The Stockholm-born oral-care label approaches toothpaste less like a pharmacy staple and more like a fragrance house.

Oral care is hardly the stuff of fantasy. It is routine, mechanical, even. One of those autopilot moments squeezed between alarms, emails and late-night takeout. But for Selahatin founder Kristoffer Vural, brushing his teeth became something far more profound during recovery from a stroke.
Suddenly hypersensitive to taste and smell, he found himself questioning the aggressively minty, chemically cold experience we have all accepted as normal. Why, he wondered, did self-care stop short at toothpaste? That question became Selahatin, a Stockholm-born oral-care label that approaches toothpaste less like a pharmacy staple and more like a fragrance house.

Think unexpected flavour profiles, evocative storytelling and packaging that looks better suited to a gallery shelf than a bathroom cabinet. It is oral care recast as ritual, a small but deliberate luxury designed to transform two forgettable minutes into something sensual, cinematic and even meditative.
Which perhaps explains why the brand’s recent collaboration with Rick Owens feels less surprising than it sounds. Both operate in worlds where emotion matters as much as utility, where everyday objects are elevated into personal statements.
We sat down with Selahatin CEO Patrik Holmberg to talk about memory-driven flavours, the poetry of toothpaste and why the future of oral care might have less to do with clinical promises and more to do with how a product makes you feel.

Selahatin does not behave like a conventional oral-care brand. It reads more like fragrance house. At what point did you decide toothpaste could carry a narrative, mood and memory rather than just be functional?
We have always believed toothpaste is part of a lifestyle, not just an oral-care product. It is a ritual you repeat every single day, so why should those moments not feel magical? Beauty, skincare and fragrance have evolved so much over the years, but oral care still felt emotionally untouched. That space needed more imagination, more passion. The reason we approached it almost like perfume is simple: when’s something is sensory-driven and backed by strong storytelling, people actually feel something. Not just when they use the product, but when they see the packaging, interact with the brand or experience the campaigns. It becomes emotional, not transactional.
Walk us through the process of creating a Selahatin flavour. Where does it begin?
Usually with a feeling or a memory. We start by imagining exactly how we want something to taste, and that inspiration can come from anywhere: music, art, travel, even a specific moment in time. From there, we begin layering ingredients that can recreate that emotion or atmosphere. But frankly, the first formula is rarely the final one. Sometimes we go through hundreds of versions, even up to 355.3, refining ingredients over the course of a year until it feels right. Other times, the flavour clicks almost immediately. What matters most is that we genuinely love it ourselves. If we create something we are emotionally connected to, chances are that someone else will feel that connection, too.
In a market dominated by clinical claims and medical language, Selahatin speaks in poetry. Was there pressure to sound more scientific?
Of course. Especially in the beginning, like eight years ago, people did not fully understand what we were trying to do, but markets evolve. Ten years ago, people thought paying premium prices for hand soap or fragrance was ridiculous too, now it is completely normal. The irony was that people were willing to invest in every category of beauty except toothpaste, despite using it every single day. We are not rejecting the clinical aspect as our products absolutely have functional benefits, but that is not the emotional core of the brand. For us, the real value is creating a feeling. Once people experience Selahatin, it becomes very difficult to go back to traditional toothpaste.

“With our products, we want to transport people somewhere else for those one or two minutes every day. Somewhere sensory, emotional, maybe even magical.”

As Selahatin grows globally, how do you protect its soul? What is one compromise you refuse to make?
Honestly, we have not compromised yet. Maybe that sounds naive, but we genuinely believe that people often don’t know they want something until they experience it firsthand. Selahatin is one of this products people don’t realise they need until they try it. So our focus has always been creating something we are personally proud of, rather than diluting the vision to fit expectations. We trust that the market eventually catches up. People are constantly upgrading every part of their lives: the way they travel, eat, dress and care for their skin. Oral care deserves the same attention.
If Selahatin were introduced not as a product, but as a philosophy, what would you want people to understand?
Make the small things count. Improve 1% everyday, and over time, that creates a difference. Even dentists will tell you most people don’t brush their teeth properly or long enough because we’re always searching for shortcuts. But there is value in slowing down and getting the basics right. With our products, we want to transport people somewhere else for those one or two minutes every day. Somewhere sensory, emotional, maybe even magical. The beautiful side effect is that you will probably end up with better oral hygiene, too.

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