Collagen And Skin: What You Need to Know
How Collagen Impacts the Appearance of Our Skin
Collagen is the buzzword on everyone's lips right now. Should we be eating it, sipping it, or slathering it on our faces? Is it a genuine breakthrough or just another wellness trend with good marketing? And while we're at it – what actually is collagen, and can you really do anything about losing it?
We went looking past the hype. Here's what collagen is, why it fades, and the honest version of what helps how your skin looks as it does.
So, what is collagen?
Your social feeds are saturated with it, and the turn-back-time promises are tempting – there's a billion-dollar global market riding on them. But the basics are simpler than the marketing.
Collagen is the most abundant protein in your body. Built from amino acids and vitamin C, it gives structure to your skin, bones, tendons and muscles. It's the glue that holds you together – fittingly, the word comes from the Greek kólla, meaning glue.
On your face, collagen and its partner elastin form the fine net of fibres behind skin that looks plump and springy. The beauty trifecta of skin, hair and nails all lean on it.
Here’s the catch when it comes to collagen and skin
From your twenties onwards, your natural collagen starts to decline – by roughly 1% a year. That process speeds up as you age, until your body is losing it faster than it replaces it. For women, falling oestrogen through perimenopause and menopause compounds the effect.
If you're in your 30s or 40s you've probably seen it already. Skin that doesn't bounce back like it used to. A moisturiser that isn't smoothing those fine lines the way it once did. A face that looks, well, a little flat. That's collagen leaving the chat.
So can you actually do anything about it?
Here's the honest bit the "collagen serums" won't tell you: you can't paint collagen onto your face and have it stitch itself into your skin – the molecule is far too big to get in, and even if it did, that's not how skin works.
What you can do is influence the things that speed collagen loss up, and support how your skin looks in the meantime. Some of your collagen story is genetics and time (intrinsic ageing), which you can't change.
But a good chunk is down to daily choices (extrinsic ageing), which you absolutely can. (Bonus: the payoff isn't only on your face – you're looking after your gut, joints and muscles at the same time.)
Embrace a pro-collagen diet
If you do one thing, do this one. UV exposure is the single biggest external driver of collagen loss, which makes sunscreen the hero of your morning routine, not an afterthought.
In Australia that's a year-round job – the SunSmart app is a handy way to see when the UV index is peaking (it hits damaging levels for most of the year across most of the country, not just in summer).
Eat in a way your skin notices
You don't support collagen from the inside with powders and potions so much as with a genuinely good diet.
Your body needs specific building blocks to make collagen: quality protein for amino acids (eggs, seafood, meat, dairy, legumes, tofu), plenty of vitamin C (broccoli, citrus, kiwi, Kakadu plum), zinc (oysters), and small amounts of copper (cashews, sesame seeds, cocoa – yes, pass the dark chocolate).
A cup of green or white tea adds antioxidant polyphenols. And keep refined sugar in check: blood-sugar spikes drive a process called glycation, which destabilises collagen and elastin fibres.
Lean on antioxidants and hydration
Free radicals – largely from sun and pollution – are one of the things behind how skin ages, so it's worth reaching for antioxidant-rich botanicals, then adding a good slug of hydration to help smooth the appearance of collagen loss.
One ingredient we love here is prickly pear seed oil – rich in antioxidants, fatty acids, polyphenols, amino acids and vitamin K.
It impressed us enough that we built our Illumino Youth Serum around it, and on skin it reads as brightness: tone looks more even, skin looks plumper, and it absorbs without a trace.
Rosehip, carrot seed, evening primrose and pomegranate are antioxidant-rich too, which is why all of them sit in our Signature Night Recovery Oil – a blend of 18 botanicals that helps skin look plumper and brighter by morning, and the winner of Best Overnight Facial Oil at the Beauty Shortlist Awards (Global) in 2023.
Get a proper night's sleep
So much of your body's repair work happens while you sleep, so a genuinely restful night earns its place on this list.
Make time for a facial massage
Fans of facial massage swear by it for melting jaw tension, boosting circulation and encouraging lymphatic drainage. The sculpted, lifted look it gives is temporary – but it feels wonderful, and it's a lovely couple of minutes to work your night oil in.
Steer clear of smoking
A no-brainer for a hundred reasons, and here's one more: smoking interferes with your body's ability to make collagen.
Should I be eating or drinking collagen?
Now to the collagen shot in your morning coffee. Supplements have been around for decades, but this corner of the market has exploded lately. They deliver hydrolysed collagen or collagen peptides – collagen broken down into a more dissolvable form, usually from marine or bovine sources – which your gut breaks down further into amino acids your body uses as needed. Bone broth is the gelatine-rich, old-school version.
Some early studies are promising, but the evidence for ingestible collagen is still being built, so the jury's genuinely out. A few honest things to weigh: it's not cheap, you'll likely wait around three months of consistent use to notice anything, and if you avoid animal products your options narrow (most vegan versions are designed to support your body's own collagen with other nutrients rather than supply it directly, though cultured vegan collagen is in development).
If you'd like to try it, most experts agree there's little harm in it. But you still can't beat the basics: a nourishing diet, sun-safe habits, a gentle low-irritant routine, and a good hit of antioxidant-rich hydration. That's the recipe for skin that looks its healthiest at any age.
Cath & the Indagare Team
