Beauty / Society

Collagen banking is the secret to looking younger for longer

By Fiona Embleton

Photo: Getty

Regardless of how you feel about getting older, ageing is inevitable. But could collagen banking be one way to mitigate the effects on our faces?

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The number of candles on your birthday cake don’t automatically correspond to your skin age. At 25, you’re still dancing on tables at 3am while working your way up the career ladder. But it’s also the tipping where your skin starts to experience what experts call ‘stealth ageing’ as collagen production starts to decline. In fact, after the age of 25, skin starts to lose one per cent of collagen each year. Likewise, women lose 30 per cent of collagen in the first five years after menopause. Why is this important?

Collagen is a structural protein in our body responsible for keeping the mattress of the skin springy. Without it, skin starts to sag, look dull and lines become more pronounced. But it’s not all doom and gloom, thanks to the new trend for collagen banking. The idea is to use science-backed skincare to shore up a ‘bank’ of collagen while your body is still efficient at making it. And when more heavy lifting is needed, take a technical approach to your concerns with the latest gadgets. It’s certainly an appealing premise – use these two strategies and it’s a bit like an insurance policy to soften the blow later.

Here, the best products and ingredients to help you ‘collagen bank’: