What's The Deal With Collagen & Elastin?
Your skin would be nothing without collagen and elastin. So, you should probably know a little bit more about what they are and what they do, right?
Collagen and elastin are constantly written about in the beauty world. In fact, we challenge you to find one, just one skincare article that doesn’t mention them at least once. Bet you can’t. And the reason is simple: collagen and elastin are two of the most important proteins in your skin. In fact, they’re present in all your tissues and organs... but we’ll stick with skin for now. Because that’s what we’re good at, after all;)
What Exactly Is Collagen?
As previously mentioned, collagen is a protein. But it’s not just any old protein. It’s actually the most abundant one in the whole of your body and accounts for between 70 and 80 percent of all proteins within the skin. You’ll find it just underneath the surface of your skin, in the dermis, where it’s produced by a network of cells called fibroblasts.
What's The Function Of Collagen In The Skin?
Collagen provides structure and strength to your skin by acting like scaffolding to hold it all together. Remember how firm and plump your skin was in your teens and early 20s? Yeah, that was all thanks to an abundance of collagen. It's also a major player in maintaining healthy cell turnover which rids your complexion of dulling dead skin cells so new, fresh ones can replace them.
The sad news is collagen production dramatically decreases with age and environmental damage. The sun, of course, is one of the worst offenders, but things like eating too much sugar, smoking and poor sleep all play havoc with your collagen. And these nasties not only affect how much collagen your skin churns out, but also the quality of what it does produce. Dang.
What About Elastin?
Like collagen, elastin is synthesized by fibroblasts in the dermis. It’s the second most abundant protein in your body, but it only makes up around 2 or 3 percent of all proteins found in the skin which is small fry compared to its collagen cousin. This doesn’t make elastin any less important, however. Together, they work like a fine-tuned machine to maintain healthy, youthful-looking skin.
What's The Function Of Elastin In The Skin?
Elastin is about 1000 times more flexible than collagen so, while collagen provides support and strength, elastin gives your skin flexibility and elasticity. It's what helps your skin bounce back into place after you pinch it, for example.
Skin loses elasticity as you get older thanks to a natural degradation of elastin, but those same environmental and lifestyle aggressors also play their part. This is why as you age and are more exposed to the elements, your skin can become thin, loose and saggy.
What Are The Best Ways To Boost Collagen & Elastin In Your Skin?
The good news is all is not lost for your collagen and elastin simply because you’ve hit the wrong side of age 30. In fact, there are plenty of ways to help maintain and even boost your levels.
1. Don’t Let The Sun Beat Down On You
We’ve said it before and we’ll say it again, the sun is bad news for your skin. Like, really bad. We understand there’s nothing better than the feeling of the sun beating down on your skin, but the damage it causes is just not worth it. UV radiation weakens collagen and elastin fibers, causing them to break down way quicker than normal. And trust us, age does a good enough job of that on its own, so don’t let the sun make things ten times worse. Instead, always protect your skin with a broad-spectrum sunscreen that contains at least SPF 30.
2. Get Plenty Of ZZZs
While your body and brain are asleep, your skin gets super busy repairing and recharging itself. Cells start to turn over quicker and collagen production amps up, big time. It figures, therefore, that if you skimp on your sleep, your levels of collagen and elastin will become seriously affected and your skin will never be able to live up to its full potential. Lack of sleep also produces higher levels of cortisol, the dreaded stress hormone, which breaks down collagen and elastin and welcomes premature aging with open arms.
The answer? Get your eight hours every single night and help your skin hydrate, restore and heal itself as you sleep with a super-charged treatment like our Retinol Moisturizer.
3. Cut Down On Sweet Treats
Simple carbs and refined white sugar? More stuff that might be temporarily good for the soul, but are in fact hell for collagen and elastin. And it’s all because of a process called glycation.
Glycation is when sugars in your bloodstream attach themselves to collagen and elastin and turn into ‘advanced glycation end’ products (AGEs). AGEs have no good qualities, but instead wreak havoc on all that lovely collagen and elastin, weakening them and making them become hard and inflexible. This makes your skin look dull and increases the visible signs of aging like sagging, fine lines and wrinkles.
Reduce your sugar intake by swapping out refined sugar, corn syrup, fruit juices and carbs for more protein-rich foods. Ha, easier said than done, right? OK, then at least try to cut down on the sweet stuff.
4. Protect Your Skin With Antioxidants
When it comes to what you put on your skin, some of the most effective ingredients for boosting collagen production and maintaining levels of elastin are antioxidants such as hyaluronic acid and vitamin C.
How so? Because antioxidants are essential for counteracting damage caused by free radicals. Free radicals are unstable atoms that are created by your skin after exposure to too much sun and pollution. In order to stabilize themselves, free radicals steal electrons from collagen and elastin which causes no end of damage. The good thing about antioxidants, however, is they have the power to donate electrons without losing their stability which allows collagen and elastin to go about their business without fear of being broken down and damaged.
Try our C-Plus Super Serum for a potent antioxidant hit of vitamin C, hyaluronic acid, niacinamide. Free radicals stand no chance...
The takeaway from all of this? Simple. Look after your collagen and elastin and they will do their best to look after you.
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![5 Unusual Things That Can Trigger Breakouts]()
No idea why you’re getting an influx of acne right now? Many lifestyle habits can trigger your breakouts – and sometimes they’re found in the most unsuspecting places.
As you know, acne is caused by one thing and one thing alone: an excess of sebum that causes your pores to become blocked with oil, dead skin cells, bacteria and other impurities. Eating too much chocolate doesn’t give you pimples. Neither does moisturizer. Sure, they can trigger breakouts if you’re genetically susceptible to them, but acne isn’t caused by uncleanliness, a poor diet or crummy skincare routine. It’s caused by blocked pores. End of.
OK, so this begs the question: why bother trying to cure them if your breakouts are totally out of your control? Well, here’s the thing. You can’t change your genes, that’s for certain. However, what you can do is keep acne-triggering factors under control to help lessen the blow. Sleeping well, reducing emotional stress and eating a healthy, well-balanced diet; all these things are important for maintaining balanced sebum and therefore reducing the likelihood of you breaking out week after week.
But there are also some less obvious reasons why you face might be suffering with regular breakouts. So if you’ve already dispensed with things like smoking, poor cleansing and too much exfoliation, but you’re still getting pimples on the reg, it might be time to look at some of the more unexpected areas of your life.
On that note, read on for five slightly more unusual causes for your breakouts.
1. Your Pillowcase
Getting enough beauty sleep is crucial for the health of your skin, but if you’re sleeping on a dirty pillowcase for a solid eight hours every night dirt and bacteria is inevitably going to build up and irritate your pores. This is especially true if you sleep on a synthetic pillowcase because man-made fibers don’t absorb sweat as effectively as natural fibres like cotton or linen.
The answer? Go natural all the way, for starters. Also, cleanse and moisturize your skin before bed to reduce the amount of grime getting on your pillowcase. Tea Tree Super Cleanser+ is a great acne-fighting cleanser that balances and clarifies your pores. Follow this with Retinol Moisturizer to lightly hydrate and moisturize your skin while boosting cellular turnover to keep your pores free of dead skin cells.
Finally, wash your pillowcase every three or four days. And ditto, your face towel. Old, dirty towels that are used by the whole family for drying their hands and who-knows-what-else are another breeding ground for germs and bacteria. Do you really want to be swiping this all over your freshly cleansed skin? Thought not. So, invest in a couple of cotton face towels for you and you alone and wash them every other day.
2. Your Makeup & Hair Products
Your skincare routine might be spot on, but what about your makeup and hair products? Rich hair conditioners, for example, are notorious for containing heavy ingredients like cocoa butter and coconut oil which, granted, are incredible for moisturizing your precious locks, but are not so great for acne-prone skin. Of course, we know you’re not smothering your face with conditioner but still, it can settle on your face when you rinse your hair so always cleanse your skin after, never before conditioning.
Makeup can similarly clog up your pores, especially if you use formulations that contain oil. So don’t do that. Instead, look out for noncomedogenic products (this means they’re less likely to block pores) and use powder rather than liquid formulations whenever possible.
3. Your Workout Routine
Do you love to get a good sweat on when you’re working out? High fives to you. However, allow all that sweat and grime to sit on your skin and your pores are going to clog up quicker than your instructor can say ‘hit the floor for ten push-ups.’
Cleanse your skin thoroughly and swiftly after exercising (the longer you leave your skin doused in sweat and grimy workout gear, the more bacteria is likely to breed), and always use a mild but effective cleanser that helps to detoxify your skin without drying it out. Our Charcoal Clarifying Cleanser is a goodie as it harnesses the powers of coconut-derived activated charcoal which destroys skin-smothering impurities to offer a deep, gently purifying clean every time.
4. Your Winter Cover-Ups
Any fabric that rubs against your skin can lead to unwanted issues in the long-term. Remember how face masks were causing ‘maskne’ back in the pandemic? This was all due to friction from the mask combining with the obvious culprits of sweat, dirt, oil, bacteria and humidity which caused dryness, irritation and pimples.
Thankfully, for most of us, the days of having to wear a mask 24/7 are over. However, if you spend a lot of time outdoors in the winter and like to wrap yourself up in woollen hats and thick, heavy scarves, these can cause similar problems, trapping sweat and increasing friction around your chin, jaw, neck and forehead.
To help reduce breakouts caused by beanies, scarves (and even turtleneck sweaters), avoid synthetic fabrics and launder your winter cover-ups regularly. Weekly, at least.
5. Your Laundry Detergent
Speaking of laundry, your choice of detergent is also imperative. Just like your beauty routine, certain ingredients in your laundry detergent can be super irritating – especially if you have extremely sensitive or acne-prone skin. Fragrance, for example, can be a real Debbie Downer, as can harsh dyes, essentials oils, strong surfactants and preservatives.
To reduce the likelihood of your laundry detergent triggering those pesky breakouts, first up, choose liquid over powder detergents. Why? Because these leave behind less residue on your clothes and fabrics (who knew?!). Also, never use more detergent than is recommended on the label, avoid fabric softeners and try double rinsing your laundry after washing to remove as much residue as possible.
5 Unusual Things That Can Trigger Breakouts
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