Fortunately, we all get a day older every day. At Food for Skin, we embrace that, but… we also understand very well that you “want to grow old gracefully” and are not happy with sagging skin on your face. Wrinkles are beautiful and characteristic, but preferably with a healthy complexion, supple skin, without spots and dry patches.
Collagen and elastin play an important role in maintaining skin firmness and elasticity. That’s why we’ll tell you more about them in this blog!
Restore skin elasticity
The natural aging process reduces the elasticity of our skin. Around menopause, it happens even faster. This is, of course, part of aging, but how can you firm up your skin so that it continues to look healthy and calm? Fortunately, nature offers a number of powerful vitamins that can wonderfully support the skin. Read more below about how collagen works and how you can stimulate its production.
Elastin and collagen
The skin consists of:
- the epidermis; the outermost layer of the skin that retains moisture and offers protection against harmful substances
- the dermis: which contains blood vessels, nerves, glands, and collagen and elastin, and possesses essential proteins for building and maintaining the structure of the skin.
What is collagen?
Collagen is a group of essential proteins naturally produced by our bodies and usually found in the body's connective tissues, where they provide strength and firmness to tissues. Collagen is also known for maintaining tight, flexible, firm skin.
What is elastin?
Elastin is also a protein found in connective tissue, but it is important to understand that it is a different type of protein than collagen. The presence of collagen provides strength and stiffness to connective tissue, while the presence of elastin allows tissues in the body to return to their original shape after being stretched.
Causes of skin aging
As skin ages, the production of these proteins decreases, and the collagen and elastin fibers that help support skin structure tend to break down, lose their elasticity, thicken, stiffen, and even clump together.
But in addition to natural decline, sun, stress, smoking, and poor diet have a major impact on the breakdown of collagen and elastin.
What to do about skin aging?
In adults, loss of skin elasticity is normally related to the inevitable aging process, but can also be due to a deficiency in vitamins A, B, C, E, and K. So make sure you eat enough vitamins and apply those that are good for your skin.
Aging is a very natural process, and at Food for Skin, we don't want to stop it, but we do want to make the skin as strong as possible from within, so that collagen production, among other things, remains as high as possible, resulting in fresh skin. How do you do that?
Collagen creams
You’ll find various creams with collagen on the market. Don't fall for them! You can stimulate collagen production, but you cannot directly introduce collagen into the skin from the outside. It is simply not possible to penetrate that deeply into the skin.
Collagen supplements
To boost your collagen, you will have to stimulate it from within. Taking collagen supplements can be a good addition to your skincare routine, provided they are of the right quality. However, not all researchers agree. There are also studies that show that collagen powders barely, if at all, reach the skin. So, do your own thorough research here. If you do want to buy supplements, pay attention to the following:
- Collagen is made from animals, so it's not vegan (meaning you won't find it at Food for Skin).
- Sweeteners, flavorings, or other fillers are often added, so check the ingredient list if you want to avoid these.
- Plant-based collagen does not exist as pure collagen. Collagen is animal-derived. However, it can be partially mimicked from plants. A plant-based variant therefore contributes to collagen production but cannot replace collagen 1-to-1.
Collagen for wrinkles
To boost collagen and firm up your face, we like to work with the beta-carotene from the Carrot Cleanser. This is a precursor to Vitamin A, and it stimulates collagen production in the skin. However, you need a lot of patience for this, as the effect only becomes visible after several months. So, no quick fix!
The philosophy of Food for Skin is to strengthen the skin's own functions as much as possible. We don't want to take over the skin's function with our products, but purely offer support where needed. Because if you influence the skin's own functions too much with all sorts of harsh peelings and treatments, the skin can become 'lazy' or 'confused', and you don't want that. You want the skin to get to work itself, in a natural way, so that it is perfectly capable of getting rid of dead skin cells, repairing dry patches, and achieving an even complexion. That's how you create 'strong' skin.
Our tip, therefore, is: do as little as possible, but gently clean your skin every day, naturally stimulate the skin with a serum to help address problems, and finish with a thin layer of cream, which can protect the skin from external free radicals: air pollution, bacteria, and weather influences. Less is more!
