 |
| Home > Skin Types > The Truth About Collagen The Truth About Collagen On the lower layers of our skin is a connective tissue called Collagen. Collagen is an integral part of the skin's fabric and gives our skin its strength and elasticity. When free-radicals attack collagen, it becomes damaged, splits and tears. When collagen starts to tear in the lower layers of our skin, the top layer of our skin sinks down into the open area between the tear; and a wrinkle is born! When we were young, we could easily fight off free-radicals because each one of us possesses our very own "natural pharmacy." Inside this pharmacy are numerous potent "drugs" called antioxidants that prevents wrinkles to appear. But as we age, our bodies tremendously slow down the production of these antioxidants. Without anyone to keep them in check, free radicals attack collagen mercilessly leading to unwanted wrinkles. Now, collagen is often added into "expensive, high-end" anti-wrinkle creams. As mentioned earlier, collagen is naturally produced in our skin and as we age, our skin's ability to replace damaged collagen diminishes. So logic would tell us its supplementation would help regain our skin's youthful look, right? Wrong. Collagen in most anti-wrinkle creams is derived from either cattle (bovine) or bird (avian) sources. Collagen in anti-wrinkle creams cannot penetrate the skin. And thank goodness it cannot. Otherwise, we'd all have perpetual allergies. To give you an analogy, imagine you live in a brick house and your neighbor is throwing bricks at it. Will your walls become stronger or smoother? Of course not. Those bricks will simply lay scattered on the ground. The same happens when you apply an anti-aging collagen cream. Collagen is a large molecule. It does not penetrate the skin but instead, stays idly on top of it, only to be washed off during your next shower. Listen to what Dr. Rubin revealed in an article in the New York Times: "Collagen doesn't penetrate," Dr. Rubin explained. "You can't get the collagen molecule into your skin. It's like taking a steak and rubbing it on your skin to try to make your muscles larger." Anti-aging skin care products containing collagen may also potentially expose you to the dangers of "prions," the carriers of "Mad-Cow Disease," a condition which causes progressive brain degeneration or worse, "Bird Flu" which causes death. Remember, that only collagen produced within our skin helps improve skin firmness and elasticity. What you need is for your body to produce its own collagen. Luckily, one of LifeCell's anti-aging ingredients helps to do exactly this. |
|
