Bathing with brown algae

Imagine a summer holiday on the Baltic: just you, miles of pristine sand, and the cold, clear sea. Doesn’t it make you want to just dive right in? Not so fast—the currents in this area wash brown masses of algae onto shore by the truckload. With the aquatic plants wrapping around your ankles, your first instinct might be to get out of there as fast as you can. But you’d be wrong.

I already knew that algae, kelp, and seaweeds have a lot of health hype around them. But to voluntarily get into a tub with the stuff? I didn’t think so. However, after half of the Amazingy team spent the better part of a day raving about the slimy miracle plants, my curiosity was piqued.

Being a bit familiar with the health benefits that seaweed has when you eat it, (it’s used to great effect, of course, in sushi), I was eager to learn more about the plant’s skincare potential. When applied externally, algae can aid in detoxifying and clarifying the skin, and happens to be rich in antioxidants and vitamin C —anti-aging algae, so to speak. In addition, the healing ingredients of algae have been shown to penetrate deeply into the layers of the skin, a clear advantage over many topical creams that will only sit on the skin’s surface.

A note: people suffering from thyroid-related illnesses should be careful when using algae-based products both topically and internally. Since algae contains a lot of iodine, algae-based products can sometimes disrupt of thyroid function.

Mungo Murphy

Mungo Murphy’s Seaweed Co. sells sustainably-harvested seaweed for bathing products. To be more specific, they source and sell three specific types of brown algae in their products:

• Laminaria digitata (also called Oarweed)
• Fucus vesiculosus (bladder wrack) and
• Fucus serratus (toothed wrack)

The dried algae is surprisingly hard—the kelp even reminds me a bit of seashells—and needs to be soaked for a while before being added to your bath water. Just pour a bit of boiling water over the seaweed, which is packaged in little cotton bags, and let it soak for ten minutes. Think of it as seaweed tea.
The brew immediately gives off that typical salty sea smell. Be cautious when you climb in and out of your bathtub, as the oil released from the seaweed can settle on the tub’s enamel and make it slippery.

[row] [column size=”1/2″] Once the algae—here, I used the mixture containing bladderwrack—is floating around in your tub, it looks like on the picture right:
You’re also free to experiment with adding other bathing products to the water, like bath salts, but I wanted to test the product on its own.
I suffer neither from acne nor psoriasis, so I can’t tell you if an algae bath proves to be a quick remedy for such skin problems—however I can say this: My skin was incredibly soft after soaking in my home-brewed seaweed stew. For a light peeling effect, you can gently rub your body down with a bit of the rehydrated algae.

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Am I turning into Arielle?

No, but the result is very smooth, soft skin. I could clearly see the difference in my skin after the bath, and using body lotion afterwards did not seem necessary. And luckily, the smell of seaweed disappeared right after I toweled off.
The large chunks of algae are easily fished out of the bath and can be recycled as a plant fertilizer as long as you didn’t add other nonorganic products to your bathwater.
The algae in the cloth bag are also easily removed as well, but a good cleaning of the tub is nevertheless advisable to remove any leftover oily residue.
All in all, I consider this to have been an unexpected bathing pleasure, but one with great skincare and relaxation potential. Extending a seaweed soak with a night of manicures, pedicures and a kelp-containing facial mask is my next step!

 

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