What plastics are you washing into the sea?

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I imagine that everyone knows that the sea is getting polluted, plastics in beauty products playing a major role. Until now I have felt quite innocent of any charges of pollution except for the occasional dash of hair spray into the atmosphere. Today I got a shock. I had watched a program about minute plastic particles used in cosmetics. It ended with a reflection on what we wash into the drains when we take a shower. Having recently washed my hair and seen the thick foam accumulating around the plughole I decided to find out what I was putting on my hair when I used mousse. It was the word ‘copolymer’ that made me look a lot deeper. I read in one report that if an ingredient was not pronouncable then it was a chemical. There were 23 of these listed in my mousse, it is basically full of undesirable chemicals. Copolymers are a liquid plastic which does not just go down the drain but also goes into our bodies through the pores in our scalps. Other ingredients caused allergic reactions, one was an eye irritant, another could deplete calcium levels, PVP/VA is a plastic film. Not only do we contribute to the detriment of the sea but they are also a danger to our health as we bring them into contact with our bodies. The program went one step further reminding us that the fish eat the plastic and we eat the fish. I have bought my last bottle of mousse.