More wildly overinflated prices for the collagen creams. Widely available online.
Collagen as an
ingredient in creams is pointless tbh.
For one, collagen (as a formed, structural protein) is too big to penetrate the skin. It'll be all those other ingredients in the slop making the skin feel soft and hydrated, not the collagen.
And even if big collagen proteins could penetrate the skin they wouldn't do anything. The body doesn't "absorb" collagen, it makes its own. The "trick" to producing more collagen as it depletes with age is to provide your body with more of the amino acids it uses to make it (plus vitamin C).
Which is why collagen supplements are more logical — to a degree. When you take them your stomach acid breaks collagen pills down into the constituent amino acids (digestion 101). Eating protein-rich food get you the same amino acids as pills. Those who don't fancy chomping on more meat/eggs could just use a balanced amino acid supplement/powder like athletes do. Basically the same thing but you don't pay a premium for fancy marketing, hype, and dodgy claims.
That said, most cosmetics marketed as "with collagen" actually only contain ingredients to
stimulate collagen production - which makes a bit more sense on paper though the actual efficacy of doing that through the skin is TBD — the only real proven skin aids are moisture (Hyaluronic acid, either as supplement, serum, or injectable), and retinol/als and tretinoin.
Sorry for the rant haha but I looked into this a while back because GETTING OLDER SUCKS
Sooner have white or the pale green of new and let it age naturally over the years.
