Thousands, if not millions of people go to the internet and look for solutions for their deteriorating hair, skin, and nails. The truth is that unless you’re still a baby, you’re going through a range of problems. From teenagers who’re looking for a solution for their pimple prone skin to those who’re searching for supplements to keep their hair sultry and voluminous, everyone has an issue they are trying to fix. And while there is a range of products that promise to bring you results, one thing which is gaining monumental popularity is collagen.
But before we get into a more technical discussion, let’s see what collagen essentially is.
What is Collagen?
Biologically speaking, collagen is a protein that’s found in our bodies and is comprised of amino acids. These amino acids like glycine and proline help in keeping your skin elastic and strong. Similarly, it helps the hair and nails grow stronger and promote their health. Collagen is found in bones, muscles, tendons, and skin.
The role of collagen in the revival and freshness of skin is vital because it is the layer that keeps skin soft and supple. While young men and women have an abundance of this protein in their body, its production slows down as we age. Though we can get it from vegetables, bone broths, and other healthy foods, you might need to supplement the protein as well.
Though this magical protein is great for your entire body, we’ll talk about how it benefits your hair, skin, and nails, and what you can do to start using it.
What Sort of Magic Does Collagen Do?
When consumed, collagen can do wonders for your body. You’ll start to see amazing results because it is the building block of everything from skin and hair to nails and even teeth. In fact, a promising study found out that insufficiency of collagen may be the cause behind a few types of hair loss. And if collagen supplements are consumed in such a case, it can help reduce or even stop hair loss.
Apart from the hair, collagen has also proved beneficial in aging individuals who face wrinkles, brittle nails, dryness, and saggy skin. Because you’ll be helping your body get the collagen it needs to stay young and fresh, you’ll begin to notice changes where even damage caused by sun exposure may sometimes be reversed.
For a better understanding of things, let’s dig deep into the questions of how collagen helps the skin, hair, and nails.
Skin and Collagen
There’s a deep connection between collagen and your skin. It is one of the most dominant elements that make up your skin, and its presence is necessary if your skin is to remain smooth and naturally elastic. One of the leading causes of elastosis (where the epidermis becomes thin and elastic) is the reduction or depletion of collagen. Though this decrease is natural and happens with age, a few environmental factors play an important role as well.
Other than losing your skin elasticity, you may even notice wrinkles and fine lines when the levels of collagen are running low. As a consequence of this thin skin, you’ll also begin to see signs of stretch marks, cellulite, or even scars. Fortunately, consuming more collagen can help restore the skin’s elasticity, firmness, smoothness, and moisture, which your skin was previously lacking.
The more collagen you have in your system, the better the chances of your skin going back to how it was when you were naturally producing the protein. Not only will you begin to see noticeable changes in your wrinkles and saggy skin, but you can also hope to hide stretch marks and scars. Though it can’t magically fill the scars, it can help restore the damaged tissues to a level so your skin can go back to looking young and smooth.
So, if you’re going through aging and are worried about how dull, saggy, or wrinkled your skin looks, try supplementing with collagen or eat food that is rich in protein.
Hair and Collagen
One universal truth we’ve all grown up hearing is that hair is made up of dead cells. This is why you can’t feel any pain when you cut it. Though this is true, hair still needs a few elements which make its building blocks. These main elements are minerals, keratin, of course, collagen.
If you’re looking for shiny, long, lustrous locks, you must ensure that your body has an abundant amount of all three of these elements. But let’s keep minerals and keratin aside and talk more about collagen.
Consuming this particular protein will help your hair look thicker, and will even aid in growth. One reason for this is because collagen is known to fight against the creation of free radicals (naturally produced molecules that cause a range of problems for your hair) in your body. These free radicals can cause dry, brittle hair, that eventually leads to hair loss.
However, when you decide to consume more collagen for your hair’s benefit, you’ll begin to see improvement in the texture, volume and overall growth of your hair. In fact, you’ll not just be improving your hair’s health, but also stopping hair loss. In some cases, it can even aid in the regeneration of hair where you’ve lost it from on the scalp. Because collagen actively fights against these free radicals, people who have gone bald in a few areas can hope to regrow their hair with this protein.
For your hair, you can use collagen both topically or as a supplement because it is beneficial in both cases. But it is advised that you start this treatment sooner rather than later so that not a lot of damage needs to be undone.
Nails and Collagen
Much like your hair, your nails are also made up of the same three elements; minerals, collagen, and keratin. However, the thing that set apart these two seemingly different parts of the body is that while people tend to pay a lot of attention to their hair, only a handful look at their nails. Although nails are known to tell you a lot about the health of your body, not a lot of people seem to know their importance.
If you’re starting to notice the splitting and peeling of your nails, you need to stay alert. These changes are usually because of an insufficient amount of collagen in your body. Everything from brittleness, breakage, or any other signs of breakage and weakness should be cause for worry. This is when you need to start thinking about increasing your collagen intake.
According to a research, consuming more collagen can help drastically improve the strength of your nails, and this will keep them away from any and all damage. As with hair, you can decide to use the collagen topically or as a supplement. But remember that ingestion is much more effective since your entire body will be benefiting from the protein.
Wrapping Up
Though it is impossible to stop the aging process unless you own an elixir, collagen can help you restore some of the damage. While topical products can be beneficial, supplements are recommended because they keep balance and can be distributed to the entire body.
