By Jaeyeon Kim |Staff Writer|
Do personal care products, such as face washes, body scrubs, hand sanitizers and toothpastes only have positive effects? Or, do they have negative effects as well?
Many people use personal care products, which have little plastic beads in them called microbeads. These beads are promised to make skin look healthier, brighter, and softer.
The government banned these plastic microbeads from the personal care products in 2007, according to slate.com, because these tiny beads have huge environmental concerns.
The concern is that once out in the wild, the pellets absorb toxins such as pesticides.
The pellets then migrate into the food chain after being consumed by fish and other marine organisms that mistake them for eggs or plankton, according to activist group, 5 Gyres.
The contaminated fish and other marine organisms can be cooked into food.
The Microbead-Free Waters Act of 2015 sailed through Congress because of the environmental concerns over the plastic microbeads.
In the United States, California has microbead-free acts currently wending through their legislatures.
Timelines for the proposed pieces of legislation range from now to Jan. 1, 2019, according to CBC News.
The negative effects of the plastic microbeads have people concerned.
“I have used a blackhead removal product, which has the plastic microbeads, for a long time. It can easily remove the blackheads because of the plastic microbeads, but it can also be harmful because it can make the skin rough,” said student Gayoung Jang.
Much like Jang, other students have thought about how these products can have negative effects on their skin, but not of the environmental concerns.
“I have thought that the plastic microbeads can be harmful to our skin, but I have not thought about the environmental problems of the micobeads. I didn’t realize that,” said student Kiyoung Bae.
Many people didn’t realize the environmental concerns of the plastic microbeads from the personal care products.
On the other hand, other types of the personal care products can be more environmentally friendly.
The other types of the personal care products are made with harmless components, such as sugar, or flower extracts.
Among these alternative environmentally friendly products, a sugar scrub is the one of the most famous and popular care products. The sugar scrub is also a famous method of keratin removal and is eco-friendly.
People can also make a sugar scrub at their home.
Here is a sugar scrub recipe:
People only need white or brown organic sugar and olive or coconut oil, and just mix of both organic sugar and oil.
The proportion of the organic sugar and oil is one to one.
This homemade sugar scrub is a skin care alternative that is less abrasive to the environment.
People can make skin healthier, softer and brighter by using the sugar scrub.
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