Our long, national nightmare is finally over: Those tiny, plastic beads infamously found in myriad exfoliating scrubs circa the mid-2000s are officially banned, as of Monday (Dec. 28).

"The tiny beads then act as sponges for toxic chemical pollutants and become an attractive snack for marine wildlife," Consumerist reports. "And because we humans often like to eat seafood, that means there's a pretty good chance the spheres could end up in your stomach." Yikes.

According to Mlive.com, the Microbead-Free Waters Act of 2015, which was signed into law by President Obama, will "phase microbeads out of consumer products over the next few years, starting with a ban on manufacturing the beads in July 2017, followed by product-specific manufacturing and sales bans in 2018 and 2019."

If you're looking to cut down on your own encounters with microbeads, you can check out Beat The Microbead's comprehensive list of products that contain the plastic particles. You can also download their app, which can scan products and instantly tell you which ones contain microbeads.

Thankfully, the beads can no longer pollute our precious waters. But their memory is indelibly written into our teenage flesh -- a pain that will last forever.