Did you get up this morning with a refreshing shower or did you enjoy a me-time moment with an indulgence scrub last night? If you did, especially when you used a non-natural product, you probably flushed around 100 000 tiny plastic particles down the drain into the sewer …
Many non-natural cosmetic products including scrubs, soaps, as well as toothpaste, deodorant and lip balm contain microbeads. Microbeads are small plastic beads that are used to:
- remove dead skin cells
- thicken the texture of a product
- make them more spreadable
- and even to optically fill wrinkles
They are not just added, the microbeads do have a function… but did you know that this can be 100% replaced by natural and much healthier alternatives? For example, you can replace the plastic balls in a scrub with rice grains and improve the texture of a product using natural emulsifiers.
Should I worry about these microbeads?
Nasty right? But there is even more … Because of their small size, the particles pass through water treatment filters and end up in our rivers, seas and oceans. This pollution has not only a devastating impact on marine life but also on the food chain because the particles will end up in the stomachs of fish that eventually will be consumed by humans.
What can you do to avoid using plastic in your skincare?
- Always check the ingredients on the back of the product and avoid Polyethylene (PE), Polypropylene (PP), Polyethylene terephthalate (PET), Polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA), Nylon (PA) – basically you should avoid everything with ‘poly’ in it.
- Scan the ingredient list with the app ‘Beat the Microbead’, this app will evaluate the product and tell you if it’s safe or not.
- Only buy products that are certified with the ‘Zero Plastic Inside Label’.
Did you know this fact? To be honest … Before starting SELF I was not truly aware of this kind of pollutions and especially not about the danger that comes with it.
Team SELF
