What Are the Benefits of Collagen and Elastin?

I just started on pycnogenol, which is said to regenerate and rebuild collagen. And I'm now serious about my collagen and elastic cream which I got months ago but never really used as I have too many creams. Unfortunately, meds messed up my skin chemistry, but I have high hopes with my regimen, which I will post and you can research on your own.

ALA (rLA is said to be better as it's natural but more expensive. I only tried rLA once), vitamin A and D combo (not beta-carotene, that's toxic to me!), 100mg COQ10 which I take thee times a day with 400IUs of vitamin E (I don't recommend that high dosage, but I need it due to vein pain. Start with 30mg three times a day; that's what I did). I now take pycnogenol three times a day (60mg, first dose. I got a mild headache but it was probably unrelated, not sure so please use caution) and I always take that with Raw Vitamin C by GOL Vitamin Code as pycnogenol regenerates or recycles or extends the life of C and I believe E.

On top of that, I take 25mg of DHEA (due to adrenal problems, and I'm also over 40) and just upped it to 50mg. I was on 100mg for years and felt much better. I take so many supplements but I truly started at 22, and I have Proline which is the precursor to collagen, however rarely take it now because I'm on other amino treatment. I get all that discounted online. National brands are discounted, and they give you full disclosure on all ingredients +expiry date

Again, make sure you're not allergic to anything. Start slow. Aminos need to be taken on empty stomach. I react to some aminos so make sure to look up side effects and always start with small doses, unless it's food based vitamins like GOL, Megafoods or New Chapter, which are the only ones I buy as they are not synthetic.

Finally. what you don't put on your skin and what you don't eat are more important: synthetic chemicals (in both) cause aging, wrinkles and loss of collagen. So do synthetic perfumes and air fresheners (candles, incense, plug ins, febreze type of things) all contain pthalates. Please do a search on that word with Dangers.

For skincare, I use squalane, jojoba oil with essential oils (cedarwood contains sesquiterpenes that prevent or reverse wrinkles) and Devita Rx. Hope this helps you do some good research and come up with your own fantastic results. Be well everyone!

I think having little elastin in my skin runs in my family because both my sister and I have had stretch marks since we became teenagers, and we did not have a drastic weight gain or weight loss. Also, my Mom has stretch marks too.

We all eat fairly healthy, so this is what leads to believe it is more genetic than anything else. We also have not gone to a tanning bed, and have only laid out in the sun a few times. None of us smoke either. So, besides our genetic makeup, it does not make much sense why we all have stretch marks.

One of my friends has had five kids, and has no stretch marks, which leads me to believe she has a lot of elastin in her skin and that her sister and her Mom are probably the same way too.

The only things that I don’t get a lot of on a regular basis are melons and the substance called genistein, that is mostly found in soy products. I am going to try to incorporate some melons and soy into my diet and see if that benefits my skin and my overall health much.

I use a cream that contains collagen and elsatin on my face. I am trying to preserve my youthful look and I figure the best way to do that is to improve the elasticity of my skin. If it can stretch more maybe it will look softer and resit wrinkles. I am now 42 but have been told I look much younger. I think something is working.

I had heard that stretch marks were caused by a lack of collagen and elastin in the skin. When I got pregnant with my first child I was really worried about stretch marks. More worried than I would like to admit.

I did a lot of research about how to prevent them and investigated a lot of miracle creams that claimed to prevent or remove stretch marks. I decided to just regularly use a lotion that was enhanced with collagen and elasitn.

I know this is not scientific but I did not get any stretch marks during my pregnancy. Maybe I was never destined to get them. Maybe it was the lotion. I plan on using this when the next one comes along just in case.

Exposing your body to the sun causes you to lose elastin and collagen faster than you would if you shielded yourself from the sun. I am old and wrinkly at forty-five because of this, and every time I see tan teenagers lying out in the sun, I want to walk up to them and show them what they will look like in thirty years if they don’t take care of their bodies.

I work in a hair salon, and we do have a tanning bed there. It pains me when I see beautiful young people coming in to tan several times a week. They may think it makes them look great right now, but if they only knew how saggy and wrinkly they will become before it’s even time to naturally be so, they would run the other way.

It’s astounding how well the collagen and elastin in kids’ skin works. My sister’s children spend all day making faces at each other, but their skin bounds back immediately. She tells them that their faces will stick that way when they make ugly expressions, but they know it’s not true.

I have seen them squinting in daylight for hours. They don’t get any wrinkles under their eyes. They laugh and smile all the time, yet they have no laugh lines.

When I was their age, wrinkles were the furthest thing from my mind. Now, I look at their skin and long for my elasticity to be as good as theirs.

I have heard that fish oil supplements can help your body grow new collagen fibers and protect the elastin already present in it. The person who told me this works for a health food store, though, and she may just be trying to sell me her product.

Does anyone know if fish oil really makes your skin appear younger for longer? I am hesitant to try it, because I know that its power lies in the vitamin A it contains, and I already get lots of vitamin A in my diet.

One of my favorite foods is spinach, and it is full of vitamin A. I eat lots of seafood and salmon, so I get fish oil this way. Is this enough, or do I really need supplements to kick my collagen production into high gear?

I had a feeling that those anti-aging creams were a bunch of hype. They moisturize your skin, which temporarily makes you look fresher and more youthful, but they cannot sustain this appearance.

I believe that eating a healthy diet is the only way to keep your skin youthful. I eat lots of fruits with antioxidants in them, like grapes, and I get plenty of vitamin C from oranges and orange juice.

I snack on carrots and cantaloupe, so I get my vitamin A as well. I don’t waste money on anti-aging creams, since I am working on my elastin and collagen from the inside. I use a simple moisturizer, and that is all I need on the surface.