All botanicals for Seed to Skin products are grown in seed form, and around 50 percent directly on the Borgo Santo Pietro estate. \u2018I won\u2019t grow anything that won\u2019t naturally thrive here,\u2019 explains Thottrup. \u2018If an ingredient has better bioavailability in India, I\u2019ll source it from there.\u2019 But that doesn\u2019t stop her from trying. She recently had success growing ashwagandha, a herb native to Asia and Africa that is known for reducing stress-induced inflammation. The rest is outsourced to partner farms, carefully vetted so the brand can retain 100 percent supply chain control.<\/p>\n
In the lab, formulas are led by biotechnology \u2013 a process that can be thought of as amplifying nature rather than replacing it. In a 30-day clinical trial, a routine using hero moisturiser The Cure, The Alche\u2019Mist serum spray and The Midnight Miracle night oil delivered a 30 percent increase in the skin\u2019s natural collagen production \u2013 a result that speaks directly to skincare\u2019s current most coveted goal.<\/p>\n
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Borgo Santo Pietro in Tuscany, where Seed to Skin has a working farm and laboratory<\/p>\n
Among Iceland\u2019s volcanic landscape sits Bioeffect<\/a>\u2018s outdoor barley fields, where epidermal growth factors (EGF) are grown from barley for its products. These proteins are an under-sung dermal powerhouse. They are our cells\u2019 very own personal trainers, acting as messengers to activate different processes in the skin, like chivvying collagen production or soothing inflammation. They occur naturally in our skin, but due to regulations, human growth factors are not permitted in skincare. The alternative, it turns out, is plants.<\/p>\n The environment in which they are grown is key. Iceland naturally benefits from some of the purest rainwater in the world, and along with the mineral-rich volcanic soil, Bioeffect sidesteps one of the industry\u2019s quiet problems: much EGF on the market is produced via bacteria or yeast, a process that generates endotoxins (byproducts that can irritate skin). Bioeffect\u2019s method produces none of them.<\/p>\n While some ingredients are grown in controlled environments for a specific purpose, others are simply harvested where they thrive \u2013 and are all the more potent for it. Take seaweed, which needs to be harvested and cut back to encourage regrowth. On the Isle of Lewis in the Outer Hebrides, mineral and antioxidant-rich seaweed is harvested by ishga<\/a> for its organic skincare<\/a>. Hebridean variants fucus serratus and fucus vesiculosus feature in its new Hydra+ face and hair oil<\/a>, delivering natural abundance of antioxidants, vitamins and hydrating compounds from a single wild-harvested ingredient.<\/p>\n In New Zealand, Katey Mandy founded Raeso<\/a> in 2022 having grown up on a farm, which taught her to see plants as intelligent ecosystems. As such, she is scrupulous as to where her ingredients are sourced. \u2018We choose botanicals not only for efficacy, but for the environments that have shaped their resilience,\u2019 says Mandy. Raeso\u2019s alpine botanicals \u2013 such as red marine algae \u2013 are sourced from New Zealand\u2019s South Island, where harsher growing conditions create more resilient plants. Antarctic currents also enrich the waters with minerals, creating extraordinary stress-adapted actives.<\/p>\n Seed to Skin founder Jeanette Thottrup (far left) and her production team<\/p>\n Back in Britain<\/a>, the country\u2019s largest farming business has turned its engineering-first approach to agriculture to fuel the creation of haircare. The man behind it? Sir James Dyson. \u2018We spent over a decade experimenting and investing in precision farming,\u2019 he says. In the process, his passion turned to haircare. The Lincolnshire farm\u2019s 800,000 sunflowers produce nutritious oils for Dyson<\/a>\u2018s Omega range to fortify and strengthen hair, and each year 2,500 tonnes of spring barley produced in Oxfordshire goes into the new Amino leave-in scalp bubble treatments. \u2018We\u2019ve harnessed barley\u2019s amino acid profile to support scalp barrier function and hydration,\u2019 says Dyson.<\/p>\n And at Heckfield Place<\/a> in Hampshire \u2013 the brand C&TH named Responsible Skincare Brand of the Year in its Future Icons Awards<\/a> \u2013 Wildsmith<\/a> is biodynamically farming ingredients for its formulas. On Heckfield Home Farm, roses and chamomile grown in the modest market garden produce hydrolats (plant-based waters collected during the steam distillation of essential oils), which are used in the brand\u2019s face mists as well as its new hand and body wash.<\/p>\n![\"Seed](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/1784040130_141_1-17.jpg\"\/)
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