Seaweed

It’s nobbly and ends up stuck to your leg when your trying to make a cool-as-Cameron-Diaz exit from the sea. So the last place you’d want to plaster the plant is all over your body, right? Wrong. Seaweed is a bit of a ledge! The Romans used this super-strength anti-inflammatory and antioxidant to treat rashes, the Victorians slapped it on sprained ankles and, 40 years ago, US scientist Max Huber used it to make healing balm for rocket-fuel burns, which we now know as the mega-luxe cream, Crème de la Mer. “Seawater’s packed with minerals and amino acids, so seaweed, which feeds on it, absorbs it all,” says herbalist Ed Berger.

WASHING UP THIS SUMMER
The no-surgery facelift... Skin-maestro Emma Hardie has stuffed her new Amazing Face Natural Lift & Sculpt Face Plumping Serum £42, full of seaweed-derived antioxidants to tone skin and smooth wrinkles.