Why Microbeads are BAD for YOUR SKIN & MOTHER NATURE

For the longest time, I was using a beaded facial scrub on my face. I loved how clean my face felt after those tiny beads cleaned out my pores. Who would of thought that not only was I doing the Earth a disservice but I was also damaging my skin!!! Grab a booch and read on to see why you should swap out your conventional exfoliant.

Mircrobeads are bad for PLANET EARTH

Microbeads are tiny pieces of polyethylene plastic found in your everyday exfoliant and guess what? They are not biodegradable. In one bottle of Clean & Clear facial scrub, you can find approximately 330,000 plastic beads. So once you wash your face, these tiny pieces of plastic run down the drain and into our local streams, lakes and oceans. A study by Gyres Institute determined that in the downstream of cities, there was nearly 500,000 pieces of plastic in a square kilometer of the Great Lakes. WHAT THE WHAT?

The polyethylene plastic is polluting our bodies of water and aquatic life are actually mistakenly ingesting it. Think about the food chain. Who is eating the fish? That would be us, folks.

Microbeads are causing SO MUCH environmental damage that the US has actually banned the little plastic terrors in all exfoliants. They are no longer allowed to be manufactured in 2017, and must be off the shelves by 2018.

Microbeads are BAD for your SKIN

Let’s take it another step, microbeads are also bad for your skin. Yes, you need to exfoliate aka remove the dead skin from your face. BUT microbeads actually do more damage then good. Your skin is super sensitive and microbeads actually cause small tears in your skin. AND these small tears leave you vulnerable to bacteria entering into these holes. Not good.

3 BEAUTY COUNTER ALTERNATIVES

What to do? Well, I have three great alternatives for you that will gently exfoliate your face without damaging your skin or the earth.

Beautycounter’s Nourishing Cream Exfoliator: If you love the way those plastics beads feel on your face try out Beautycounter’s alternative.  This creamy cleanser uses jojoba beads (WHICH ARE BIODEGRADABLE) to give you that same satisfying scrubbing feeling.  These non-abrasive beads leave your skin silky smooth and is gentle enough to use a few times a week.