Iconic Elements skin care ingredients are microplastics free

Microplastics are tiny plastic particles that are used or released in cosmetic skin care products. Although they are not visible to the naked eye, they end up in rivers, seas and oceans through our sewers after washing or showering. This has a significant impact on our ecological system, as marine animals often view these microplastics as food. Ultimately, these microplastics even end up on our own plates, as they become part of the food chain.

It is therefore the responsibility of cosmetic manufacturers to produce products that are free of microplastics. The plasticfoodfoundation.org is a foundation dedicated to identifying harmful ingredients for our environment. The Beat the Microbead app makes it easy to find out whether a product contains microplastic.

We are therefore very proud of our new international recognition ZERO PLASTIC INSIDE. All our ingredients that we use in our skin care line are microplastic free. To qualify, all ingredients must be screened and only then will you receive this certificate.

Previous blog about microplastics in cosmetics.

Microplastics in the food chain: a credit card on the menu every week

Two reports draw attention to the amount of plastic we ingest through food and drink. The first report was published by the World Wildlife Fund in 2019. This report compares data from 52 studies on microplastic uptake. This shows that people are at risk of ingesting about 5 grams of plastic per week. By comparison, that’s roughly equivalent to a credit card.

The second study appeared in the journal Environmental Science and Technology. The researchers report that Americans consume an estimated 39,000 to 52,000 microplastic particles per year from seafood, water, sugars, salts and alcohol alone.

On RTL news April 28, 2023, it will take another 12 years for microplastics to disappear from our cosmetics.

Microplastics in cosmetics

Naturally degradable exfoliating ingredients, such as scrub granules, have been replaced by microplastics by a number of cosmetic companies. You will often see this described on the label as “microbeads” or “micro-exfoliates”. These microbeads are usually composed of polyethylene, a commonly used component of plastics, but they can also be made from polypropylene, polyethylene terephthalate (PET) or nylon.

Microbeads are increasingly found in hand soaps and other personal care products. The result is that these tiny (plastic) particles end up in the sewer immediately after use, where they cannot be completely filtered out by wastewater treatment plants due to their small size.

Ultimately, the microbeads end up in rivers, seas and oceans. From small to large sea creatures: they all ingest particles through their food and the amount continues to accumulate. The microbeads from cosmetic products end up on your plate via a detour.

Microplastics in cosmetic products, read more about the red flag list of plastic in cosmetics

Here the link of Iconic Elements products on the plastic soup website

About Francis Wu

‘In my dermatology practice I often come across people who suffer from itching. I see what they struggle with and unfortunately too often notice that certain care products help someone from bad to worse. Because I want you as a user to be able to rely on the product you are applying, I have developed my own skincare line: Iconic-Elements. A complete skin care line that stands out because it works (evidence-based)!

While you are here

It is yet another term in beauty land that suggests something. Is it pure marketing or does it really cover it? Exactly what clean beauty means, we explore in this article. Speaking Dr. Francis P.K. Wu and Marlijn van Straaten, CEO of the dr. Hauschka brand.
Clean beauty sounds good! Especially at a time when sustainability seems more important than ever and we are increasingly aware of what we put on our skin. We don’t want any ‘junk’ in our cosmetics and in our environment, so if a brand profiles itself with the term Clean Beauty, we want to know more about it!

It is certainly interesting for beauticians to understand what that term exactly means and how they can explain it to their customers as well as possible. It’s a hot topic. Thanks in part to the beauty bloggers and influencers who are using this relatively new term en masse. No one is averse to cleanliness. And so it hits the mark.

But just how clean is clean beauty? Doesn’t every product in the end consist of chemicals? Because “well considered, even water is a chemical,” says Dr. Jetske Ultee in a blog. Does every supplier that claims to be clean use sustainable packaging? Can you then just deploy the term without control? More on this – click