Today we present the results of our latest study: Plastic – The Hidden Beauty Ingredient. The study is the first of its kind and includes the major household cosmetics brands. Although we passionately wish we would have better news to share with you, the undeniable reality is not looking great. Analysing the data from users of our app, we learned that 87% (please take a second to process this number, maybe lie down?) of products from the biggest brands contain so-called microplastics.
A remarkable fact, as producers have long been promising to eliminate microbeads from their ingredients lists, which suggests they are aware of the potential dangers hidden in such components. Makes sense, because you don’t have to be a biologist or medical specialist to realize that using toothpaste, shampoo, or face crème full of microplastics on a daily basis might prove to be bad for both people and the environment! Their incentive to keep using them nonetheless? Our educated guess is that it rhymes with ‘honey’. But, you might still ask yourself, why should I care?
Well, did you know that in Europe alone, 7 kilograms of microplastics from cosmetics are flushed into the environment every minute? And did you know that there are many, many types of microplastics of which we know nothing about the long-term health effects? And that scientists have enormous concerns about the omnipresence of plastic in our world? And have you heard that for the first time in human history, a Dutch study found microplastic in 80% of their subjects’ bloodstreams? Another milestone that doesn’t exactly call for much celebration. So, scientists agree, producers are in the know and in denial at the same time, consumers and the environment need change… What to do?
Let us put it differently. Imagine a roulette table, where only 13% of the numbers win you prizes such as silky hair, moisturized skin, or minty teeth, while the other 87% of the numbers could hide secret prices such as microscopic plastic parts entering your body or irreversible environmental damage. Now, would you play this table without asking questions, or would you ask for a slight change of the rules? Because at the moment, most of us are doing the first.
And this is where #DareToCare comes in! Let’s all dare the people who make our cosmetics to be transparent and to stop using all potentially harmful microplastics, right now. We call upon everyone who uses cosmetics and cares about their own health and the future of the planet. Please send your favourite brand a message asking them to stop using all microplastics, without exceptions. You can do so by finding their brand on our website and sending them a clear, pre-written message. It never hurts to ask and takes less than a minute!
Send a message to your brandTogether we can send a clear signal that enough is enough, we want plastic out of our bodies and environment, now!
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→ Sign this petition and ask the EU to ban microplastics in cosmetics