If you’re an unprofessional beauty junkie like me, you will have most certainly heard of collagen and most likely know a little about it. If you are not familiar with what collagen is and why it is good for your skin, keep reading. I’ve mentioned this a couple of times, but brands really are throwing around all the technical and scientific words for the ingredients which to most of us are just beauty jargon.
I’m going to talk a little about what collagen is, why we need it, why it is in our skincare and who needs it.
What is Collagen?
Collagen occurs throughout the body but especially in the skin, bones and connective tissues. Skin is the body’s largest organ! Not all organs are internal like your heart or lungs. Some people can have as much as 22 square feet of it. So we know we need it and we all have it so what exactly is it?
Collagen is a hard, insoluble and fibrous protein which makes up 1/3 of the protein in our bodies. Most collagens are molecules which are packed together to make long fibrils. These act as the supporting structures for cells to bind to, giving our skin strength and elasticity. Collagens are strong and flexible. The molecule is known for its elasticity, and gram for gram collagen fibrils are stronger than steel.
Why Do we Need It?
Collagen plays a very important role in the skin. Collagens can be found in the skin’s middle layer, it forms a network for cells to grow on and it plays a role in restoring and replacing dead cells.
As we age our body produces less of it. Our skin becomes less strong, less elastic and wrinkles start to form. Women experience a significant decrease in the production of it after the menopause.
This incredible molecule can be used for many other applications such as skin fillers, wound dressings, tissue regeneration and help repairing damaged blood vessels or connective tissues.
Do We Need Collagen in Skincare?
So our bodies naturally produce collagen; does that mean we don’t need it in skincare?
Well actually the problem with collagens is that the molecules are too large to penetrate the top layer of the skin to reach the dermis (middle layer). So creams which claim to increase your levels cannot do that directly. But they may contain other ingredients which can penetrate the skin and ultimately help stimulate the production of collagens.
Those ingredients are amino acids, copper peptides and growth factors.
One of my favourite skincare ranges is the Elemis pro-collagen range. You can read my opinions on the pro-collagen cleansing balm here.
