Skip to content Skip to Content

Made in Maine: Kittery company using kelp to help keep skin hydrated


WMTW

By Jessica Gagne

Click here for updates on this story

    KITTERY, Maine (WMTW) — Seven months ago, Maine business partners Krista Rosen and Inga Potter were hauling in their harvest from their kelp farm off the coast of Kittery Point.

Fast forward to January, and they’re hard at work bottling a secret blend of skin-loving ingredients featuring the seaweed.

“It provides this very nutrient-rich, under-valued resource,” says Inga.

Krista and Inga are the co-founders of Cold Current Kelp, a farming and skincare company in Kittery. Inga, a marine biologist, says research about kelp’s benefits has been widely published internationally, but the industry in the U.S. is still in its infancy. Maine is at the forefront of kelp farming, and companies like theirs are working with the environment to build it into a sustainable, long-term business.

“You plant it in the winter,” Inga explains. “It likes the cold, and you add nothing to it—no additives, no inputs, no fertilizers, obviously no water. And it’s accustomed to not only grow but thrive in this environment.”

After it’s pulled from the water, their kelp is dried and stored, then synthesized into an extract used in Cold Current’s flagship product—a facial oil called Kelp Glow. The oil is free of dyes, and Inga says the bioactives from the kelp help with hydration and disrupt the breakdown of collagens and elastins.

Skincare made sense as a starting point on their kelp journey, but Krista and Inga acknowledge that this is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to what kelp can do.

“We are really digging deep into a kelp extraction process and a chemical analysis of that extract,” Krista notes. “We should be getting those results any day. That will be really exciting because it can be used in other industries—biotech, pharma, nutritional foods.”

Over the three and a half years they’ve been in business, Krista and Inga have received several state and federal grants to fund their work. They say their latest award will be used to explore new species and new growth methods on their farm.

Please note: This content carries a strict local market embargo. If you share the same market as the contributor of this article, you may not use it on any platform.

Article Topic Follows: CNN - Regional

Jump to comments ↓

CNN

BE PART OF THE CONVERSATION

KION 46 is committed to providing a forum for civil and constructive conversation.

Please keep your comments respectful and relevant. You can review our Community Guidelines by clicking here

If you would like to share a story idea, please submit it here.