Do Collagen Drinks Really Work? 5 Beauty Benefits of Collagen Drinks
Do collagen drinks really work?
In this post, I’m going to share my experience with collagen drinks and the benefits I’ve gotten over the decades.
You might’ve heard or read before that Japanese women drink collagen drinks, and yes! It’s TRUE. I’m one of the many. So was my mother.
If you’re Japanese, it is one of those things you probably tried at least once in your lifetime because it’s so easily accessible and affordable in Japan!
Ready to hear if it really works? Read on!
How My Relationship with Collagen Drinks Started
I was introduced to collagen drinks around the age of 12. My mom used to buy a few of them as special treats for both of us. She went like “Let’s get some quick vitamins and collagen!”
It felt like getting a little cake for a special occasion, so I really enjoyed drinking them with her.
During my teenage years, I didn’t really question if they really work or not because I guess it didn’t really matter. I was so young, and my skin did not need much help from beauty products to combat ageing!
I started to question when I left Japan to live in the UK (that is 18 years ago already gosh), and suddenly my occasional treats became unavailable.
Why can’t I get collagen drinks easily here? Western women don’t drink them because they don’t work?
Since then, I tried a bunch of collagen drinks from different brands and researched why they might (or might not) work.
5 Benefits of Collagen Drinks
Collagen drinks are definitely a great help if you want to up your anti-ageing game! It is easy to add them to your beauty regime.
Collagen drinks are supposed to work on triggering the natural collagen production. They are not literally putting collagen into the bloodstream directly. Think of them as a helping hand 🙂
1. Helps Sustain the Level of Collagen in Your Body
Your body produces less and less collagen as you age.
The amount of collagen starts to decrease from the early 20s, and most people lose about 50% by the age of 50. The loss of collagen leads to sagging skin, thinner skin and wrinkles on the skin.
The level of collagen loss depends on your lifestyle, diet, quality of sleep and other factors such as sun exposure, genetics and hormones.
Nonetheless, you cannot avoid losing collagen as you age. So, it’s a good idea to keep supplementing it via drinks to slow the ageing process.
2. Helps Your Hair Shine
As you lose collagen in your body over time, your hair may become thinner, or you may lose hair just like the skin ages. It is part of the natural ageing process no one can escape, but we can slow it down by borrowing the power of collagen drinks!
Collagen drinks can help trigger collagen production in the body, which helps reduce the damage from free radicals and support hair follicles. By maintaining the quality of your hair follicles, your hair will be healthier and continue to grow, increase in volumes and shine!
3. Reduces Fine Lines and Wrinkles
Collagen makes up about 75-80% of your skin. So it is no brainer that you need to maintain the collagen level as high as possible for youthful skin.
As said earlier, wrinkles start to appear as you lose collagen in your skin tissues. So, you can drink collagen drinks to help slow down the process of losing collagen with age.
4. More Effective than Collagen Creams
Research has shown that taking collagen in liquid form is better than putting it via skincare cream on the skin.
When you drink collagen, it can impact the deep layers of the skin, where losses of collagen happen. As it works at a deeper level, the positive effect will also last longer compared to creams.
I personally can attest to this too! When I consistently drink a collagen drink every night before bed for two weeks, my skin gets more supple, hydrated, and the pores become smaller. I’m also less prone to acne too.
5. Collagen Drinks are Super Convenient!
Everything you need for collagen boost is jam-packed in a tiny bottle, and you just have to drink it 🙂 It is easier than powder which you have to mix with water or juice etc. You can even carry a bottle around in your bag!
Many collagen drinks also come with other anti-ageing ingredients such as vitamin B, Vitamin C, Vitamin E, and hyaluronic acid etc. So, you could skip taking extra beauty supplements too!
By the way, in Japan, collagen drinks are easily accessible, and you can buy them even at kiosks or convenient stores (oh I miss that!).That usually’s within walking distance so you can just pop in when you feel like it to boost your beauty regime!
Should You Be Drinking Collagen Drinks?
The answer is YES!
Collagen is vital to beautiful skin, healthy bones and joints. It is one of the rare things that can help you age slowly. So why not?
I personally love “The Collagen” from Shiseido”.
It’s low calories, caffeine-free, preservative-free, and most of all really tasty! I keep them in the fridge and drink one right after a bath (or shower) at night before bed. It is part of my night time beauty regime for years.
Sometimes, when I come home late, and I’m hungry, I skip dinner and drink one collagen drink instead, so I don’t feel guilty of eating or snacking late at night. 🙂
Plus, it’s supposed to be good for anti-ageing, so it’s a win-win situation!
There are many collagen drinks to choose from nowadays, and it can be challenging to decide which one to buy, so I wrote a post on “How To Choose the Best Collagen Drinks” for you. There are 7 points you want to bear in mind when choosing collagen drinks. Hope you can try your collagen drinks soon but let me know if you need any help!
About the author
Nana is a Japanese model-turned-entrepreneur and the founder of this blog. She was born and raised in Japan and currently lives in Switzerland. She started her skincare journey at the age of 13 when her mother introduced her ritual to her. Now 39, her love of skincare (Japanese way of course!) is bigger than ever before. She's here to share her decades of experience in the world of Japanese skincare to help all women from around the globe live happily with beautiful skin.
