Spirulina for Your Skin: How This Superfood Can Help You Achieve Your Best Skin Yet

If you look on the back of your most-trusted skin care and beauty products, you may notice that some of the standout ingredients have equal benefits to your diet. To state the obvious: That’s because a lot of what we eat can also have major benefits to our skin. Case in point? A superfood known as spirulina. Made popular by dietary supplements and smoothie powders, spirulina has quickly made its way into some of the most effective skin care products—and with good reason.

The Health Benefits of Spirulina

According to Paula Simpson, holistic nutritionist, biochemist and Co-Founder of Zea Skin Solutions, “The most common species of blue-green algae found in supplements are from the Arthrospira genus (collectively referred to as spirulina).” And the reason the so-called superfood is used in health and beauty formulas is not just because of its green color—though that is a result of its powerful components—it’s because the blue-green algae “provides a rich source of nutrients, including protein, complex carbohydrates, lipids, vitamins A, E K, beta-carotene and B-complex,” notes Simpson.

In addition, spirulina contains a variety of beauty (and health) benefiting minerals and free fatty acids, such as “iron, manganese, zinc, sodium, potassium, magnesium, copper and gamma-linolenic acid,” she adds. On top of all that, spirulina can be a great source of antioxidants and has the ability to detox the body thanks to its chlorophyll and carotenes.

That said, you don’t have to plug your nose and down a green smoothie to reap the beauty benefits of spirulina. Take a look at some of our favorite products formulated with the superfood ahead and how it can help your skin.