MEET OUR NEWEST WITLOVER, ROSALIN KUIPER!

We are so happy to announce that professional sailor and ocean activist Rosalin Kuiper has joined the Witlof Skincare Team 🩵 

Since she started to sail offshore, Rosalin has experienced first -hand what impact we have on our oceans. During The Ocean Race, her team eventually found more ropes, plastic or non-natural materials than saw different types of animals. This has made Rosalin motivated to contribute to a healthier and cleaner ocean.

How did you start sailing?

I started sailing at the age of 6 and I always felt attracted to boats and everything on the water. After a few years, I started practicing other sports, hockey and athletics at national level. When I was 18, I traveled through Australia and got a job as a sailor on a boat. When I came back, I decided that from that moment I wanted to be a competition sailor, a button went around and my life changed. I made a seven-year plan and sailed as many races as possible to make this dream reality.

You are a strong supporter of protecting our oceans and bringing attention to the microplastics. Have you always had this in mind or only when you started sailing?

I started sailing when I was six, so I wasn't so busy with this mission then. You understand that pieces of plastic in the water are not good for the fish you see in the water, but of course you do not yet understand what impact it has on a global scale. Since I started sailing more offshore, I realized more and more how dependent we are on our ocean and what impact we have as a person. My eyes only really opened for me when I sailed around the world in the Ocean Race in 2023. Half of the times we saw something in the water, it was not animals, but plastic or ropes or other non-natural materials. It was a shocking experience and it made me enormously motivated to contribute to a cleaner and healthier ocean. The ocean is so beautiful!

A few years ago you participated in the Ocean Race and you took scientific equipment to take microplastics samples. What was it like to see with your own eyes the amount of microplastics in the oceans?

During The Ocean Race 2023, every boat had scientific equipment on board. A "microplastic unit" or an "Ocean Pack". The data we collect is unique because we go to the most remote places in the world, such as the Southern Ocean, a place where no other ship is. We collect ocean data such as the salt content of the sea surface, the temperature, partial carbon dioxide pressure and the level of dissolved oxygen. In addition, we collect microplastic languages. By analyzing the data we collect, we see that the health of the oceans visibly deteriorates. To give you an insight: The microplastics concentrations in the water near the country were up to 18 times higher than 2018. With all our measurements around the world we found microplastics in our oceans.

As a sailor you constantly travel over the sea. What influence does it have on a boat on your skin?

Life on the boat has a major impact on your entire body and especially on your skin. Performance has our highest priority and that is why we get our nutrients mainly from light packaging with freeze-dried meals and energy bars. We also make our drinking water from salt sea water through a filter system. Certain minerals and vitamins that you get enough on land must be supplemented, but we often have a shortage of that. In addition, your skin is permanently moist and salt and permanent sun exposure has a major impact. With damp wipes we try to keep ourselves clean and sometimes we take a salty shower. For over 10 years I have been looking for good products that protect my skin and hair against these influences from within.

The products of Witlof Skincare have visibly improved my skin. I use the sunscreen (Nourishing Day Cream SPF30) every day, and at the end of the day I use the Cleansing Mousse and Regenerating Oil Serum To hydrate. Because of the small package we can take the products with us, since we can only take a few kilos of personal items on board.

Finally: what does Clean Beauty mean for you?

For me, Clean Beauty means products with natural and pure ingredients without unnecessary additives.