Do I need to take collagen supplements?
I am asked on a weekly basis about collagen. I am also asked about fillers and Botox, vitamins, skin peels, micro needling, niacinamide, hyaluronic acid, LED light therapy, cold water exposure… the list goes on (and on). I have clients who can list more treatments and more product ingredients than I can and this daily barrage of ‘buzz’ words tells me something and it’s something that you probably feel too. Overwhelm. I can’t answer the question of whether or not you ‘need’ to be taking collagen supplements, but I do have the answer for what you ‘should’ be doing for your skin.
Here's the thing (and this may come as a big shock), but companies, big companies want you to buy stuff, they want you to buy A LOT of stuff. There are 2 simple steps that companies (particularly through social media) can do this:
1. Make you feel low, deflated, less than and critical about yourself and your appearance by showing you images of perfect skin, perfect bodies and blissfully happy people whose lives are idyllic and wonderful.
2. Make you feel like EVERYONE else is using [insert latest fad here] and doing [insert latest trend here].
So what happens? We feel overwhelmed. We feel like we’re not doing enough, we don’t have enough, so we buy the latest tool, the latest supplement, we book in for the newest treatment on the market, we buy the glass-face-promising serum (we’ll get back to this… but if you want skin like glass you need to give your head a wobble) and then, when we’ve done all of this and we realise that it wasn’t the answer, it didn’t give us more energy, our skin isn’t glowing like a glazed doughnut, we’re not seeing a perfect version of ourselves looking back at us when we look in the mirror, we feel bad and we feel down, and we scroll on social media to find the answer… and it’s there. The next new trend, product, ingredient, treatment… and it all starts again!
I GET IT. I am there with you. I don’t get overwhelmed about the skin care ‘stuff’ on social media but I do feel it when it comes to the health ‘stuff’. I’ve tried the Lion’s Mane mushroom powders, I’ve drank the green powder drinks, I’ve bought the cold plunge pool, I’ve set my alarm for 5am to be part of the morning club that have done yoga, journalled, exercised and meditated while the rest of the world sleeps… if it claimed to improve health and longevity… I’ve done it. So I get it, I know how it happens. I have however also figured a few things out that has helped.
1. When I see someone promoting something on social media, rather than look at the tiny little text that tells you it’s an advertisement. I pretend that the text reads… “this company is paying me to say this”. Realising that you are being ‘sold’ to is the first step.
2. I started to write down when I’ve felt really happy and it’s very rare that material things appear on that list.
3. I do make a list of 3 things that I am grateful for every day. Feeling grateful about what we already have makes us less likely to feel guilt, shame and envy for the things we don’t have.
4. I consider how things make me feel rather than how they make me look. Let’s take the lions mane. I could’ve posted on social media that I was taking Lions Mane, I would’ve made myself look like I was clued up, in with the health crowd but the reality was I was never off the toilet. Lions Mane did not make me feel good so it didn’t last.
5. It does, at the end of the day, all comes down to Health.
It all comes down to health. This is the big, important point that I want to make. Health is important. It’s not about fads or products or treatments or fancy equipment. It’s about the foundations, the building blocks onto which we stack everything else. It’s about nourishing our body with good wholesome food, it’s about moving our body in the way it was designed to be used, it’s about resting and making sure we get enough sleep, it’s about spending time outdoors in nature, it’s about drinking water and keeping our bodies hydrated. These things aren’t easy and you can’t do it all at once but these are the area’s to focus on first. Not collagen, not cold water plunge pools, not mouth tape, not icing your face. Just start with health.
There is absolutely nothing that you ‘should’ be doing for your skin, but I believe that your health plays a massive role in how you a feel, how well your body functions and it will affect how you look, so I do think you ‘should’ start from the bottom up, from the inside out. Don’t get overwhelmed. Strip everything else away and start at the beginning. Start with the basics.
Collagen supplements aren’t the answer, so to answer the original question…
No, you do not need to take collagen supplements. Not yet, anyway!