Lydia Sarfati and Repêchage:
The Original Seaweed Authority

At the heart of all the Repêchage products is our rich pure, exclusive seaweed filtrate. The Repêchage Pure Filtrate of Seaweed complex is derived by a proprietary extraction method that creates a fluid containing all the rich seaweed phyto-nutrients in their most potent form.

Why Seaweed?

My personal commitment in creating the most beautiful products that are effective and produce results really came from my own personal experience with the sea.

Lydia circa 1977 at the opening of the Klisar Skin Care Center in New York City

Repêchage was born from my travels in the 1970’s. In Israel, my attention was drawn to the flavors and smells of the country’s desert vegetables and fruits. I discovered the farming community was using seaweed as a bio stimulant and fertilizer. In a dry climate, farmers were able to produce an abundance of fruits and vegetables.

After meeting with seaweed harvesters and marine biologists all over the world it became evident that seaweed was the most complete and natural source for health, beauty, and wellness, and was going to be what I focused on with skin care.

The seaweed plant has no roots so it feeds through osmosis, absorbing minerals and vitamins from the seawater. Because of its feeding process, seaweed becomes a dense concentration of vitamins, minerals, trace elements, macro elements, phytohormones and amino acids. I discovered two species, Laminaria digitata and Ascophyllum Nodosum, which were both complete sources of nutrients, containing 42 trace elements and minerals, 18 amino acids, 12 vitamins, phyto hormones, and natural anti-oxidant material such as phlorotannins, sulfated polysaccharides, fucosterol and fucoxanthins.

C-Serum, the Original Seaweed Serum

It was from this research that I created my first professional treatment, the Four Layer Facial®. Named the Facial of the Century by Cosmopolitan UK, this ground-breaking facial incorporated layer upon layer of seaweed and minerals from both the earth and the sea.

The Four Layer Facial circa 1980 and the Four Layer Facial in 2015

Top editors and clients found that nothing made skin more luminous and hydrated. One of my first at-home products was C-Serum Seaweed Filtrate. C-Serum®, short for cytoserum, is our special seaweed Laminaria Digitata filtrate, the first layer of the Four Layer Facial, and it has been my secret for perfect skin since 1980.

The C-Serum Seaweed Filtrate, circa 1980 and the C-Serum Seaweed Filtrate today

Seaweed drying on ropes on the Maine coast. Photo courtesy of Repêchage

Or, seaweed can be grown on ropes suspended in seawater, harvested by boat along floating lines and gathered into nets or large storage bins on harvesting boats. Crops are harvested over a period of a month or two until temperature conditions limit the growth of the crop. The seaweed is initially stored in wet chambers then dried at temperatures that minimize degradation of bioreactive compounds

Most manufacturers of seaweed-based products use the oven drying method of processing. This method yields a product, which contains trace elements but may be deficient in vitamins and amino acids that are heat sensitive.This is where Repêchage makes all the difference. Once dried, the seaweed is packed and sent to our ISO 9001 certified manufacturing facility. There, by an exclusive proprietary method, Repêchage chemists expel the intercellular fluid from the fibrous seaweed tissue while retaining the activity of the vitamins, minerals, trace elements, and amino acids, processed into the pure filtrate in small artisanal batches. You know when it’s a filtrate day---the whole facility smells like a day at the beach!

This filtrate is then properly refrigerated and stored for six months to allow the liquid to reach its full potency. Then, it is incorporated into the Repêchage products until the next harvest arrives. Nothing is purer or more effective at helping skin look and feel smoother and softer.