ACNE | Why Collagen Could Help With Acne Scaring and Clear Your Skin_063
Collagen For Acne Scars and Active Acne
Collagen is all the rage right now. It is something that has taken the health and wellness by storm. There is so much that collagen can be used for and there are different types of collagen as well. I have been reading online about how collagen has been helping people clear their acne and help their skin. I have been taking collagen for a while now and I wholeheartedly believe it has helped me. I want to explain what collagen is, what kind you should be taking, how it can help YOU with your acne, and why collagen might be making you break out more instead.
What is Collagen?
Collagen is a fibrous tissue that creates strength and elasticity for your skin. It does the same things inside of your joints. Collagen is found throughout your body, you won’t JUST find it in your skin. There are different types of collagen (even some that you can put on your skin) but today we will be talking about different types of collagen that you can ingest.
Most of the collagen on the market is hydrolyzed collagen which is just a fancy way of saying it's more easily digestible and absorbed into your system. Now not all collagen is hydrolyzed collagen. If it's in powder form then most times it's going to be hydrolyzed. This is the type that you want! You want it to be very easily digestible and easily absorbed. Vital Proteins has great collagen that you can make great smoothies with or they have creamer you can use as well!
Why Can Collagen Be Helpful For People With Acne?
There is no magic pill for acne. I know as a former acne sufferer. I had cystic acne all over my face, back, chest, under my chin and down my shoulders….. I had it EVERYWHERE. There is not a magic pill. I wish there was, I wish I had a different answer for you but I don’t. You need to get down to the root cause of what is causing your acne. For me, it all stemmed from my gut health and the crazy yeast issue that was located in my gut. I do believe collagen is something that is useful and I take it every single morning. It can help with scarring, acne, wrinkles, and texture.
Around 30 years old, your collagen production begins to diminish and no longer occurs. That's what causing aging, wrinkles, and we lose collagen production. Research is now showing that it is possible to prevent it. It could stop it from happening so soon or to reverse some of the aging process. Giving us the ability to age gracefully, which is what we all want right?
When I hear about collagen helping people acne I think “oh wow, this is great!” But I don’t want this to be misconstrued into people thinking that this alone is going to cure their acne. If we look at it, collagen is located in all different parts of your body. One of them being your digestive system. It is my personal belief that once the acne sufferers start taking collagen they are starting to address a much deeper root cause of their acne, which a diminished gut lining in their digestive system. They may have leaky gut, digestive dysbiosis, or other digestive issues in general. Collagen can absolutely help with that!
When I started taking collagen, I was skeptical because honestly I am always skeptical at first with new things that have SO much hoopla around them. Not to mention marketing dollars! And people are just raving about it, I am always thinking “hmmm let me check this out.” I started taking it, putting it into my coffee every morning and for the first couple of months, I really didn't notice anything. I told myself “let's give it 6 months and see what happens.”
Swear to goodness, I noticed a difference in what I am calling my gut health robustness. I feel like my gut health is so much stronger, in Chinese medicine they call it your “digestive fire.” I feel like my digestive fire is finally BACK. I grew up with horrible digestion. I ALWAYS had stomach aches, back and forth chronic constipation to diarrhea, and my gut was never happy.
I have taken a lot of steps and spent a lot of years to really just heal it on this journey. Collagen has made it past my testing process and has made it into my daily routine, which not many do! I did notice a great effect of my gut being so much stronger and being able to handle certain foods SO much better. I don't feel bloated or constipated all the time. I think the reason why so many people are seeing their acne improve when they start taking collagen is not that it’s building collagen in your skin. It’s that it’s addressing a deeper root cause which is their gut health.
If collagen is helping you then that is FANTASTIC. But you need to know that more often than not it's because it’s helping to heal and nourish your gut health and not because it’s creating more collagen on your skin. Collagen is not the issue when you're dealing with acne. You aren’t getting acne because of your lack of collagen. Acne is an overproduction of oil and sebum, overgrowth of bacteria, and dead skin cells that get stuck in the pores and cause cystic acne or white heads. You need to get down to the root cause of acne….
Why is your body creating so much oil? It can’t handle that amount of oil production because in its natural state, it's not going to overproduce oil. Acne is a symptom of a much bigger issue that's going on in your body.
No woman wants to deal with acne especially if it’s chronic. If you have been trying to get rid of it for years and years then you know. You may have even thrown thousands of dollars at it and tried so many things from:
Holistic Medicine
Western Medicine
Seeing multiple doctors
I spent YEARS trying to figure out what was causing my chronic acne and it wasn't until I finally found a naturopathic doctor that wanted to address the root cause of what was going on. BUT I have a surprise for you…. it wasn't the acne I needed to address... it was my gut that needed help. Acne was just the symptom that my gut was showing. That is what propelled me into this passion of helping you ladies clear your skin for good and figure out the root cause of your acne.
Collagen And Skin
Collagen is part of the second layer of your skin called the dermis. That’s where the strength and elasticity for your skin is housed. On top of that layer is your epidermis. That is the outermost layer that we see when we see skin cells. That’s where keratinocytes sit. They eventually come up to the surface and then fall off as dead skin cells. It takes 5 weeks for new skin to come to the surface. You are always creating new skin, this is why exfoliating is REALLY important. But remember not to manually exfoliate when you are in an active breakout. That will just irritate it and cause inflammation. Getting the dead skin cells off of your skin is VERY important, especially if you are recovering from acne and just trying to get your skin back.
Healing acne is a two-prong approach:
Need to get down to the root cause of your acne and heal that.
Address your skin! Just because we have gotten rid of whatever was inside that was causing your acne (gut issue, live, blood sugar, diet, food sensitivities) doesn't mean your skin is going to magically glow the next morning. We need to feed both the inside and the outside.
Collagen is a good way to feed the inside that shows his head on the outside as well.
The dermis is where the collagen is going to sit. By ingesting collagen, you can help that collagen production in the dermal layer. If collagen is helping you then this might be a sign that you are getting closer to uncovering the root cause! That could mean that your gut health is something you should pay close attention to. Your gut might be something that you need to give tender love and care to.
If you are seeing improvements with your acne since taking collagen, I would continue to take it but also keep searching to see if there are other things you need to address:
Digestive system may be out of whack
Get a good probiotic
Take probiotics
I talk extensively about this on my Instagram! Shoot me a DM @detoxingwithdani if you have any questions. I have my Gut Health Guide that gives you an idea of how to start your gut healing journey. It gives you the 5 main tools that I still use to this day that helped me gain back my gut health and created a much better environment for my digestive system.
Why Is Collagen Making Me Develop More Acne?
There have been instances where people have been taking collagen and they have been breaking out more. When you start taking something and it's causing you to break out one of two things could be happening:
It could be a die-off process! Once you find the root cause of your acne and you start addressing it, you will usually experience a die-off process. Your skin is going to get worse before it gets better. This can be a good sign that you hit the nail on the head, that you found what the root cause is. But if it prolongs after 3 weeks then you might need to consider why else you could be breaking out. This is why I recommend you introduce things one at a time because if you are introducing too many at a time you do not know what is causing a breakout or what is causing you to heal.
You may not have a gut issue BUT you could be breaking out after taking collagen because your liver may be overburdened. Collagen is produced from animal bones and ligaments. It is an animal-based product and your liver can get bogged down when you introduce too many animal-based products at once! You ALWAYS want to find grass-fed collagen because you are getting the bones of the animal and what they are eating is in those bones. You want to make sure this is at the utmost highest quality. Even with a high-quality collagen, it can be hard on your liver.
If your liver is already burdened from environmental factors, past or current lifestyle, then adding in the collagen could be that one piece of straw that broke the camel's back. That can definitely send you into a tailspin dealing with acne. Your liver is SO important, we truthfully don't take enough care of our liver. If you are struggling with acne your liver can be a huge part of that because it might not be able to properly metabolize. This will create more androgens for us which are the acne-causing hormones. Sometimes adding in collagen can create an acne flare-up because your liver isn't able to handle it. What we need to do is give you a good liver cleanse and nourish with good herbs and nutrients. Give it the rest and rejuvenation that it needs. I Not saying that you can’t add in collagen. We just need to do a few steps before we add it in to your lifestyle.
I absolutely love collagen. I did see a difference in my hair, skin, and nails when I started taking it. I truly believe it was because it was addressing my gut health which translated into my outward appearance. If you do not know what kind of collagen to buy I am such a fan of Vital Proteins. Everything I use is Dani Approved and I try it for months and months so I know that it is good. Vital proteins has so many options. They have marine collagen(great for the skin!), bone collagen, I also love their collagen creamers! Start your journey by downloading my Gut Health Guide, start implementing collagen for a few months, focus on detoxing your liver if you need it, and be PATIENT. This isn’t an overnight fix if it’s even a fix at all. But collagen can absolutely lead you to the root cause of your acne. DM me on Instagram if you have ANY questions @detoxingwithdani. Share this with a collagen skeptic and test it for yourself!
Collagen is all the rage right now, known to help improve hair, skin and nails plus help with the lining of the gut. But what about for acne sufferers? Today I am diving into whether or not you should add collagen to your routine if you suffer from acne.
Dani’s Top Choice for Collagen:
Collagen Lattes with Ashwaganda
Vanilla Collagen Coffee Creamer!
Coconut Collagen Coffee Creamer
Matcha Collagen - For all my non-coffee drinkers
Collagen Peptides (great for smoothies)
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Dani
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Note: The opinions and advice from Dani or offered from The Detoxing with Dani Podcast or any of it's guests are not meant to diagnose, treat, prevent or cure any disease. Please consult your doctor first.