Bathing Journal: A Seaweed Spa World at Smithereen Farm: bathe with what's around you

Almost to Canada, Smithereen Farm is less than 5 miles from Reversing Falls State Park, a prehistoric-feeling part of the eastern seaboard where every 6 hours there are tides up to 23 ft.

At the lowest point, a small kelp bed, along with many other seaweeds, appears. Reversing Falls is a rare spot in that you can harvest seaweed by hand. Harvesters watch the tides and go out in the early morning, wearing waders or just water shoes, carefully gathering the seaweed to be dried. (Smithereen even makes food products from it.)

Like all bathing traditions, the process is defined by what is around you, not what you buy. When you really think about it, it makes sense: in Lithuania you bring birch trees, in Korea mugwort, in Ireland peat, in Vietnam lemongrass, and so in Down East Maine we use seaweed.

Seaweed has recently been all over the news as a superfood, and similarly, it is a super bath product. Containing polysaccharides (basically sugars), it helps hydrate the skin and soothe inflammation.

As I picked up the seaweed that had been harvested early that morning and dropped it into the bath, I felt the goo and knew it had to be good. The salty smell, a familiar scent of the ocean, almost made me want to lick it. Its color was a deep amber brown, more like amber than black, and the gel coating its surface made it feel very much alive, almost like an alien creature waiting to greet me. As I watched the seaweed float on top of the water and make beautiful patterns, I was drawn to getting in. Why not have a bath that imitates the ocean that shapes the land we live on?

I think about this a lot. I can't go through a day without an Ozempic ad or an ad for the best, most effective skincare or pill that will change my life, and I can't help but wonder: what was beauty before this? Before we were expected to buy beauty? What did our ancestors use to feel beautiful, to feel at home in their body, and have some fun?

And so this time, I decided: let’s take things a bit further (albeit using a blender, which is not an ancient tool). On one of our spa days, workshop participants and I blended together fresh seaweed, green apples from the orchard, and herbs from around the garden. One batch had honey, one didn’t.

Smearing this green goo onto my face, I kept making jokes that I was reclaiming the idea of beauty. It means not being afraid to get messy, maybe look a little like Shrek, or a bit surprising.

So this is all to say: don’t forget that we don’t have to buy things to be beautiful, or to have a “spa moment.” Sometimes you just gotta smear what’s around you on your face! (Maybe not if it’s not pleasant, ha!)

I was told by others that I was glowing, but most importantly, I felt that I was shining as well.