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Beat the Micro Beads
Dec 08

Beat the Micro Beads

It’s no big surprise that I’m a huge advocate for healthy skin. I also have made a habit of checking out ingredients in products that are on the market… sometimes I do it to satisfy my own personal curiosity, other times I do it for research when I’m thinking of new products to develop. So I came across the subject of microbeads. You know what micro beads are, right? Sure you do.  They are the colorful little plastic beads that can be found in various products like body wash, face wash, even toothpaste.

Micro beads are used to cleanse and exfoliate.  In some products they are completely unnoticeable.  Okay, well that makes a lot of sense, I mean people have been using them for years in products. Sounds pretty harmless, right?  WRONG! Do you remember earlier when I was explaining what they were… “little plastic beads”? Well, using products that contain microbeads could also mean eating plastic, toxin filled fish for dinner. That’s right. Essentially, by using these products we’re contributing to pollution.

Let me explain.  Research has proven that products containing micro beads are damaging water supplies, marine life and the ecological balance of the planet.  When these beads are rinsed down the drain, they hit the ocean and absorb chemicals and toxins.  Then, the little fish and mollusks of the sea mistake these beads as food and ingest them right along with the toxins that were absorbed.  Are you anticipating what I’m going to say next?  Yes, and then you and I eat the fish!  So there is a possibility that the Pecan Crusted Tilapia you had for dinner, was full of poisoned, non-biodegradable micro beads.  Yuk!

Illinois has already banned the sale of cosmetics that contain microbeads and there are more states looking into doing the same thing. There are a bunch of other things that research has found about the harm of using micro beads that you can check out by clicking here. But ok, enough of the bad news, here’s the good news.  The Plastic Soup Foundation created an app called ‘Beat the Microbead’ and it allows you to scan a product to see if it contains microbeads.  How cool is that?! I’m all about beautiful, glowing skin, but I don’t want to contribute to destroying the environment all for the sake of it, so I compiled a short variety of some pretty darn effective and affordable micro bead-free alternative skin care products.

Burts Bees Scrub Burt’s Bees Peach and Willow Bark Deep Pore Scrub – It exfoliates with Willow Bark to remove dirt and oil and gently polishes with finely ground peach stone.
Orgins Dull Moment Origin’s Never A Dull Moment – Smells amazing, and does a great job at polishing dead skin from your face.
Jays Whipped Sugar Scrub Jay’s Precious Cargo Whipped Sugar Scrub – These body scrubs will certainly have your skin smooth and swooned!
Andalou Naturals Andalou Naturals Pumpkin Honey Glycolic Mask– I love this stuff not only because it’s a good product, but because I also love what the company stands for.
Body Brush Body Brush Last but not least, an “oh so simple” body brush. These things exfoliate your body as well as increases circulation.

So there you have it. There are alternatives to making everyone happy… you, me, the environment, and the little fishies!
Until next time!

The body is a precious commodity. Nourish it, love it!

Jay

Sources:

http://www.northwestpharmacy.com/healthperch/moving-away-from-microbeads/

http://www.beatthemicrobead.org/en/

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