Why 'Liquid Polymers' Are The Greenwashing Loophole You Need to Know!
My Health Shop Pleasure: The Invisible Threat
If you happen to be new here, I will tell you about one of my biggest pleasures. If you aren't well, then it's a case ‘if you know you know’. Unfortunately, it's not as exciting as a 50 shades of grey discovery, but it is a serious situation. I am virtually uncontrollable in a good health shop! Moreover, if a skincare sample section is available, I tend to overindulge in sampling, while making a concerted effort to be respectful of the shop owner and product maker. When I don't succeed, I have to walk out with a hefty bill, which is my choice.
Anyway, the reason this never happens in a regular chemist of a retail pharmacy chain is that the one time I did try a sample before inspecting the ingredients, some of it happened to get on my lips. Our lips are the most permeable skin on our body, as the
maker of AYA Balm, our hero natural skincare balm, I would know this. Not being of a calmer nature, I became more than hysterical when I read the ingredients. To digress, I refuse to call retail pharmacy chains by their preferred label, "health and beauty retailers," because of their average twelve aisles, they have only one aisle dedicated to health, which is misleading, much like the concept of silent thunder.
But here’s a terrifying new problem. My "hysterical" reaction was to an ingredient I could read on a label. What happens when the most harmful ingredient isn't listed at all? What happens when it’s an invisible contaminant that is not visible in a solid form to the naked eye? AYA Natural Skin's philosophy of "seed to skin" is based on the absolute: if you can't eat it, you can't put it on your skin. Although it's unlikely to taste nice or be pleasurable, and may not be nourishing, it's most importantly harmless. This is precisely why the growing crisis of microplastics in our skincare is so alarming. We are now facing a threat we can't see, in products we thought were safe. Yip, first there were microplastics and now there are liquid microplastics!
As much as I love the word nuanced, it just covers so much. When considering the potential nuance in the subject of microplastics, I simply hate it. Microplastics are never a good thing, and I don't believe any argument put forward that they are or ever were a good idea.
Microplastics: The Evolution of the Threat
Microplastics are a simple term; the definition is in the name. "Micro" refers to their size, and "plastic" refers to their material. Scientifically, microplastics are defined as any piece of plastic debris less than 5 millimetres (mm) in length. To put that into perspective, it is the size of a single grain of rice or a pencil eraser.
And to be absolutely clear, the size of 5mm is the cutoff for the upper limit of the microplastic; the reality is that most microplastics are far smaller, often microscopic and utterly invisible to the naked eye.
More recently, an even more alarming category has emerged: nanoplastics (particles smaller than 1 micrometre) and so-called "liquid microplastics." These are not solid particles, but synthetic polymers—such as silicones or acrylates—that are used in liquid or gel form in products like cosmetics and lotions. They are designed to wash down the drain, and because they do not readily biodegrade, they become a permanent part of our water systems.
Like everything else on this magnificent planet we call home, microplastics are about evolution, and not a good one. As early as 1970, researchers reported small plastic fragments in the ocean, but it was only in 2004 that they were recognised as a distinct pollutant. The term "microplastics" was coined by Professor Richard Thompson to describe the tiny fragments that ubiquitously contaminate UK beaches and marine life. With this research, microplastics were then further defined into primary microplastics and secondary microplastics created by the breakdown of larger debris. This led to global recognition of the dangers and ultimately to the ban on microbeads in cosmetics in the mid-2010s. But it was far too late. Microplastics are found in every corner of the planet, from Mount Everest to the human bloodstream.
The Absolute Kicker: Debris vs. Manufactured Liquid Polymers
Here, for me, is the absolute kicker: essentially, microplastics are mostly debris that we as the human race create as a byproduct of our easy, unsustainable lifestyle. Liquid plastics are far from that. Liquid Polymers are complex, non-biodegradable molecules that are synthetically created in a lab from petrochemicals. And to be clear, when we are talking about liquid polymers, we are in essence referring to liquid plastics. A term coined by relevant NGO’s to create awareness that these non-biodegradable liquid polymers act like solid microplastics by accumulating in the environment after being washed down the drain.
Liquid polymers, particularly silicones, were first used in the skincare industry in the 1950s and 1960s. These synthetic ingredients were a direct result of advancements in chemistry during and after World War II and were quickly adopted because they offered unparalleled benefits to formulators. Polymers were stable, highly durable, and created a consistent, luxurious texture that traditional natural waxes and oils didn't. Ingredients like Dimethicone were used to give products a smooth, non-greasy feel. And like everything else, these “enhancements” only picked up speed through the 1970s and 1980s, marking a major shift in modern cosmetic science toward petrochemical derivatives.
The Conscious Consumer's Guide: Identifying Greenwashing
How do we, as natural skin care product consumers, identify these ingredients when the marketing and labelling of the products use such explicit statements, like plastic-free, and excessively punting their active ingredients as clean, pure and in touch with nature! If heaven forbid they use the term 'chemical-free,' don't even bother turning it over; water and air are chemicals, just for the record. Chemical free is used as a scare tactic, everything we interact with, including all natural ingredients, is made of chemicals, it's literally the first sign of greenwashing. At AYA Natural Skin we learnt this the hard way, we used to glibbly say and put on our labels chemical-free, till a lovely, enlightened client put us straight. Thank you, Pauline; we are still and forever grateful.
1. Ignore the Marketing: The INCI List Test
So the first step is undoubtedly to ignore the marketing and front label completely, shut down the emotive pull of pristine, natural snow-peaked mountains and sparkling, clear, clean water, and turn the product over to scrutinise the ingredient list,
scrutinise the INCI list (International Nomenclature of Cosmetic Ingredients). Always remember that ingredients are listed by weight, so the ones that appear higher on the list comprise the bulk of the product. When a product is marketed as "all natural" but the unique natural extracts (like a fruit oil, botanical butter, or herb extract) appear very late on the list, it means they are present in concentrations that are often well under 1% (sometimes less than 0.1%), and this is a primary greenwashing tactic.
2. Look for the "No-Go" Terminology Patterns
To quickly identify the common, non-biodegradable synthetic polymers often labelled as "liquid plastics," we can familiarise ourselves with key terminology patterns. The initial step in combating greenwashing is mastering the identification of common non-biodegradable, often popularly labelled as "liquid plastics." These ingredients, which provide a stable, luxurious texture, are easily spotted by looking for specific chemical patterns on the INCI list. For silicones, look for terms ending in -cone (like Dimethicone), -xane, or -conol (like Cyclopentasiloxane). For acrylic polymers, look for the prefixes Poly- or words like Acrylate or Crosspolymer (e.g., Polyacrylate Crosspolymer).
3. Final Verification: Search and Verify
Because thousands of complex polymers exist, relying solely on a few patterns isn't enough for the dedicated conscious consumer.
The final step is to Search and Verify everything unfamiliar. For ingredients that still look suspicious—or those that don't fit the common -cone or Poly- patterns—use the dedicated resources created by environmental NGOs, such as the Plastic Soup Foundation. Their online lists and apps instantly flag these persistent, petrochemical derivatives, ensuring that what we buy or try out in a store truly matches our values and what we want for our skincare routine.
Final Word: The AYA Balm Safety Philosophy
So, that is my soapbox moment for the day, and while I am all ready to have a laugh at my need to lecture, make no mistake - this is far from a laughing matter; it scares the living daylights out of me. If you want to read more, there is a great article by Beat the Bead, where they go into details regarding the legislation and the potential loopholes, which will allow the beauty industry to continue using microplastics and liquid plastics. And on that final note, a story about one of my kids when they were a baby. I was in the workshop, closely paying attention to the job at hand, only to turn around and see my baby happily chomping on a lump of AYA balm they had got their hands on. After much hysteria and establishing my baby was completely fine and AYA Balm is perfectly safe to eat, the philosophy was clearly established: if you can't eat it, you can't put it on your skin.