Beady little plastic doesn't make your skin smooth

Plastic is everywhere, but even my plastic-annoyed self didn't see it coming in an exfoliant. The Product Fiend blogger on Shine pointed out that some facial scrubs use teeny beads of polyethylene plastic to help clean out your pores. Eww!

She cites a Slate article with further details. One Australian researcher found that plastic fragments smaller than 1 millimeter are increasingly common in our oceans. In one British estuary, 85 percent of the plastic garbage was this "microplastic" debris. Sewage treatment systems can't filter it out, so this tiny plastic junk pollutes the watershed and can be ingested by marine life.

Those little beads may feel nice on your skin, but in the long run, they're not doing the planet any good. Besides, you can find plenty of cleansers that use natural stuff to scrub the dirt off your face.

Some of the eco-friendly brands have been around for ages, they don't cost any more than the plasticized versions, yet they won't clog up poor little fishy bodies when we're done with them.

Here are a few exfoliating products I found that contain plastic -- you should avoid:

• Aveeno Skin Brightening Daily Scrub
• Clean & Clear's line of scrubs
• Dove Gentle Exfoliating Foaming Facial Cleanser
• Neutrogena's line of scrubs
• Noxzema's line of scrubs
• Olay's line of scrubs
• Phisoderm Nurturing Facial Polish

Look for "polyethylene" in the label's ingredient list. You can double-check on a site like drugstore.com, where it's often easier to read the full ingredient list. You might also question terms like "microbeads" or "microcrystals" that aren't explained.

Alternatives I think are worth shopping for (I've listed the natural exfoliating agents parentheses):

• Avalon Organics Exfoliating Enzyme Scrub (ground walnut & flax)
• Burt's Bees line of scrubs (ground peach stones, almond, & oats)
• Freeman Feeling Beautiful Salt Body Scrub (salt)
• Freeman Feeling Beautiful Sugar Body Scrub (sugar)
• Nature's Gate Revitalizing Facial Scrub (ground willow bark, walnut, & corn meal)
• Queen Helene Natural Facial Scrub (ground walnut)
• Skin Milk Facial Scrub, Exfoliate (oat flour & almond meal)
• St. Ives Apricot Scrub (ground apricot kernels)

And don't forget the good, old-fashioned loofah sponge for exfoliating your skin. You can even grow the plant yourself and dry it out. My grandmom used to raise them in her garden in Florida, so I had a few fresh ones every year as a kid.

These days, I swear by St. Ives Apricot Scrub (which is available in most every drugstore) and when I remember to order it, BodyTime's Mint Scrub Facial Cleanser. The later uses ground almonds plus corn, rye, and oat flours with a tingly touch of mint, and it feels fabulous. Another product worth trying are the Body Butter bars by Lush Cosmetics. They're made with natural essential oils and use stuff like ground walnuts, almonds, rice, and beans as exfoliators.

Want to go extra eco? Make your own exfoliants from things in the kitchen cupboards. This natural living site has classic recipes involving oats, corn meal, or sea salt as the scrubbing ingredient. Bonus: You'll save money while you're saving the oceans and making your skin silkier.