All about Seaweed

Lush was founded in Poole, a seaside town in England, so ingredients from the deep blue sea have always been an important part of our products.

Seaweed is one of our favorite ingredients, but did you know it’s not actually a weed? Although its name suggests otherwise, seaweed is a kind of sea vegetable. And “seaweed” doesn’t refer to just one plant, but many: nori, bladderwrack, agar agar, sodium alginate, carrageenan and toothed wrack are just some of the seaweed and seaweed-derived ingredients you’ll find in our formulas.

Natural nutrition

Interestingly, these aquatic plants don’t have roots, and absorb all the nutrients they need through their blade-like leaves. Like most of the plants that come from the sea, seaweed is nutritious, full of minerals, iodine, iron and calcium. Many types of seaweed also have lots of detoxifying polysaccharides, sugars that help maintain healthy-looking skin by boosting its ability to retain water. Hello, hydration!

Tantalizing textures

For unique experiences in the shower and bath, there’s no beating seaweed: in addition to being great on your skin, it helps us create unexpected textures. Carrageenan gives shower jellies their fun jiggly texture, and sodium alginate is the ingredient in our jelly bombs that creates a blanket of skin-softening jelly on top of your bathwater.

Dewy, hydrated skin

If your face is feeling sore and sensitive, seaweed is your saving grace.

Aqua Marina is a squidgy cleanser that you can use daily. Made for unhappy skin, it’s full of cooling aloe, calming calamine, and mineral-rich Irish moss gel and nori to help soften. After cleansing, rehydrate skin and prep it for moisturizer with a spritz of toner. Breath Of Fresh Air delivers on the promise of its name with sea water, cleansing rosemary, softening aloe vera and hydrating carrageenan to give skin a refreshing, ocean-inspired spray. For an especially dewy finish, follow up with the luxurious Skin’s Shangri La, a rich, nourishing cream with nutrient-dense wheatgrass, emollient cocoa butter and toning Queen of Hungary water—an ancient tonic for keeping skin taut with rosemary and vodka.

Soft, silky mermaid hair

Seaweed feels wonderful on all heads of hair, and it’s especially good for softening and hydrating fine, thin hair without weighing it down.

Pump up the volume! Big Shampoo and Big Solid Conditioner are a classic pair for big, beachy hair thanks to loads of sea salt. To balance out salt’s potentially drying effects, we’ve also included seaweed infusions--think big batches of herbal tea: by wrapping seaweed in cheesecloth and steeping it in hot water, we create a nutrient-rich and softening infusion. Big Shampoo benefits from a bladderwrack infusion, while its corresponding conditioner has a toothed wrack infusion. (For those looking for a packaging-free alternative to Big Shampoo, try Seanik Shampoo Bar, which has shreds of nori running right through it.)

Find seaweed on both sides of our conditioner spectrum: agar agar gel, a seaweed-derived ingredient, gives both our lightest and richest conditioners a beautiful slip. In Veganese, it’s combined with shine-enhancing lemon oil and a scalp-soothing lavender and rosemary infusion to soften hair without weighing it down, perfect for fine or thin hair. Retread is a rich, reparative conditioner for damaged or super dry hair, so in addition to agar agar, it’s packed with strengthening, protein-rich soy milk and soy yogurt, as well as protective lanolin and avocado oil.

For a textured, wavy look like you’ve just spent the day swimming in the sea, Sea Spray is the perfect styling solution. With sea water and sea salt to create beachy volume, this light hold hair mist holds your style without ever feeling crunchy thanks to its silky soft carrageenan infusion base.