Finished a bottle of Aveeno Positively Radiant Skin Brightening Daily Scrub and wanted to look up the toxins in this performer.

The Aveeno scrub is nice; it has the right grainy texture for exfoliation, a good scent, medium lather, and rinses off clean. My skin feels smoother afterward and exfoliated. For the price of $8-$9, it’s a good performing product.

As for the ingredients, Aveeno Positively Radiant Brightening Scrub scores a 5 on SkinDeep. This is not a horrible score, but I’m aiming to use products in the 0-3 range from SkinDeep’s scoring system. This scrub has a lot of chemicals I want to avoid including a paraben (methylparaben), a sulfate (sodium laureth sulfate), and plastic beads (polyethylene).

Many natural exfoliators use crushed walnut shells or other hard organic materials finely ground up. But I just read at the link below that the beads in many mainstream beauty exfoliators, including Aveeno’s, are made of plastic! Scrub a dub dub, this one’s a flub!

http://cincovidas.com/is-there-plastic-in-your-your-facial-scrub/

I have been pouring tiny non-biodegradable plastics down the drain and into the ecosystem, along with the thousands of others using these products. Upsetting! I don’t want to participate in that! I like that I can recycle most of the plastics that I consume.

Given that I use the Aveeno scrub 1-2 times a week max, I think my limited exposure to the moderate toxins in this product is ok. But for the environmental impact of literally pouring plastics down the drain, it’s not worth it to me. In the meantime, I will look for another basic exfoliant in the 0-3 range, without plastic, and with a similar price tag.

***I reviewed the Aveeno tinted sunscreen moisturizer earlier here, and had found their inclusion of oxybenzone (sunscreen) puts it high up in the toxicity rating, coming in at an 8.