Skin, Hair and Nails > Exfoliation

A new Fashion Product and a Danger to Life

Touted as a new skincare product, exfoliating body washes and shower gels are appearing on many supermarket shelves advertised as the ‘next best thing’ for a healthy looking skin.

These body washes and gels contain micro plastic beads to help remove dead skin cells and therefore make your skin look younger and healthier.

On the surface, this may seem like a good idea because after all some medical people tell you that harmful bacteria can potentially crawl under a dead skin cell to cause an infection. But, this can only occur if you leave your skin dirty for a long period of time; like days at a time.

If you wash your body once a day using just a very small amount of soap with your hands or a cloth, you will naturally exfoliate and take away many of the dead skin cells which are ready to be discarded as well as any pathogens that may be lingering on your skin.

When pathogens do land on the skin, it takes them a couple of days to make their way underneath a skin cell to a position where they can begin to cause damage. But the nature of our skin is such that our skin cells are shed naturally and regularly before most pathogens have time to become established and skin disease is relatively rare.

So there is no need to exfoliate and scrub away all the dead and dying skin cells that are not quite ready to leave the body of their own volition because it’s not really going to affect your health. Remember the only things that are going to harm your skin are going for days without washing, environmental and self applied poisons followed by accidents and infections.

The downside to exfoliation

By removing the layer of dead skin cells from the body, the younger skin cells are exposed and more susceptible to pathogens as well as normal wear and tear. You have to remember that the role of dead skin cells is actually to protect the new cells emerging underneath.

There are times in life when the body feels as though it needs a good scrub, but even here there is no need to exfoliate. A vigorous wash with a very small amount of soap will take off most dead skin cells that are ready to leave as well as massaging the underlying tissues that support the skin. For those who are really serious about cleansing, a rubdown with a loofah works well as does drying off with a good quality cotton towel.

The content of the new products

Many soaps, gels and body washes contain a mix of chemicals that are not exactly healthy. There is a very sound philosophy that says that “if you cannot eat it, you should not put it on your skin”.

There is something to be said for grandmothers wisdom as some of the chemicals and what are labelled as body care products can actually be harmful. Many forms of dermatitis are common symptoms caused by harsh chemicals and detergents used in soaps.

But the latest ingredient to be added to this range of dubious products are very tiny or microscopic plastic beads. These can measure less than 1 mm in diameter and in use they provide a slightly grainy feeling against the skin.

There are many problems with these plastic beads. They can get embedded into hair follicles and skin pores causing an irritation lasting for several days and even infections. For men using these products, the risk is far higher because male bodies are typically much more hairy. And there’s nothing worse than suffering discomfort for several days just from the simple act of taking a shower.

You may think this sounds pretty bad, but not only are these plastic beads potentially dangerous for your health, think of what they might do to the environment?

Our rivers and oceans are already full of trash and over the past 200 years, a great many species of insects and animals have gone extinct. One of the main contributors to species die off is plastic. Plastic takes an exceedingly long time to break down in the environment to the extent that anyone eating fish from the ocean will also be eating some plastic.

Plastic is one of the many man-made poisons that is not only damaging our environment, it is also undermining our own health. Plastic releases oestrogens which are one of the major causes of the declining rate of male fertility and a host of other diseases.

The bottom line

If you use these products containing plastic, you are a stupid imbecile. Really, it is harmful for your health and harmful for the environment and there is nothing healthy or life-sustaining about them.

These products should be banned by law but unfortunately most governments and regulating authorities are in the pocket of the corporate’s that manufacture these products.

If you are a responsible person, share this information and become more knowledgeable and responsible for your own body, your own life and life on this planet.  If you do want to have a healthy and radiant appearance, then you must understand that your skin is nourished from within. Therefore you need to eat well, exercise and sweat occasionally, but above all avoid putting poison in your skin.