I have to admit that the idea for this week’s column comes from watching “Buy It Now,” a new show about competitors pitching their products in hopes for a spot in Amazon’s “Buy It Now” shop, with my teenage girls.

One of the products pitched was a line of skin care products that included marine algae as one of the many ingredients. This sparked a discussion about skin care in general and the many varieties out there — all designed to entice those seeking that perfect glow to try out something new.

While I’m obviously a skeptic, I’m also quite curious as to why certain ingredients are chosen and if and how they actually “work.” While Maine isn’t usually on the cutting edge of the latest trend, when it comes to skin care, there are some neat products out there that are pretty innovative, and they take advantage of the variety of sea life available in Maine.

The biggest category of these products are those that include seaweed. Seaweed has a number of health benefits both when eaten and when used topically. The biggest one that is the most obvious to me is its ability to absorb water. Think of a dried piece of seaweed, like the kind you would buy to use in a soup stock, and imagine it 1,000 times heavier. That’s how much weightier a single piece of seaweed can be once it has soaked up the seawater around it.

Looking at my dry, wintery hands, I am compelled by the power of the moisture-attracting power of seaweed to try a cream made from it. In addition, seaweed has lots of antioxidants that are apparently good at slowing down the aging process and vitamin C that is said to make skin look brighter. I can attest to the anti-inflammatory properties, another benefit of seaweed, from my seaside experiments with my girls squirting out the “goo” inside the tips of seaweed fronds to make a “healing potion” which, to my surprise, actually worked on barnacle-scraped feet and sunburned arms.

There are a number of local companies making everything from creams and oils to soaps and scrubs with a variety of locally grown and harvested seaweed types. Cold Current Kelp is one of these small Maine businesses. The company, based in Kittery, which already produces Kelp Glow Facial Oil, recently received Small Business Innovation Research funds through the USDA to continue its research into refining their extraction technique using non-toxic chemicals to derive bioactive compounds from sugar kelp.

The company is owned by two women, one a marine biologist by background and the other an entrepreneur. It’s exciting to see the effort they are putting into the research behind their products. There are many other Maine-based companies making great products, including Westbrook-based Planet Botanicals and Maine Coast Sea Vegetables, which makes edible seaweed products as well as products like their Seaweed Dream Cream.

Perhaps more unusual than the suite of products utilizing seaweeds are those that utilize lobster as an ingredient — lobster blood, to be exact. Marin Skincare is an innovative company that works with Luke’s Lobster to utilize a byproduct from their processing facility in Saco. They are able to extract glycoprotein, which occurs in the lobster’s circulatory fluid, to use in their creams and lip balms. The glycoprotein is said to have anti-inflammatory properties that are very effective for conditions like eczema, a condition suffered by one of the company’s founders, which led to the development of this unique product line.

If you’re looking for a unique gift for someone in your family this holiday season, now you know a few options for something soothing and moisturizing as we head into the dry depths of Maine winter. It’s a good way to support Maine businesses that utilize sustainable ingredients from the sea.

Susan Olcott is the director of strategic partnerships at Maine Coast Fishermen’s Association.