We know we need collagen and we know it’s good for us, but what exactly does it do for our body and our skin? Maybe it’s the fact that I’m about to enter the next era of my life this year with my 30th birthday coming up, or maybe it’s just a sudden awareness of being a little more healthy.
Either way, I’ve started to pay more attention to collagen and I’ve noticed the abundance of skin care products that have collagen in their content. This got me asking myself, what exactly does collage do for us? I know it’s supposed to help with firmer skin – but how does it do that and is that really the only benefit?
Let’s understand Collagen a little better, its benefits and why it’s so good for our skin.
Image: harpersbazaar.com
What is Collagen?
Collagen is the most common protein in the human body. It is what is responsible for giving skin elasticity, hair its strength, and connective tissue its ability to hold everything in place. In fact, the collagen protein makes up 30% of the total protein in the body, and 70% of the protein in the skin!
The body’s natural collagen production declines with age and many modern lifestyle factors (like stress, poor diet, etc) can also decrease the body’s ability to make it.
How does Collagen benefit your skin?
According to livestrong.com, here are some benefits:
- Skin Elasticity
Image: webmd.com Collagen helps your skin maintain its elasticity. Tap your skin and feel how it bounces back as you slowly lift it upwards? That’s collagen helping it maintain that bounce. As you age, collagen tends to break down, and this reduces skin’s elasticity, resulting in wrinkles, saggy skin, age spots and similar effects of waging. Joy…
- Wrinkle Filler
When the production of collagen slows down, our skin elasticity deteriorates and signs of ageing being to show. Exposure to sun can compound the effects, resulting in fine lines, wrinkles and sagging. Collagen injections won’t prevent future wrinkles, but collagen is a popular wrinkle filler with effects that can last for months. Treatment is not permanent and will have to be repeated if you want to maintain your results.
Image: cosmetiqo.com - Scar Treatment
Collagen can also be used as a filler for scars, particularly those caused by acne. As you age and collagen breaks down, your skin can scar more easily – and the scars may be deeper and more pronounced. Injecting collagen into the scars can help minimize or even eliminate their appearance. As with wrinkle-fighting collagen injections, though, the results only last for a few months.
Do over the counter skin care products with Collagen help?
Like all collagen treatments, the effects are temporary. Essentially we need to feed our body with the right nutrients to boost collagen production – because it’s a supplement that works best from the inside.
However, topical application in skin care products can provide temporary effects and when used daily – it will almost be hard to tell at what point has the effect of collagen faded out. It has great moisturising properties and helps your water bind in your layers of skin.
– Cover Image: thefaceclinics.co.uk
Also read:
Beauty Benefits of Vitamin B-complex for Your Skin, Hair, and Health;
The Beauty Benefits of Vitamin C
