Good ? for your skin, deadly to the environment.

I came across the article in this link recently and it has stuck in my mind.

Basically the article talks of many corporations (examples given are Olay, Dove, Clean and Clear) offering exfoliants using plastic micropellets, " tiny particles of polyethylene that scrub the dirt from your face and then wash straight down the drain and into watersheds and, eventually, oceans."

""As this debris occupies the same size range as sand grains and planktonic organisms, it is available to a wide range of invertebrates near the base of the food chain," says Mark Browne, a scientist at the Centre for Ecological Impacts of Coastal Cities at the University of Sydney who has studied the consequences of microscopic plastic in marine habitats. And unlike other types of plastic that just happen to end up in the ocean, these beads are almost predestined to reach the sea."

And we continue to foul our own nest!

Some examples of less harmful (but effective and natural) exfoliants remain salt (wonderful for body scrubs), sugar, both white and brown, Jojoba Beads (which look and feel like plastic, but are not!) Paula Begoun, the beauty products critic recommends using baking soda as a facial exfoliant. Since baking soda is alkali, and would disrupt the skin's acid mantle even briefly, I would follow that with rose hydrosol, or another hydrosol as a toner, since all the hydrosols are mildly acidic.

Personally I can't help wondering what is wrong with a good old fashioned wash cloth or face cloth? seems to work for me!