MagazineSummer and collagen: Hydrating skin from within, why a cream is not enough
Summer and collagen: Hydrating skin from within, why a cream is not enough
Summer is coming and creams and serums are stepping into the spotlight. Quite literally, in fact. But if you really want to keep your skin hydrated, the sun will not single out only your cosmetics. Hydration starts one level deeper than any cream can reach.
A cream reaches only one layer
Skin has three main layers: the epidermis (surface), the dermis (middle, where collagen and hyaluronic acid live) and the hypodermis (the fatty bottom layer). Most creams and serums work only on the epidermis. They form an occlusive film on it that slows water from evaporating.
That is useful. But it is not enough for what skin really needs in summer: to keep water in the dermis, where genuine elasticity and firmness happen. A cream simply cannot reach there. The hyaluronic acid molecules in a cream are an order of magnitude larger than what passes down through the epidermis.
What happens in the dermis in summer
UVA radiation activates matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs), enzymes that break down collagen, elastin and hyaluronic acid. At the same time, heat speeds up transepidermal water loss. The result: the dermis dries out and weakens structurally, even when the skin surface is glossy with serum.
After a week in the sun without support from within, skin looks better (a tan, a creamy serum), but structurally it has taken a step back. The next season it tends to show.
How collagen works from within
After you drink it, hydrolysed marine collagen enters the bloodstream. Hydroxyproline (a key amino acid of collagen) acts as a signal to fibroblasts: produce more collagen, elastin and hyaluronic acid.
In the dermis, hyaluronic acid binds up to 1,000 times its own weight in water. That is why its concentration in the dermis is directly tied to how hydrated skin looks in summer. And that is why the signal to produce more hyaluronic acid, which comes from a collagen course, is biologically stronger than any cosmetic.
Specifically, what to do
- Water: 2 to 3 litres a day. Without water, hyaluronic acid has nothing to bind and collagen has nothing to hold structure with.
- Collagen: 3,300 mg of hydrolysed marine collagen a day, in the morning with vitamin C.
- SPF 30 to 50: every day, even when it is overcast. The most effective way to prevent MMP activation.
- Antioxidants: vitamins C and E, polyphenols from tea or berries. They neutralise free radicals from the sun.
- A cream with active ingredients: niacinamide for the barrier, ceramides for water retention. Here the cream is the last layer, not the first.
What the mirror will show after summer
If you start a collagen course in spring and finish it through summer, after the season your skin looks firmer, smoother and less dry than the year before. That is not hope. It is a measurable effect shown in studies on skin hydration (Proksch et al., 2014, among others).
If you start in June, you will still catch the change by August. If you start in August, you will see the result in September. The body has its own rhythm, but it does not waste time.
In closing
A cream is the visible part of the hydration equation. The part that really matters, you build from within. Water, collagen, SPF, antioxidants. In that order.
