Everything you need to know about the global glitter shortage and the conspiracy theory (@skinfluencebymsk)
Imagine a world without glitter.
What will children do during the creative time in kindergarten?
How will girls do their makeup?
What will we decorate our notebooks and diaries, clothes, hair and nails with?
Parties will never be the same without this glittery stuff that there's no way to remove once it's on you!
A conspiracy theory circulating online claims that the age of glitter may soon be over as we are in the midst of a global glitter shortage.
Oh the horror!
Before we try to figure out where the glitters have gone and who their main consumer is (who probably prefers that you not know his identity), get a brief overview of the history of glitters as published in Iflscience.
Where was the glitter created?
Modern glitter was first created in the 1940s on a farm located in New Jersey by a man named Henry Roshman.
He was very experienced in precision cutting and noticed that the cutting machine he invented (to cut glossy photo prints) occasionally "stuttered" and dropped cellulose/paper, called "snibbles".
Roshman went on to invent the machine for cutting glittery nibbles from scrap plastic.
The glitter produced was to be a side business that could help support the farm's operating costs for raising and milking its cows.
However, the business became a large company called Meadowbrook Inventions.
Glitter wasn't brought into the public realm until Christmas in 1940s New York City, when the use of glitter instead of Christmas candles was encouraged during World War II.
What are the glitters made of?
Most glitter consists of many large sheets of thin plastic or foil, often covered with a layer of aluminum - a material called aluminum polyethylene terephthalate.
indeed,
And they come in many different shapes, sizes and colors.
Their shape is more rounded so that they do not cut the skin.
And now - imagine a world without glitter (Photo: Giphy)
Why do we love glitter so much?
Humans have always been obsessed with shiny things.
There may be an evolutionary reason for this, as the attraction to a shiny object is related to the search for fresh water.
In one study, researchers found that toddlers and infants are attracted to shiny surfaces, in an experiment that tested how often they touched or licked different plates with a shiny surface.
Why do people have to stick to everything and never go down?
The main reason why glitter stubbornly sticks to skin, hair, or other surfaces is their small size.
The smaller a body is, the greater the ratio of its surface area to its volume.
Since the persistent grip results from the adhesion of the surface of the particle to the surface, the larger the surface relative to the weight, the stronger the body will be gripped.
Who are the glitter manufacturers in the USA?
There are two main companies in the USA - and both are located in New Jersey. The first is the original Meadowbrook Inventions, which is "a very private company", according to the New York Times whose value is unknown. The second company is Glitterex. According to experts on the subject, there A sense of secrecy surrounds the production of glitter and the companies don't even want their customers to know how this glittery stuff is made.
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No more glitter? (Photo: Giphy)
Who is the biggest glitter consumer?
No one knows
There are many uses for glitter, beyond the ones we are taught.
Researchers and zoo operators mix glitter into animal feed to track animals through their glittery droppings.
Due to their static properties and the fact that they are so difficult to remove, glitter has also been used as evidence at crime scenes - police forensics officers can identify attackers based on analysis of glitter stuck to the body or clothing of victims of an assault or crime scene.
More Bizarre Uses for Glitter
She went to pick up her belongings from her unfaithful ex's house - and left him a surprise he won't forget for the world
Instagram destroyed the croissant and added glitter to it
However, the number one consumer of glitter is... well, a total secret.
When a reporter asked Glitterex who the biggest market for their product was, they were completely gagged and the representative was not allowed to say a word, because "they don't want anyone to know there's glitter in their product."
As expected, this reaction fired the imagination of many people and is the basis of the glitter conspiracy theory, or as it is officially called GlitterGate.
Recently, many videos on the subject have been posted on TikTok discussing this question.
What are the main theories?
There are several theories that have taken the web by storm.
Some people think it's the boat building industry - and that glitter is incorporated into boats, with the claim that the industry doesn't want the consumer to know as it might damage its masculine image.
This theory may be a little flawed, as it is well known that car paint contains glitter, so it doesn't quite square with the original claim that no one can tell the product contains glitter.
Another theory is that it might be the toothpaste industry.
There are other people who think that the military uses this substance and those who are sure that the glitter is mixed with the sand on many high-end beaches to look more attractive.
@maxedoutmommy But really, what is it??
#glitterconspiracy #glittergate #glitter #wherestheglitter ♬ original sound - Rae
So are we really in short supply?
Although there are rumors circulating online about a shortage, there are no confirmed and official reports by the companies themselves (however confidential they may be).
However, if there is a shortage - this may be a good thing.
Since the plastic film from which most glitter is made takes about 1,000 years to break down in nature, scientists have even called many times in the past to ban the use of glitter.
The reason?
Glitters are nothing more than tiny pieces of plastic, just like the microplastics that pollute nature and the sea.
Microplastics are usually created as a result of the breakdown of plastic products such as packaging and bottles, but in the case of the glitter they were created as microplastics from the beginning. Microplastics are found in nature and in the oceans, they harm animals, and also find their way into our bodies, through the food we eat and even through the air we breathe.
"Contrary to the well-known saying, plastic actually breaks down in nature - but it breaks down into smaller particles, with sizes of micrometers (millionths of a meter) and nanometers (billionths of a meter), in a process that can take hundreds of years," explains Dr. Ines Zucker, head of the nanotechnology laboratory at Tel University -Aviv. This microplastic is joined by pre-manufactured plastic particles that are a few micrometers in size, such as glitter. "The smaller the plastic, the easier it is for it to pass barriers in our body," explains Zucker. "Studies have indicated that microplastics can cross barriers in the digestive system and enter the system the blood.
It should be noted that the degree of danger from this is not yet clear: there are studies in which it is claimed that this is very harmful to humans, while in others it is claimed that no significant damage was caused as a result."
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