On the heels of the news that Illinois has become the first state in the world to ban plastic microbeads, here are 10 natural exfoliants to scrub your skin–and your conscience–clean.

While exfoliation rejuvenates your skin and enhances your complexion, who wants to ruin the environment in the process? Microbeads – those itty bitty plastic particles found in most face washes – are in the process of being scrubbed out of the beauty industry. Created as a more cost-efficient way to manufacture beauty products, they’ve been harming the environment in a big way.

Because of their size, microbeads slip through sewage system filters, polluting waterways and harming wildlife. (Preliminary studies in Lake Michigan have discovered millions of microbeads!). Illinois Governor Pat Quinn recently signed legislation that bans the manufacture and sale of beauty products containing microbeads by the end of 2017. Currently, at least four other states are considering similar bills, with New York wanting microbeads eliminated even earlier (by 2016).

Here are 10 natural exfoliants that are plastic-free alternatives to microbeads that will keep your skin healthy, while doing good for the environment too:

1. Oatmeal

Oatmeal isn’t just for cookies: It can also be used as a mild exfoliator, helping to remove dead skin cells and keep your skin hydrated. If you have sensitive skin, consider oatmeal your new BFF. You can either grind it to create a scrub, or create a DIY face mask.

2. Sea salt

Out of the natural alternatives to microbeads, sea salt is one of the more abrasive: Because the granules are larger than say, those found in a sugar scrub, sea salt scrubs work wonders on rougher areas of your skin, such as the heels of your feet.

3. Coffee grounds

While enjoying your morning cup of java, why not give your skin the royal treatment by exfoliating with coffee grounds? Simply combine one tablespoon of coffee grounds with half a tablespoon of olive oil and a drop of your fave essential oil.

4. Ground almonds

What I love about almond oil is that it makes your skin feel soft, but not greasy. Grind almonds in a blender (or if you have the biceps of Mr. Clean, with a mortar and pestle) and mix them with either milk or yogurt for a soothing face scrub.

5. Sugar

Sugar is an ah-mazing exfoliant option: It’ll help keep your skin hydrated while giving you a dose of glycolic acid, which helps prevent aging. Melt one tablespoon of coconut oil and mix it with three tablespoons of sugar – you won’t believe how soft this simple scrub will leave your skin!

6. Baking soda

Baking soda is one of my favorite natural alternatives to microbeads, mainly because it’s cost-effective and requires very little prep work. Plus, it’s versatile: You can use it in tandem with other natural alternatives during your at-home spa days. It’s a fine, yet hard powder, so it gets the job done without causing excessive irritation. Add a teaspoon to your fave face wash, mix well and massage into your skin.

7. Pumpkin

It’s not only delicious at Thanksgiving: Pumpkin’s enzymes and gentle acids make it a fabulous natural exfoliator. See for yourself with our pumpkin face mask recipes.

8. Lemon juice

The natural citric acids found in lemon juice make it a great exfoliator and skin hydrator. It contains antioxidants, which aids in the removal of dead skin cells, and acts as a toner by removing bacteria from the surface of the skin. Use the juice from one freshly squeezed lemon and mix with one tablespoon of sea salt for a refreshing face scrub.

9. Yogurt

As far as natural alternatives go, yogurt’s on the ball in every way: It contains anti-fungal and anti-bacterial qualities that fight against common skin conditions, not to mention lactic acid which helps exfoliate. Plus, it can be used with other natural alternatives (like oatmeal) to help you banish microbeads from your repertoire.

10. Honey

Honey contains many antimicrobial and antioxidant properties that help protect the skin and keep it hydrated. Mix one tablespoon raw honey and one tablespoon brown sugar and massage gently onto wet skin. Sayonara, microbeads!

Which natural alternatives to microbeads are your faves?

Related on EcoSalon:

Be Your Own Face Scrub Mix Master

Exfoliate From Head-to-Toe (Literally) with 4 Natural Scrubs

Is Your Facial Scrub Causing Widespread Water Pollution?

Image: Zenspa1

The post Illinois Bans Microbeads and You Can Too with 10 Natural Exfoliants appeared first on EcoSalon.

Thrift shopping for vintage treasures is easy when you know where to find them. Here are seven of our favorite thrift shops in Chicago.

The third largest city in the U.S., after New York and Los Angeles, Chicago could brag about many things – its many art museums, the world’s first skyscraper, a beautiful lakeside location. When it comes to vintage shopping, the windy city has plenty to offer as well.

Vintage shopping is part skill, part luck and part perseverance, but you can stack the odds in your favor by hitting up stores known to always stock good stuff. From the Ukrainian Village to Wicker Park to Pilsen and beyond, here are seven of our favorite thrift stores in Chicago. For those of you located elsewhere, many of these also have online shops.

Kokorokoko
This shop, located in the Ukranian Village, specializes in clothing from the 80s and 90s. Lovers of that particular aestethic will feel like they’ve died and gone to heaven as the racks are teeming with day-glo colors, graffiti-inspired patterns, snapback hats, Members Only jackets, 80s T-shirts and other flashy staples of that bygone era. You can even find neon fanny packs, padded sneakers and even Hypercolor tees. Kokorokoko is a mecca for those of you cultivating that ironic hipster look. The prices are mid-range, but you won’t be disappointed.

Kokorokoko, 1112 N. Ashland Avenue, Ukrainian Village

Unique Thrift Stores
With about a dozen locations in and around Chicago, Unique is a veritable thrift shop emporium. You’ll find gently used clothing at very affordable prices. Some of the stores are extremely well-organized – by size and color – some are not, but you can be sure to always walk out with something great. Items are clean and inspected for defects before they are put out on the racks. A large portion of merchandise is purchased from non-profit organizations, which use the proceeds to fund their operations.

Unique Thrift Store, 13 locations in the Chicago area

Vintage Underground
If you are looking for quality vintage jewelry this is the place to go. Vintage Underground is 3,500 square feet of vintage costume jewelry, hats, belts, handbags, clothing, and other unique finds. The owners not only have a great eye for detail and high level of taste, they are also very nice, helpful and knowledgeable. This shop is a great resource for brides-to-be looking for special occasion jewelry for that one very special occasion.

Vintage Underground, 1834 W. North Avenue, Wicker Park and online

Knee Deep Vintage
Located in the middle of the Pilsen neighborhood, Knee Deep has been bringing the finest men’s and women’s vintage clothing to the south side of Chicago since 2008. This is a true vintage shop where you will find quality garments from different eras. There is a great selection of dresses from the 20s to the 50s — all labeled with the approximate size, saving you a lot of guesswork before hitting the fitting room. There’s also a good selection of bags, shoes and jewelry, as well as some housewares and furniture. Prices are a bit on the high side, but you get what you pay for.

Knee Deep Vintage, 1425 W 18th Street, Pilsen

Silver Moon Vintage
Specializing in fine and designer vintage fashions from the 1890s to 1980s, Silver Moon is filled to the brim with amazing gowns, jewelry and accessories. Owner Liz Meyer, who is a fashion stylist for Aerosmith, has curated a spectacular collection of everything from formal wear from the Edwardian and Victorian era to contemporary high fashion from Vivienne Westwood. Silver Moon has one of the largest collections of vintage wedding gowns in the country and also sells new vintage-inspired bridalwear. There is a section for men as well, offering formal attire from the same eras. The shop also offers alterations, custom design and garment restoration.

Silver Moon, 1721 W. North Avenue, Wicker Park

Village Discount Outlets
With ten stores in Chicago, Village Discount outlet is a bargain shopper’s paradise. There are some serious finds to be had here – especially in the locations that are not in popular neighborhoods – but you’ll have to work for it. The racks are generally well-organized, but in a true thrift shop like this, you will want to spend some time sifting through them. There are no fitting rooms so get ready to try your stuff on in the aisle; but, with everything priced under $10, it’s totally worth it.

Village Discount Outlets, 10 locations in Chicago

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Fashion writer Johanna Björk moves West, couchsurfing and eating good food the entire way.

Having lived on the East coast for eleven years, and New York City (NYC) for nearly five, I decided a few months ago that it was time to try out life in the West. Like many before me, I figured the perfect transition (and to get my car over there) would be to do a cross-country road trip. My man and I decided on the Northern route, mainly because it had less wildfires right around this time. To add a bit of a challenge to our trip, we decided that we would not eat in any mainstream chain restaurants or stay in any big-chain motels — only local mom-and-pop eateries (as healthy as we could find) and independent motels, or better yet, couchsurfing.

Day One: New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Ohio

We rolled out of the city around 10:30 on Labor Day morning. It was kind of sad to say goodbye to New York, a city that had been my home for such a long time, but by the approach to the Lincoln Tunnel, I was ready to go to greener, less crowded and stressful pastures.

A last look at the NYC skyline, seen from New Jersey.

We hit I-80 West and blazed through New Jersey, with “no stop ’til PA” as our motto, and we stuck to it. After a few hours our stomachs were growling for some lunch, but all we saw were rest stop signs for various fast food chains until Tannersville, where a small sign that said “Tandoor Palace” caught my eye. Tandoor Palaceturned out to be a restaurant, housed in an old train car outside a weathered Days Inn. The interior was part murky banquet hall and part colonial-era first class train car salon.We were lucky it was Labor Day, because there was a special buffet $12.95 for all you can eat Indian food, including naan bread and dessert. For a long-time New Yorker, this is a steal. Adding to our joy of finding Indian food was that besides us, there were about 80 (actual) Indian people there. “Must be really good,” we thought, as we filled our plates to the brim. It was very good, and the manager even gave us two cups of free coffee to take with us as we hit the road.

Eating well on the road is not easy, but sometimes you come across some pretty fantastic places, like Tandoor Palace.

All the way through Pennsylvania (which is a pretty wide state), we had a huge cloud of rainstorms looming above making this part of the trip less than joyful. Thankfully, I have been to Pennsylvania many times for work and have seen a lot of its picturesque countryside.

Rain and dark gloomy skies accompanied us all the way through Pennsylvania.

As we stopped for gas, it was starting to get dark, which meant it was high time to consider where we would spend the night. After some cheap motel searching that turned up nothing but Motel 6’s and expensive motels we decided to try out Couchsurfing. Neither of us had an account, so using my iPhone I signed up for one in the car and we started searching for couches in Cleveland, since that was the nearest major city.

We were both amazed at how many we found, and sent requests to a few of the ones that sounded like our kind of people. We had little hope, since it was fairly last minute (it was about 7:30pm and we needed a place for that same night), but just a short while later one of them called us back. The man on the phone, Steven, said that we were very welcome to come crash at his place, gave us recommendations for what neighborhood to go for some good food and said he and his wife would come join us for a beer.

Cleveland by night.

After a quick loop around downtown Cleveland we drove over a bridge adorned with two gigantic statues — it felt almost like they belonged in Lord of the Rings or that latest Thor movie — and took us to the West Side. This part of town used to be independent and called Ohio City, a name you still see used a lot. We found an open parking spot right next to a place called Market Garden Brewery. They brew beers in-house and grow their own produce in a garden out back. I ordered the wheat beer, which was delicious, and we split a market salad and three shrimp tacos.

The Market Garden Brewery in Ohio City. The large neon sign that says “BEER” may have helped to draw us in.

Dinner: a delicious, locally grown, salad.

Market Garden also brews many different kinds of beer.

Enjoying a delicious, house-made wheat beer. Life is good.

Our couchsurfing hosts showed up right as we had finished our meal, and we shared another beer. On our way back to their house, they took us by the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Since we would not have time to go, at least we had seen it from the outside. They lived in a place a few minutes outside town called Cleveland Heights. To our great joy, our bed for the evening was located on a sleeping porch, complete with Japanese ceiling lanterns. As we fell asleep to the soothing sound of crickets right outside the screened doors, I could not help but think that this, although my first, was definitely not my last couchsurfing experience.

Day Two – Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Iowa

We awoke to the smell of coffee, which was being freshly brewed in our hosts’ kitchen. After a cup or two and some good conversation, Steven took us to see the old knitting mill, where Ohio Knitting Mills, the heritage clothing company he is working to revive, was located. Awestruck by all the amazing textiles, we stayed a bit longer than our schedule really allowed, but it was definitely worth it. And I came away with a few great pieces of vintage (but never worn!) knits from the 1960s.

We began the day with a visit to Ohio Knitting Mills, an old heritage clothing brand that our Couchsurfing host is in the midst of reviving.

It was great to see the more industrial parts of Cleveland. It was obvious that this is a town where they like to make things.

Before hitting the highway, we stopped at Aladdin’s Baking Company, a Middle Eastern bakery (recommended by our host), to get some hummus, tabouleh and pitas for the road. Despite executing the utmost carefulness, I managed to spill everything I could possible spill on my tights and tank. That’s just a part of any road trip I guess. We blazed through the remainder of Ohio as well as Indiana, stopping only once for a rest room break and tea/coffee.

On the road again: The Ohio Turnpike, aka I-80/90, toward Indiana.

Indiana farm country.

Midway through Indiana we saw a big truck dousing a field of corn in pesticides — a grim reminder of the (non-organic) reality behind many of these vast fields that surround the highway on both sides.

Beautiful skies on the approach to Iowa City.

Before entering Illinois we passed by the exit for Gary, Indiana, the birth place of Michael Jackson. It was crazy to see the quaint two-lane highway we had been traveling on thus far turn into a full-on five-lane freeway as we got closer to Chicago. Thankfully we did not get stuck in traffic, and continued on through the entire state. We had our sights set on reaching Des Moines, Iowa before finding a room for the night. We only made it to Iowa City and in accordance with my “no chain hotels” policy, got a room at a small mom-and-pop motel. Unfortunately the rooms smelled like someone had been chain-smoking in there for about three decades, so we asked for our money back and checked in at the only other option around, a medieval-themed Best Western. Gargoyles greeted us at the gates and there was a small mote (with gold fish swimming in it) and a draw bridge at the entrance to the lobby. Come on, that’s pretty cool. Even if it happened to be a Best Western, it certainly wasn’t a mainstream one.

The Cantebury Inn, our medieval-themed home for the night.

Day Three – Iowa, Nebraska

After a late start, we again found ourselves driving through endless corn fields. I had a strong desire to stop the car and run through the corn rows to really embrace the being in the middle of America, but I figured the people around here might have guns and it would be best to resist.

Picturesque Iowa corn fields.

The monotonous corn-field driving-meditation was quickly interrupted when we were pulled over by a police car despite driving only about 2 mph over the speed limit (on cruise control). After being separately interrogated about who we are, what we do, where we are going and what’s in all those bags in the bag, we were let go with a warning. Still confused and startled (I don’t know about you, but I’ve never been interrogated by police), we came to the conclusion that we had been culturally profiled — two kind of hippie-looking people in a MINI Cooper with New York State plates, stuffed with suitcases.

Pulled over by the police in Iowa. Driving a MINI Cooper with New York plates and lots of luggage is apparently suspicious here.

After a few more hours we entered Nebraska, and even though I don’t eat steak I felt like a visit to an old school Omaha steak house was warranted. After some Yelp-ing, I found a place called The Drover, that had all kinds of people raving about the steaks and complaining about the decor being dated — perfect. The place turned out to be everything we had hoped for. Located behind some kind of hospital, the space was dark and looked like it had not changed at all since the early 70s — lots of dark wood and brick walls. There were several small rooms with about four tables each and another room that housed the bar. All the patrons seemed to be older locals or business men passing through.

The Drover in Omaha, Nebraska.

Great early 70s decor and whiskey-marinated steaks (if you’re into that kind of thing).

Since I don’t eat meat I decided to go with the mushroom burger but was sort of confused when the waiter asked how I wanted it cooked. “You mean you cook it different ways?” I asked, still not catching on to what was going on here. “Yeah,” he said, with the incredible patience of someone who caters to a lot of tourists, “you can have it well-done or more raw, up to you.” Finally the light went on in my head. This was not a mushroom burger as in veggie burger, but an actual hamburger with mushrooms on it. “Oh, so it’s a MEAT burger?!” I asked, instantly aware of how strange that sounded in an establishment such as this one. How funny it is that after living in New York for so long you just assume that every place like this has a veggie burger option, clearly it is not so in most parts of the country. The waiter kindly agreed to make me a baked potato with sauteed mushrooms on top, which I had with the (very well-stocked) salad bar. It was actually a very satisfying meal. The great thing about steak houses in that they usually have really good red wine, which was true in this case as well, and also meant that we would not drive any further today.

Enjoying a glass of great red wine and a baked potato with mushrooms, after realizing that a mushroom burger in these parts of the country is not what I think it is.

Tired and stuffed we used the Kayak app to find a (non-mainstream) hotel for the night and came across one called Carol Hotel that was in our price range (cheap as possible) and closeby. Something about the type looked strangely familiar and when we got there I realized that this used to be a Clarion Hotel and that the (very clever) new owners had chosen the name based on how they could scramble and reuse the letters in the neon sign on the facade. Very creative recycling.

The Carol Hotel in Omaha, Nebraska displayed some pretty creative reuse of neon signage.

As always when in hotel rooms, I fell asleep watching TV, happy that we were only halfway through our cross-country journey. 1,246 miles down, 1,626 to go.

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