The advice and informational content does not necessarily represent the views of mother's market and kitchen mother's recommends consulting your health professional for your personal medical condition.

Hello, I'm Kimberly King, and welcome to the mother's market radio show, a show dedicated to the Truth, Beauty and Goodness of the human condition. On today's show, eczema is a chronic problem for lots of people, it's estimated over 35 million Americans suffer from its effects, 70% of those cases start in children younger than five years old, there are plenty of treatments, but one entrepreneur has found a way to battle his skin issues using a sweat, listen closely and find out if this might work for you or someone you know.

Later, we'll find out what's going on around town. And what's new at mother's market? But first of, Adam Grossman is the co-founder of the seaweed Banco. He first created seed-based personal care products to take control of his own troubled skin, seeking to improve the lives of others. Adam founded the sewed Bath company with his wife Allison in 2010 to harness the nourishing benefits of seaweed into the effective body, skin and hair care products designed for all skin and hair types. Today, the CE Bath company continues to innovate and expand its product offering driven by a science back-to research and a desire to offer accessible personal care products that offer visible results in a unique ocean-inspired sensory experience. And we welcome him to the mother's market radio show. Adam, how are you?

I'm doing great, thank you for having me.

Great, thanks for being here, and why don't you fill our audience in a little bit on your mission, your work, before we get to today's show topic.

So initially started with a focus on helping people with sensitive skin like myself, and bringing seaweed really to a larger audience and combining it with other natural ingredients to create a routine for people daily, whether in the bath or shower and on the go. So for us, initially started the company just with bath products, but after getting a lot of feedback, people wanted other products, and we are able to quickly expand and really grow the company to where it is today.

Wonderful, well, thank you for being here. So today, of course, we're talking about the benefits of sewing, and so how did you come to start with the idea of sea when the sweat company... So pretty random, but when I graduated college and I got diagnosed with psoriasis on my scalp, and it started just with a little c, and went to the dermatologist after a few days of picking at it, and they diagnosed me with scalp psoriasis and prescribed me a topical foam and put it on, burned a little bit, but the lesions went away. I moved from Austin to South Florida for a job opportunity after school, and after a few weeks down there, I get out of the shower and I had to appeal on my hands, and after a few days of thinking that was cool, I realized, Hey, maybe something's wrong here, so I saw it, a new dermatologist went to see her, she said, Now you have psoriasis on your hands and prescribe me a new topic, ointment, put the moment on, went away. I didn't think much of it. About six months later, I came back, my scalp, my years, my hands male those, my knees, and they put me on stronger topical, long story short, those topical would work for a period of three to 12 months, and then we come back and come back and new areas of my body, after about four years, I ended up with nearly 50% of my body covered with psoriasis lesions and really suppressed my immune system made me susceptible to other diseases, and eventually I decided, this is kind of crazy, I gotta take control of this myself, and I got involved in the National Psoriasis Foundation, and I was on the board of the walk care psoriasis on in South Florida. And through my experience there and the support group that I was part of, I learned about the lasso therapy, which are ocean-based treatment spas, mostly popular in Western Europe at the time, and there was kind of this community of people with troubled skin, they were finding relief and so I looked into it, and one of the top things that were helping people where they see we bad, I Googled seaweed beds, and it led me to Ireland, where they actually started as a commercial enterprise in 1912 today to niche business in Northwestern Ireland. And so I called a few of these subsea, most of the guys, I couldn't understand what they were saying, but there was this... So there was one lady who would just move back from the UK, outside Galway, and she had a benefit CD baseball and she was harvesting herself, and I kinda struck up a friendly friendship with her over the phone, she end up shipping me 20 pounds of the sea we choose harvest thing, the type of brown seaweed called bladder act that we now use across our product line, I got it in a big box in my apartment in Miami, broken into netting, took some bats in it and noticed that I kinda... This quell look less inflamed. Less red Lesh skin. Kind of like a Fiat at the beach. And long story short again, over about six months, I really saw it, I changed my skin at a friend in Hollywood who had a break out in his leg, and he's very vain, and he said, I'll try anything. I said, Mom, been dating and seaweed for a few months. I know it sounds nuts, but when I try it out, so I send him some... And two weeks later, he's like, Hey, that really help. Can you send me more? And that gave me a little bit more confident, a handed out some seed balls to my series support group, got positive feedback there, and then in August 2009, went to the National Psoriasis Foundation Conference in San Antonio, Texas, and that... I'd get laughed out of there, but it's me and a bunch of pharmaceutical companies exhibiting, and I found that people were really receptive to trying it, so we handed out a few 00 balls of seaweed, and within three weeks, we got 170 responses from people saying that really helped her skin or their kid's skin, and were we a company to get products... Do they buy it? And the answers are No, no, no, but it kinda opened my eyes to the opportunity, not to just have a business, but to do something good. And it took about eight months, but we created our CE powder bath in the spring of 2010, narrow those 170 respondents down the 32 people around the country with psoriasis and ship them six weeks worth of bathing products and ask him the document or experience.

And that went very well, allowed me to turn around and get initial funding and quit my job, and my wife and I went to dive into the consumer products industry.

Wow, congratulations to... Well, now look at you making a difference in there, and especially for... And educating people about psoriasis and... Can you go back for just a minute, just... I want you to get back to the products, but just about psoriasis, because you said you were in college when you started to get this arises, can you tell me a little bit about that? Because I think it's important to see this connection because you're helping people with what you have now, but about psoriasis, a... What is it?

So it's an autoimmune disorder. Causes inflamed the lesions. Really, my skin is replicating every three days, were the normal person's replicating every 28 days and left unchecked, it's chronic inflammation around your joints can lead to psoriatic arthritis, which occurs in a good portion of people with prolonged psoriasis, and it's obviously very vain people react... You differently because they see your skin... So for me, I went from a position of not really having self-confidence issues with my skin, people not accepting my check when I went to Walter, go to deposit my payroll check because she thought I might be contagious with something 'cause the psoriasis on my hands. So kind of that, that led to this, and I think the consumer products industry is very difficult to gain traction, you have to have some real purpose behind it, and so we've taken that purpose and really again, try to bring it to a larger mass audience, not just people with psoriasis, but also to people just were sensitive skin, and then we've been able to layer in performance-based ingredients to help with other challenges. Well, good for you. Why did you... Okay, so you talked a little bit about how this came. When I imagine you in your seaweed bath, and I see that it's actually a seaweed, and now you have this... Your product and your company.

So you've actually taken the sea weed and the source of it, but now you have them and you said C-balls is this... Tell me about that person. original product is our whole detox path, and it's fresh bladder exceed that we sustainably harvest self the coast of Maine now every spring, and that's it, we try it on a farm and then place it directly into the bag that the consumer purchases. And we have this White mesh bag, so it's like a bath Tea, and we're taking sheet at a 35, 38 degree North Atlantic water, you put it into 110 degree bath water extracts and it's a unique experience, something that you'd get at sewed baseball in Ireland.

Wow, that's really amazing. Okay, so tell me a little bit... Let's go back to Ireland. You said his Northwest Highlands and its ladder rack. Is that what it is?

Yes, that changed your life. Obviously, that was an amazing period of time, why did you choose that seed over all the other types of cue to be the central ingredient for your product line?

So a few reasons, number one, that's what they were using at the spa is there, and I wanted to be authentic to it, to IT help me, and I helped all these people. So I over think it. And then three, we went to launch the company, one of our core values is to be Cocos IOS and everything that we do. And we were at my wife's friend's engagement party when we just quit our jobs and we're launching the business, and this lady next to us said, What do you guys do? We said, I was in finance, my wife was an attorney, and now we both quit or launching a seed-based personal care line. And she said, Oh, my uncle is a seaweed harvester in Maine.

And I said, They harvest. We did, man. She's like, Yeah, you should talk to him. And so called Tom and his team there, and they were able to get the same seaweed we could get from Ireland, but to a more sustainable or not have the carbon footprint that we were looking at from importing. And so from that standpoint, it really just aligned, and then bladder act itself is not an edible seaweed, and it's not quite as popular some of the other ones where there's a lot of pressure on the ecosystem, so from those standpoints, it really hit a lot of our criteria plus, it's beneficial for your skin.

Wow, amazing.

It's very serendipitous. Wasn't it?

Yes.

How much later do you have... You harvest in one year, so in 2016, we harvested about 6500 pounds this year, we'll probably are wiser to 7500 to 8000 pounds as the company grows, obviously we need more. However, there's over 200000 metric tons just in Casco Bay in Maine, and were one of the few people actually using it as a main ingredient, and it's sustainable regenerates within 36 months the same size or larger than we found it, and we're very cognizant of where we cut and how we do it, and by hand, but we only harvest in Maine June a certain time of the year, so we're not going out all the time, we do it in one fellow swoop, and then we store it properly and then use it throughout the year in our production. Okay, and that's what I was just gonna ask you about your storage where you store it here, so we stored in Maine, so we dry it on a farm, so very different to a lot of seaweed harvesters that kind of... He blessed their seaweed, 'cause they harvest throughout different times of the year by... As harvest thing, it's Altamont in May, in June, but it's also sunny out, so we can try it outside to about 80% moisture content, we keep it in large said containers that allow it to sustain til... We need it, and a lot of cultures. Seaweed, the longer it's kept... Actually, the better it is. So it's almost like wine. Wow, but did you ever see this in your future as you were growing up, never... I told me I was doing this site, you're crazy, although I got three older sisters, I got a wife, two little girls. So I guess I was destined to be selling personal care and skin care items, I guess... Is it a family of... Fair. Now it is. So two of my sister has helped us when we first launched, they were working the trade shows with us doing demos for us around the country, my daughters have grown up coming to natural products shows and learning about the products and everything, so it's... We're all in, that's great. Well, we have so much more to talk about, really great information and don't go anywhere. We will be right back. And stay with that. And welcome back to the mother's market radio show. And we wanna remind you that if you've missed any portion of today's show, you can find us on iTunes by searching mother's market or download the show from our website, mother's market dot com, click the link for radio and listen to the past shows, plus download our Healthy Recipes and money savings coupons, all available at mother's market dot com. And now back to our interview with seaweed bath co-founder, Adam Grossman, and we're talking about the benefits of seaweed, and Adam, your story is great, and just really interesting to see how you started and where you're going, it's all about the future of seed benefits, but what methods are used to ensure that we do sustainable and organic, so our set is certified organic, and we only harvest new growth in our beds, really leaving the deeper, more mature plants alone as they're really responsible for creating good span of new plants for years to come. So the way we go harvest, again, it's once a year, and we go out and we hand cut it, so bladder Act is found off the shoreline and strong title region, so when the tide is out, these little islands are actually exposed and so we go and we go cut, and as the tide comes in, we slowly get water up the knees or hips, and so we'll cut until we can leave, but we're very cognizant not to take too much from any given area to allow those deeper mature plants to regenerate the new growth around it... So we're consistently pruning the seaweed and allowing the blowing community to to re-Strengthen so we feel actually benefiting it.

Well, that's great as well. And if you type in Maine the industry into Google, the first article that comes up, it talks about mains, seaweed industry being a gold rush, and now is your company continues to grow, what steps are you taking to help support means coast and the sustainability of seaweed harvest? A... Well, it's funny 'cause when we first started that. It wasn't even a thought that it would be considered a gold rush, but means really the one last working coast lines we have in the US. So the main seaweed Council oversees this and they've really put procedures in place to prevent over-harvesting and really best practices for harvesting seaweed RCD bladder that we look at again, is not as widely used because it's not an edible seed, so we feel that step one is that we didn't pick a sea, that there's a lot of pressure on the community, but working with harvesting teams with Tom and his wife and making sure they do it in a sustainable manner by hand, being certified organic and drying it outside and not really having a waste factor... That's the probably the number one thing we have. No waste factor.

Well, that's good, and it's interesting to see how... Yes, the industry has grown and yeah, the different types of seed, what are some of the major benefits of later AC on skin and hair? And let's talk a little bit about the products that you offer.

Absolutely, so one of the cool things about growing our businesses when I started, I was arguing, I was trying the products, how was my skin reacting because I have very sensitive skin, as we've grown, we've been able to bring in some really leading experts in both skin health, as well as looking at natural ingredients may will identify what makes selenium but what other ingredients could complement it, so today, we've been able to take bladder AC or main ingredient, we use it in whole powdered next track form across our product line as a number one ingredient anti-inflammatory, we've been able to identify 65 minerals and nutrients, and it's extremely nutrient-rich, it's also anti-microbial, so bladder act itself is a very robust set, again, spending half its life in the water, half of it out, so you can imagine the unique properties it brings also has some protecting aspects, UV protection, which is kind of a burgeoning field with LGI and sewed in general.

So our products range from fresh whole seed in the bath, like we talked about, to powder ISE, which traps in essential oils combined with dead sea salt, and we created an extract with the powder, which we use in our body wash or shampoos or conditioners or scrubs, and across our entire 45 products, so 45 products, including you've mentioned the shampoos, the conditioners... Do you also sell sunscreen?

We don't sell sunscreen yet that you're... That are working on that in the future.

We really wanna bring innovation, right, so we look at ourselves as really the seaweed experts out there, and how we're gonna continue to push the envelope to bring something new to the market, anybody can launch a natural sunscreen, but if we can identify a type of seaweed that brings a new UV factor to the table, then we can differentiate. So there's over 25000 species of sweat and identified worldwide, and there's brown, green and red are the three classifications were really... As humanity, we've only started to scratch the surface of what they can do for humans, but topically and internally as well, so we believe we're on the forefront of research on that, so in your company, you just kind of touch it on something with just kind of educating us on the brown, green and red, do you have any biologist in your company to educate yourself?

So we've enlisted researchers who've scoured kind of all research articles, and a lot of them are coming at Japan, Canada, South Korea, and the main seed harvesting areas, the world, as well as Ireland, and so looking at that research and saying, Okay, what can be done? But you'd be surprised how little has been done on skin care versus agricultural feed and other uses of seaweed, but historically, people for thousands of years really have been documented to used whether in their diet or topically, and from what we can tell, see, We bad started really in Ireland, in 1912, and we're bringing that tradition to the modern market... Right. You're the pioneer in this. So you're making your way through, but you're using great research in there, you're bringing them on your team... Yeah, that's the really differentiator. It's not good enough to just be natural, you need to actually provide a benefit to people, and that's what consumers are expecting, and so that's where the scientific research that we've been able to bring and really be able to attract world-renowned scientists to our cause have changed the ball game for us.

Why should see we-based products be a part of the consumer's everyday routine, all the benefits, we've talked about nutrient Rehan inflammatory, it's a heavy molecule that sits on top of the skin to great key later, so takes heavy metals, attracts heavy metals to... It prevents them from an inner body Aidan, so there's a plethora of great things that it does for you topically, and also internally as well, and that's why so many cultures around the world eat it as well as put it on their skin and... What untapped potential do you see still from the main sea weed and consumer beauty care products?

I see tremendous untapped potential from what I see out there, we're the only national brand that puts main seen on every label, we are trying to bring recognition to the harvest, there's a main... Ensure that they have a good livelihood, the EPA put a lot of restrictions and quotas on the fisheries up there, so there's a lot of out-of-work fishermen that started this small seaweed revival, and so we're supporting that in any way that we can, and if that's by putting main seed on our labels and putting us in of a higher quality, then that's a small part where you can do... To support them.

That's great. Now, as Botero, the only topic, would you using your products or are there other types of say that you use or you plan to use in the future?

So bladder acts, the main seed we use today, I can tell you that we've identified other seeds that will be bringing to the market an innovative forms in the future, and again, we're kind of scouring to see what's out there, what ingredient can we bring that makes sense. For our values, being eco-conscious, sustainable organic, that also provides a unique benefit, that one that we can't provide the consumer today.

And what's next for the seaweed Bath company expansion? We've been fortunate to have a lot of fans and consumers that are really driven the growth word-of mouth, we haven't really done any marketing, and because of their passion and love for our small little business, we've been able to take step-by-step growth to get into other retailers to expand our product line, so we see expanding our existing line, but also furthering our research to hopefully do something truly groundbreaking in the future.

Well, that's exciting as well. And as you mentioned, when you say you're scouring, are you looking for the different types of seaweeds, maybe out on the west coast, the different... Completely areas.

So we start online with research, any research article that's out there that has been tested on Lita humans, with any type of Alger cento PIC ally we've read and we've looked at, and a lot of this, again, is not coming from the US, it's coming from overseas, where it's a bigger part of their culture.

So that's step one, and then step two is, can we do it within our existing supply chain to continue to support them? So certain seeds are only found in the Caribbean, some are only found in the Pacific. So what can we do in Maine that also makes sense for us, so we're not sourcing from areas that, again, expand our carbon footprint, and what are people saying that your consumers that have purchased into... I'm using with the C company, and I would imagine a lot of people in your psoriasis group. And what have they been saying?

So really, what we found was that he has a much broader appeal than psoriasis, so initially came to the market, really talked a lot about the troubled skin, but our core customer base doesn't have troubled skin, instead they have this... In a love of the ocean.

So they live in Nebraska, Texas or San Diego. We found that the common trait is a love of the ocean and love of the environment, and so we're really speaking to them trying to take that mental inventory of a great day at the beach and how their skin felt, how their mind fell and bring it home with them, and that's a really good point because you think about, Oh, it's a great day at the beach, but do you wanna smell like the beach... So you think about seaweed and people think, Oh, maybe it might smell or I don't wanna put sin on my face, but... What is it? Probably smells. I look at your packaging and I think it looks beautiful, and I live here on the West Coast here in Southern California, but to other people... And then you think about Maine, and I think, Oh, that's beautiful. But maybe I think about what C looks like and it's maybe not so beautiful, so how do you come around that so few things. Right. So that's a question we get. Does it smell like seaworthy? Small exceed its Fresh sea weed or powder. I see we... And it's substantial, it's in there as a main ingredient, but we are cognizant of that interviews, pure essential oil blends across the line to overcome that, so you're not gonna smell any seed in the liquid products or bar soaps either. And then as far as the look of seaweed bladder Act is actually very beautiful, if you go on our website, you can kinda check it out, we also have a video that shows our harvesting process. So I was gonna ask you about that. Yeah, and so there are some ugly sweets out there, but when you get crystal clear clean water that's cold and you see what the seaweeds look like. It's pretty incredible.

Well, congratulations. It looks like you can only go up from here. And things have been working in your favor, so... Congrats, thank you.

Thanks so much for your time and some great advice, and in the meantime, you can get more information on Adam on the website, it is We bathe dot com, and we look forward to your next visit.

Thank you very much, have a great day.

Thanks, thanks for listening to the mother's market radio show, and for shopping at mother's market, the advice and informational content does not necessarily represent the views of mother's market and kitchen, mother's recommends consulting your health professional for your personal medical condition,