To Bead Or Not To Bead

We've all heard of micro-beads being promoted in products like soaps, facial exfoliants and body-wash but did you know that they are even in toothpaste? Right! Teeth must have skin on them too. If you're wondering what micro-beads are, they are tiny plastic beads that are put into cosmetics and body products, to exfoliate off dead layers of skin. Body and image conscious consumers are usually the target.

These little bits of "non-toxic" plastic have been flagged by environmentalists for years because their small size allows them to evade standard water plant filtration systems and cause pollution of the waterways that are intended for consumption.

Well, the state of California's governor, Jerry Brown, has had enough with micro-beads and he recently decided to make the "sunshine state" become the first to ban the little particles in personal products (even though here has also been reports that Illinois was actually the first state to start the ban). Hopefully other states hop on board but the official ban doesn't kick off until January 1st, 2020.

So those who live for micro-bead exfoliation, especially in California, there are natural, bio-degradable options like products that have ground walnut, apricot seed and other things from the earth. This is where the "micro-bead" originally derived from anyway.

If you want to read more about the ban, or to support it, some resources are listed below.

California Lawmakers Approve Micro-bead Ban

http://huff.to/1meW5ih

Sign The Petition!

www.5gyres.org/banthebead/