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Updated: 8 hours ago

Made in Maine: Kelp for skin care? This Kittery startup has a formula

Photo / Courtesy of Cold Current Kelp Krista Rosen, left, and Inga Potter started Cold Current Kelp to grow sugar kelp and extract beneficial bioactive compounds for skin care.
By Laurie Schreiber

Cold Current Kelp is a Kittery startup that has developed skin care products from farmed-kelp extract.

Founded by Krista Rosen and Inga Potter in 2021, the company grows, harvests, processes and produces products from kelp raised offshore in Kittery.

Kelp is a nutrient-dense and environmentally friendly aquaculture product that has grown increasingly popular in recent years, the two said.

Although kelp is primarily known as a specialty food and dietary supplement, Cold Current instead uses its farmed kelp to create skin care products. Rosen and Potter manage most aspects of growing and processing the seaweed themselves.

Blue economy

Photo / Courtesy of Cold Current Kelp

Rosen has a background in securities litigation, in New York City and Maine, and served on the board of Laudholm Trust, supporting the Wells National Estuarine Research Reserve for six years. That led to her interest in ocean farming and the blue economy.

Potter is a marine biologist and educator who earned a Ph.D. from the University of New Hampshire in 2010 studying the ecology of large oceanic fish. Potter said she has collaborated with scientists all over the world in her research; her environmental science background drew her to the potential of kelp farming.

They work with Bob Leipold, Rosen’s uncle and a chemical engineer with professional experience in the chemical industry, biotechnology and pharmaceutical consulting.

They have said that they view kelp as a sustainable crop that improves ocean health by naturally purifying the water, and an environmentally friendly source of plant-based bioactive compounds used in skin care.

While studying potential uses of the seaweed, they experimented with making a skin care product using a “nontoxic green chemistry” method to extract what they have said are beneficial compounds in the kelp. The extract is blended with organic oils.

They have two 400-square-foot farms permitted by the Maine Department of Marine Resources and a manufacturing facility in a 1,059-square-foot lease at 37 Route 236.

Partnerships

Partnerships and funding opportunities are helping the company grow, including the Rockland-based Island Institute and the Maine Technology Institute.

It has gotten funding from the U.S. Department of Agriculture and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Saltonstall-Kennedy grant program.

KelpGlow Facial Oil is sold online and in specialty stores and ranges from $68 for a one-ounce bottle of to $28 for a 10-mililiter bottle.

“Cold Current Kelp is a great example of how Maine aquaculture entrepreneurs are adding value to the wonderful products we grow in Maine’s pristine environment,” said Sebastian Belle, executive director of the Maine Aquaculture Association.

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