Let’s get right down to it. Collagen skincare products cannot increase collagen levels in your skin! Collagen is a very large molecule, much too large to penetrate your skin barrier. Even when it is “chopped up” to form Hydrolyzed Collagen (aka collagen peptides), it’s still too large. So… why is it in so many skincare products? There are a few reasons for this. Collagen is actually a pretty good humectant (like Hyaluronic Acid), and it draws water to your skin. But, I think that the primary reason that collagen is a popular skincare ingredient is this: uninformed skincare consumers. A lot of people see the word “collagen” on a skincare product and immediately assume that the product will boost their skin’s collagen levels. Sadly, this is not actually the case. Below, I will go more in-depth on what collagen does and how we can actually boost our skin’s collagen levels!
Before we get started, I just want to remind you all that I am not a dermatologist, scientist or skincare professional. I’m just a skincare nerd who’s slightly better than average at doing research on the internet. Feel free to take everything I say with a grain of salt and follow up with your own research!
What is collagen and what does it do?
Collagen is a protein, in fact it’s the most common protein in our bodies. As I mentioned above, collagen is a large protein. Soluble collagen has an average weight of 300,000 Daltons (Daltons is a measure of molecular weight). When it’s “chopped up” to form Hydrolyzed Collagen, it’s average size is about 12,000 Daltons. For reference, the weight of a single water molecule is 18 Daltons. And our skin can generally only absorb substances with a weight less than 500 Daltons. Thus, topical collagen mostly stays on the skin’s surfaces and acts as a humectant.
Now, let’s take a quick look at a definition of collagen from a biology textbook to get an idea of what collagen does inside of our bodies and our skin:
Collagen is the major insoluble fibrous protein in the extracellular matrix and in connective tissue. In fact, it is the single most abundant protein in the animal kingdom. There are at least 16 types of collagen, but 80 – 90 percent of the collagen in the body consists of types I, II, and III. These collagen molecules pack together to form long thin fibrils of similar structure…. The various collagens and the structures they form all serve the same purpose, to help tissues withstand stretching.
Lodish H, Berk A, Zipursky SL, et al. Molecular Cell Biology. 4th edition. New York: W. H. Freeman; 2000.
Wow, so cool! So collagen helps our tissues, including our skin, withstand stretching. It’s one of the things that makes skin look plump and bouncy when we’re younger. However, as we age, we begin to lose collagen. After age 20, the overall collagen content of our skin has been shown to decrease by about 1% per year. This is one of the factors that contributes to wrinkles, loss of firmness, loss of elasticity, and overall skin ageing. This may sound scary, but it’s totally normal, and there is nothing wrong with a loss of collagen and skin ageing. But, if you would like to slow down this process and possibly restore some of your skin’s former elasticity, it’s worth looking into ways to boost your skin’s collagen production.
How can I boost my collagen levels?
Even though topical collagen cannot boost your skin’s collagen levels, there are a few other ingredients that can! I am going to start off by sharing the most well-researched ingredients for boosting collagen production. And then I will list some less well-researched but still somewhat promising ingredients that I think are still worth looking into!
Well-Researched:
Retinoids (primarily Tretinoin)
Vitamin C (primarily l-ascorbic acid)
Glycolic Acid (at high concentrations)
Sunscreen (UV rays degrade collagen and sunscreen helps prevent this)
Less Research:
Peptides (but not all peptides!)
Niacinamide
EGF
Bakuchiol
Collagen Supplements
There are even more ingredients than the ones that I listed that could potentially boost collagen production. However, as far as well researched ingredients go, I think that retinoids, vitamin C, glycolic acid, and sunscreen are the top four. Of these four, I personally think that the retinoids and sunscreen are the best options. Vitamin C as l-ascorbic acid is unstable, especially if it’s not formulated properly. It is still a great ingredient, it’s just a bit tricky to use, at least in my experience. While glycolic acid is also an awesome ingredient, it’s most likely to boost collagen levels at high concentrations (like as a chemical peel), which can be very irritating and may not be suitable for all skin types.
Tretinoin (the most well-researched retinoid for anti-ageing) can also be irritating and tricky to use. However, it is more stable than l-ascorbic acid and can still be effective for anti-ageing and boosting collagen production at low concentrations. Tretinoin also has other benefits such as preventing acne and overall increased skin radiance. That’s why it’s my top pick! Finally, I would highly recommend using sunscreen on a daily basis as it’s the best way to prevent additional degradation of your skin’s existing collagen.
Conclusions
Topical collagen in skincare products has some benefits for skin hydration, but it does not increase the collagen levels in our skin. If you are looking to increase collagen in your skin, you can try using retinoids, vitamin C, and/or glycolic acid. Sunscreen is also essential because the sun’s UV rays degrade collagen. My personal favorite ingredient for promoting collagen production is Tretinoin, a powerful and well-researched retinoid (it’s prescription only in the US). There are other promising ingredients such as peptides that may help boost collagen, but research on these is more limited.
Finally, I just want to follow up with a reminder. Even if you use all the collagen-boosting ingredients in the world, your skin is still going to age and you are still going to get wrinkles eventually. Loss of collagen is normal. Ageing is normal. And decreased collagen is also just one of the factors at play in skin ageing. Thus, it’s important to have realistic expectations for your skincare products and for your own body.
If you enjoyed this article, be sure to check out my other Skinqueries posts where I delve into common skincare questions!
- Damaged Skin Barrier 101 and the Best Barrier Repair Products
- Do I Need to Apply (and Reapply) Sunscreen Indoors?
- Causes of Skin Redness and What Skincare Can and Can’t Do to Help
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Sources & Additional Reading
Anti-aging and Sunscreens: Paradigm Shift in Cosmetics
Increased in vivo collagen synthesis and in vitro cell proliferative effect of glycolic acid
Molecular Cell Biology. 4th edition.
Does Collagen Skincare Actually Make Your Skin Plumper?
Hydrolyzed Collagen—Sources and Applications
Incidecoder: Hydrolyzed Collagen
Why does skin wrinkle with age? What is the best way to slow or prevent this process?
Role of topical peptides in preventing or treating aged skin
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