Collagen is a protein in our skin. What does it do?
Collagen. We’ve all heard of it. It’s in our skin. Losing it is bad, we need more to look younger.
That’s all true. However understanding that is not enough, that’s simplistic, and doesn’t answer the question of whether we actually need collagen in our skin care products.
Collagen is a fibrous protein which connects, and holds together, various tissues in our bodies. Collagen is very abundant, and helps connect various types of tissue such as bone, muscle, cartilege and more. It is certainly present in the skin, but not just the skin.
Collagen is quite plentiful in our bodies, making up around 25% of our bodies proteins.
And it is also partly responsible for the strength and elasticity of our skin, in conjunction with keratin and elastin.
So if collagen breaks down, as it does when we age, then the skin loses part of it’s suppleness, strength and elasticity.
And this leads to sagging of our skin, and wrinkles which are an extreme for of skin sagging. Wrinkles are the most obvious form of skin aging, and the most well known result on the skin of the aging process.
So, it’s clear that collagen is very important to our skin health, and that with aging it degrades, and this results in sagging and wrinkling of our skin, and it’s the sagging and wrinkling which we hate the most about our aging.
So, should we buy skin care products with collagen on the label. At first glance the answer must be yes. If the collagen is breaking down then we need more, so if we buy a skin care cream that has collagen, and rub it into our face, then we have added to our store of collagen, and that has to be good.
Sorry, but it’s not that easy. Collagen molecules are quite large, too large to enter the skin, so it will just lie on the surface. It might be there, but it’s not where we need it.
What you need to do is to use a product that stimulates the body to produce more of it’s own collagen.
High quality natural skin care products.
Written by Peter Crump - Natural Skin Health