The Common Myth and The Truth about Collagen

If you were to ask me and my dad to name one supplement that supports healthy aging, collagen would be on the top of our list. Last summer, when he found out I had my face Thermaged, he woke me up the next morning with collagen tea and stocked my car with collagen packets so I would keep taking them. "If you spent all that money on your face, you better add more collagen to your diet!" he said. And honestly, he is absolutely right.

Collagen plays a key role in maintaining skin elasticity and hydration. But here is an important fact: when you take a collagen supplement, you are not actually taking collagen itself. You are taking the tiny building blocks, the amino acids and peptides, that your body uses to build its own collagen. In this sense, collagen is no different from any other protein drugs. Your gut does not absorb it whole. It breaks it down into amino acids and short peptides first, exactly the way it would digest the protein in a piece of steak or a scoop of your protein powder. So even when a supplement comes from live animal sources, it gets dismantled into those small pieces before absorption. And those building blocks do not travel only to your skin. Your body sends them everywhere collagen is needed, including your joints, blood vessels, and heart muscle.

This is also why you cannot shortcut the process by rubbing collagen on your face. The collagen that keeps skin firm lives in the dermis layer below the surface, but a whole collagen molecule is far too large to pass through the outer skin and reach it. Dermatologists often point to the rule that only molecules under about 500 daltons can penetrate the skin, while a collagen protein runs into the hundreds of thousands. So a collagen skin products mostly sits on top, where it can (potentially) temporarily hydrate the surface, but it does not contribute to adding or generating the collagen underneath. If you want to support that deeper layer, the better route is to feed your body the raw materials from the inside.

Type 1

- The most abundant, making up roughly 90 percent of the collagen in your body

- Found in skin, bones, tendons, and ligaments

- Best for skin, hair, and nails

- Sourced from bovine (cow) hide and marine (fish). Marine collagen is almost entirely Type 1 and tends to absorb easily because its peptides are smaller

Type 3

- Works alongside Type 1, which is why the two are usually grouped together

- Found in skin, blood vessels, and internal organs

- Best for skin, paired with Type 1

- Sourced mainly from bovine (cow)

Type 2

- The collagen found in cartilage

- Best for joints

- Sourced mostly from chicken, specifically the sternum (breastbone) cartilage, and also from bovine cartilage or, less commonly, marine sources

- Comes in two forms: hydrolyzed, which is dosed in grams like Types 1 and 3, and undenatured (often labeled UC2), which keeps its original structure and works at a much smaller dose, around 40mg per day

For overall healthy aging, I like covering all three types, which is why many people reach for a multi-collagen blend. Always check the label so you know where your collagen comes from and what type you are taking. The ideal daily dose ranges from 2.5g to 10g depending on your age, goals, and overall diet. My general recommendation: 2.5g to 5g daily is enough to support your skin, hair, joints, and gut when paired with a healthy diet.

One last tip! Vitamin C is essential for collagen synthesis, so make sure you have enough Vit C in your diet or supplement plan.