"Weaving" Yourself With Better Skin: Collagen.

Remember being a child spending time with those weaving looms making potholders for your family?    Do you remember those loop type materials you had to use? Those loops are essentially what collagen is, and the woven potholder is your skin.

Collagen is the most common type of protein found only in animals (ourselves included). This protein comprises about 30% of our skin, joints, cartilage, nails, etc. and is found everywhere! Think of collagen as the formed box that holds the cell in a shape! Without it we would be a gelatinous mess around our skeleton. Referring back to our potholder analogy, if I were to fold a potholder in half in the same place over and over again, the fibers would wear and eventually make a permanent crease.

That’s exactly what happens to our skin and other collagen dependent organs. So what are we to do? Several creams tout collagen ingredients, but does external delivery work(i.e. topical creams)? Science says “no”! Creams will only moisturize the area temporarily and look plumped for about 1/2 an hour. This would have the same effect as putting chap-stick on your face.

You can get collagen injections (from cows) as line filler to help boost your collagen fiber and get that plump firm look again. Those can cost anywhere from $200.00-$600.00 a treatment. You can also get laser therapy and “rough up” your skin so it forces itself to rebuild the collagen. This treatment costs about 400.00-600.00.

So what should value conscious ladies do? The best method, science states, is to feed collagen to yourself internally. I currently take Neo-cell collagen +C (you need vitamin C to correctly convert the proteins) supplements every morning, Wal-Mart $9.00-ish. I’ve noticed my hair growth to be otherworldly! I also know that my chemical peeling helps “rough up” my skin and build up collagen.  And, honestly, I’ve seen the ad on my blog, the collagen “You” mixture from GNC, if anyone ever tries this please let me know:)