Rembrandt

As with the whitening toothpastes, I tested a fair amount of home tooth-whitening strips. Rembrandt whitening strips were my favorite for a number of reasons, which I’ll discuss first, and then I’ll go into why I didn’t pick the others I tested. 

The Rembrandt website describes the whitening strips as having “maximum coverage to whiten the front and back of teeth” and that’s no lie: The width of these whitening strips is impressive, as is the length. They stretched far past my canines on both top and bottom, and the strip fully folded over to cover the backs of my teeth. The strips also have little divots that prevent any air bubbles or uneven coverage. 

Rembrandt’s whitening strips are also much thicker than those of most other brands, which I think prevents them from sliding around while you’re wearing them. That’s my experience, at least. The hydrogen peroxide gel on the strips also seems to be thicker than that of other brands and that helps with the stickiness, too. 

One other big reason I loved these Rembrandt whitening strips: You wear them twice a day for seven days, rather than once a day for two weeks or once a day for a month. I’ve almost never successfully made it through a 14-day or 30-day pack of whitening strips. But one week? I can definitely manage that. 

Here are the other whitening strips I tested and why they didn’t take the cake for this category: 

• Crest 3D Whitestrips are truly a classic. They’re easy to find and easy to use, and I’ve used them many times in the past — it had been years since I used them, so I decided to give them another try for this article. I didn’t choose this teeth-whitening option as the best for a sole reason: The coverage kind of blows! Especially compared with the Rembrandt strips, Crest 3D Whitestrips just don’t offer great tooth coverage. I find they cover the minimum and that’s it — they just barely reach over my canines and they tend to shift a lot because they’re thin and don’t wrap around the back side of my teeth. 
• Lumineux Oral Essentials Certified Non-Toxic Whitening Strips actually did make the list because they deserved a callout of their own. See the next category, best whitening strips for sensitive teeth, below.
• Fairywill Teeth Whitening Strips were fine in terms of coverage. They completely covered my canines on top and bottom, and were wide enough that they folded over the entire back sides of my teeth. This whitening-strip option stuck well and didn’t shift around. But the taste was weird and the leftover residue was sticky and persistent. With other whitening strips, I can get away with a quick swish of water, but with these, I had to fully brush my teeth to get rid of the residue.