Collagen is the most plentiful protein found in your body and plays a vital role in the strength, structure and support of everything from your skin and tissues to your muscles and bones.
At Kenvue, we make it our mission to create skin and beauty products that help support important building blocks like collagen. When you have high levels of collagen, the result is smooth, firm-looking skin. But as you age, certain kinds of collagen naturally decrease and start to break down faster. The result? Wrinkles, fine lines and a loss of elasticity in the skin.
Some lifestyle habits like smoking, sun exposure, excess alcohol and a lack of exercise and quality sleep can also contribute to a decrease in collagen production. But fortunately, along with lifestyle changes, there are also expansive lines of health and beauty products to support collagen and provide a variety of benefits.
How collagen impacts skin health and beauty
Now that you know what collagen is, here’s how it impacts the health of your skin and ways it can be included in your daily beauty routine.
Improves skin hydration
The peptides in collagen are made up of particular hydration structures, and many studies suggest that increasing the amount of collagen in your skin through oral collagen supplementation will consequently increase the amount of hydration in your skin.
Benefits skin elasticity
As one of the main proteins in your body, collagen supports connective tissues and helps the skin to retain its elasticity so that it doesn’t appear loose and sagging. Science has shown that the use of oral supplements with collagen hydrolysate can improve skin elasticity, helping give it more structure and strength.
Gives hair volume and texture
Collagen can also help with your hair: Try OGX® Thick & Full + Biotin & Collagen Volumizing Shampoo and OGX® Thick & Full + Biotin & Collagen Conditioner for up to 72 hours of volume and body. With Lipi Pro Shield™ Technology, the formula for both products protects hair from excessive loss of lipids and proteins which creates frizz and breakage.
Helps to fight signs of aging
Since exposure to harmful UV rays can contribute to collagen decline and premature skin aging, it’s important to use a daily SPF product like Neutrogena® Collagen Bank Broad Spectrum SPF 30 Face Moisturizer. The broad spectrum SPF 30 works to defend your skin from the sun and is boosted with patented micro-peptide technology. The peptide technology, developed with dermatologists, penetrates more than 10 surface layers deep to support collagen.
Improves wound healing
Beyond helping boost your beauty routine, collagen has also been found to play an important role in the natural healing process. At the site of an injury on the body, collagen attracts cells called “fibroblasts,” which in turn produce new collagen to work on repairing the wound. At that point, collagen can potentially help control bleeding and support new tissue growth.