1806, founded by William Colgate on Dutch Street in New York City. It wasn't until 16 years after his death that his son Samuel led the company into oral care with this jarred toothpaste.

What Was Inside Those Jars?

Colgate's original formula was marketed as "Antiseptic Dental Powder" despite being paste-like in consistency. The mixture contained soap, chalk, and ground charcoal—ingredients that sound rough by modern standards but were considered cutting-edge dental hygiene at the time. It was the first commercially produced, nice-smelling toothpaste, a significant improvement over the harsh, bitter dental powders people had been using.

The jar format had obvious drawbacks. Every family member dipping their brush into the same container wasn't exactly sanitary. The paste could dry out if the lid wasn't sealed properly. And measuring the right amount was guesswork at best.

The Tube Revolution

In 1896, everything changed. A Connecticut dentist named Dr. Washington Sheffield had a clever idea after his son observed Parisian artists using collapsible metal tubes for oil paints. Sheffield applied this concept to toothpaste, creating the first tube packaging for his own brand.

Colgate quickly recognized the superiority of this design and launched Colgate Ribbon Dental Cream in collapsible tubes that same year. The innovation offered multiple advantages:

Each person dispensed only what they needed
No cross-contamination from shared brushes
The paste stayed fresh until the last squeeze
Portable and travel-friendly

The tube became so synonymous with toothpaste that it's hard to imagine the product any other way. Yet for 23 years, Colgate customers were unscrewing jar lids for their dental hygiene routine.

Today, those original glass jars are collector's items, artifacts from an era when bathroom counters looked very different. The collapsible tube that replaced them remained the standard for over a century, only recently facing competition from pump dispensers and other modern formats. But it all started with a simple jar on a shelf.

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