Everyone talks about the importance of “collagen,” but do you know why? In short, it’s a major building block for your skin, hair, muscles, tendons, and more, making up 25 to 35% of the proteins in your body.
These fiber-like proteins help give your connective tissues (including your skin, hair, muscles, and tendons mentioned above) their structural integrity, strength, and the ability to stretch. In other words, collagen keeps your skin firm and bouncy as you age.
Over time, everyday lifestyle choices can have an impact on your collagen supply. Sun exposure, smoking, alcohol, and an imbalanced diet, to name a few examples, can cause your natural collagen levels to deplete more quickly. Even with a perfectly healthy lifestyle, though, your body’s natural production of collagen will slow as you age. To help offset both everyday life and the inevitable process of aging, supplemental collagen is key.
While some choose to add collagen powders and supplements to their diets, we are particularly fond of applying it topically to the skin. For us, that means using a vegan, cruelty-free version: vegetable collagen.
The Benefits of Vegetable Collagen
Though traditional animal collagen was not even a consideration for us, the powerful plant-based alternative is just as beneficial.
Our soy bean-derived vegetable collagen found in Reflekt 1 Daily Exfoliating Face Wash delivers a bevy of benefits for the skin. Here are a few worth noting:
1. It improves skin elasticity
With consistent use, vegetable collagen applied topically can reduce the look of sagging by visibly firming your complexion.
2. It helps smooth fine lines and wrinkles
As it firms and plumps, skin will appear tighter and smoother with fewer fine lines and wrinkles and less uneven texture and tone.
3. It boosts moisture levels
In helping to prevent transepidermal water loss, vegetable collagen helps lock in moisture so skin remains dewy and hydrated.
4. It protects skin against environmental aggressors
Thanks to its rich composition of antioxidants, vegetable collagen helps neutralize free radicals (think air pollution, smoke, ultraviolet radiation, et cetera) that could otherwise cause damage to the skin.
5. It promotes radiance
By keeping moisture in and environmental aggressors out, it effectively nourishes and conditions skin to help enhance its overall glow.
