Marine derived ingredients for personal care

We are familiar with using marine materials. We use everything from seawater to a huge range of extracts made from seaweed, microalgae, plankton, coral and many other marine organisms in personal care, but this is just the tip of the potential ‘commercial iceberg’. Formulations can be readily thickened or gelled with carrageenan, alginates (cold-soluble and cold-setting), agar or agarose, (all extracted from seaweed). Even the sand, mud and silt that settle on the ocean floor can have a place in cosmetics. The most exciting new materials come from the very deep sea and the water below 1,500 metres remains largely unexplored. This is the largest habitat on Earth (covering more than 60% of our planet). The cliché that ‘more people have travelled into space than have travelled to the deep ocean’ may have become a little overused but it does help get into perspective the remoteness of Earth’s ‘flooded basement’, the abyssal zone (see Fig. 1).2

 Seawater and sea salt

The most obvious marine ingredient is seawater. Thalassotherapy (seawater therapy), has been used since Roman times.3 Unsurprisingly, as terrestrial life originated in the seas, seawater contains an abundance of minerals essential for healthy skin. Naturally occurring minerals found in the sea include phosphorus, magnesium, zinc, iron, manganese, chromium, selenium, iodine and potassium and all have known skin benefits.4 There is a long safe history of traditional seawater therapies being used to treat common skin complaints. As more than half the world’s population live within 100 km of the coast, many people have firsthand experience of seawater helping their cuts to heal. The high sodium chloride content of seawater makes it difficult to use in formulas, so Soliance in France supply marine water which has suitably adjusted levels of salts, to help formulators get around the difficulties of using untreated salt water in formulas. This spring seawater has been clinically tested and shown to improve dry and damaged skin.5 Sea salt and salt from the Dead Sea are especially popular for anhydrous salt scrubs. Soaking in Dead Sea salts has been reported to help sufferers of rheumatoid arthritis, psoriatic arthritis, and osteoarthritis. The minerals are absorbed while soaking, stimulating blood circulation.6 Skin disorders such as acne and psoriasis benefit from regular soaking in reconstituted Dead Sea salt. The National Psoriasis Foundation recommends Dead Sea and Dead Sea salts as effective treatments for psoriasis. The high concentration of bromide and magnesium in the Dead Sea salt can relieve allergic reactions. One efficacy study showed bathing in the Dead Sea salt solution significantly improved skin barrier function compared with the tap watertreated control forearms. Another study saw a 40% reduction in the depth of wrinkles when skin was treated with reconstituted Dead Sea salts.7