everything you wanted to know about sea buckthorn berry
we’re shining the spotlight on sea buckthorn berry, our signature superfruit ingredient that’s in nearly every single product we make. so why is it our secret sauce? it’s crucial for improving hair strength, providing nourishment and moisture replenishment—and that’s really just the beginning. this bright orange berry may be small, but its benefits are many and worth exploring. so, let’s dive in.
in this article:
- it’s versatile:
- it’s a nutritional powerhouse for hair:
- it has nicknames aplenty:
- it’s multifunctional, too:
- it’s tart to the taste:
- how do we source sea buckthorn?
here, we’ve rounded up 5 facts that give sea buckthorn berry its superior quality and potent efficacy:
it’s versatile:
though it’s known as one of earth’s most omega-rich resources, sea buckthorn berry is native only to Siberia and parts of the Himalayas. in China, it has been used in traditional medicine for more than a thousand years and has only really gained popularity in North America within the last decade. although it may sound like it, sea buckthorn berry does not actually come from the sea, but rather, from the mountains. amika’s co-founder and creative director’s childhood experiences in Russia first led her to discover the powers of sea buckthorn, and she later returned to this lipid-rich ingredient when formulating our hair care and styling products. today, 11 different amika collections are all powered by superfruit sea buckthorn to help keep hair shiny, manageable, smooth, soft and strong.
it’s a nutritional powerhouse for hair:
shininess! smoothness! strength! sea buckthorn fruit is essentially every hair care lover’s dream as it conditions and strengthens like no other. rich in antioxidant and omega fatty acids, this superfruit is 70x stronger than vitamin C (that’s more than an orange!) and contains 3x times more vitamin A than a carrot. and it doesn’t stop there: sea buckthorn contains 190 biologically active compounds that nourish the body’s cells—this protects the hair and skin against free radical damage and the natural aging process. a longtime fan favorite, soulfood nourishing mask is rich in antioxidants and omega fatty acids to keep your mane healthy and happy, and it’s all thanks to buckthorn fruit.
it has nicknames aplenty:
you can also call it seaberry, obliphica, or Hippophae rhamnoides L. the latter—and perhaps the hardest to pronounce—is Latin and loosely translates to“shiny horse,” because the ancient Greeks fed sea buckthorn berry to their horses which resulted in glossy, strong manes. it's also been said that sea buckthorn berry was a favorite food of Pegasus, the divine winged horse of Greek mythology. whether it’s myth or legend, buckthorn fruit must be a pretty powerful berry if it gave Pegasus the ability to fly!
it’s multifunctional, too:
when it comes to sea buckthorn, its list of hair benefits is long, but the merits of sea buckthorn go far beyond hair health alone.
in addition to restoring essential lipids and keeping hair protected and nourished, sea buckthorn fruit promotes heart health and helps prevent heart disease, protects against diabetes, strengthens the immune system, manages blood pressure, and supports a healthy liver. no wonder it’s called a “miracle plant”. it can be compounded into many forms, from beauty products to supplements, and into sea buckthorn oil.
it’s tart to the taste:
technically, the flavor-packed sea buckthorn berry can be eaten raw, but it's super tart. as a food, it is often found in juices, marmalades, sauces, or even baked into a cake. the taste is likened to a mix of passionfruit and pineapple, but minus the sweetness. it’s bold, surprising, and packed with a lot more robust complexity than one might expect—a lot like sea buckthorn’s wide-ranging and potent benefits.
like we said, nearly every product we formulate features high quality and always-efficacious sea buckthorn. ignite your superfruit soul with some of these nourishing, hair-loving favorites:
how do we source sea buckthorn?
as part of our mission toward a more sustainable future, we started examining all points of our business, including ingredients. sea buckthorn seemed like the best place to start since we infuse it into each and every one of our products. to source sea buckthorn, we work with a certified-organic farm located in the Tibetan Plateau that promotes more sustainable harvesting and offers environmental protection measures, while also working to support the local economy. this ensures that every drop is as pure and powerful as possible, while helping to protect and restore the environment.
you can read more about our signature superfruit sea buckthorn berry here.