Maybe cosmetics with microbeads are easy to spot because it’s proudly written on the label. Like this one:
Why would you want to know? Microbeads are tiny plastics that are polluting the oceans and waterways. Once they’re in the ocean they don’t go away. Poisons stick to them, and these poisons get into the wildlife that eats them. There’s more detail in a previous post.
But they’re not always the company’s selling point. On the face of it this one is all natural and wholesome.
Check the ingredients list.
Polyethylene is plastic (i.e. microbeads) and it’s there, near the top of the ingredients list, and kiwifruit extract is much further down, a few before the chromium oxide greens. And where’s the aloe? (Ingredients are listed in order, from what it contains the largest amount of, to what is present in the smallest amount.)
What about those seedy bits? I took a closer look with a simple low-powered microscope.
Look out for polyethylene in your cosmetics. You can find out about other plastics that are used for microbeads in my last post or The Story of Stuff.