Reshaping Beauty with a $6.5 Billion Ingestible Collagen Market 

Good skin has long been the foundation of beauty. With dermatologists drilling home the importance of daily sunscreen use to avoid skin cancer and premature aging, skin preservation is top of mind for the beauty-obsessed consumer now more than ever. And collagen is the name of the game. 

Collagen is the main structural protein found in skin and other connective tissues responsible for keeping skin youthful, vibrant, and bouncy. UV exposure and age are the two main culprits for waning collagen, which contributes to thinner, drier, droopier skin and wrinkle formation. 

Experts conjecture the body’s natural production of collagen begins to dwindle in the mid- to late 20s and early 30s with a subsequent loss of 1% per year. By the age of 40, collagen is said to decline dramatically, leading to signs of aging — with sagging skin among the most prominent.

Expediting this natural process is sun exposure, the damage from which accumulates over time and can lead to skin cancer. The American Academy of Dermatology estimates that roughly 9,500 people in the U.S. are diagnosed with skin cancer every day.

But healthy skin isn’t just a concern for Millennials, Gen X, and Boomers. It’s also piquing the interest of Gen Z, and even Alpha, the latter of which has been dubbed by the “Sephora Kids.” This youngest cohort includes a growing number of tech-savvy tweens watching beauty-focused TikTok videos. They are also often swayed into buying skin care products that may not be age appropriate

Per a study by Total Shape released last fall, 41% of TikTok users ages 18-24 are glued to collagen-focused content. Video views containing the collagen hashtag peaked at 438 million in August 2023. 

Beauty-obsessed consumers are pairing their anti-aging regimens with collagen-centric ingestible beauty routines to make their journey to preservation taste great. 

The $4 billion ingestible collagen market is expected to reach $6.5 billion globally by 2025, according to Grand View Research. 

Collagen supplements tout many benefits, from increasing skin’s hydration and elasticity to reducing signs of aging, like wrinkles. Some supplements claim to work by stimulating the body to produce collagen on its own, and other skin-improving proteins such as elastin and fibrillin. Collagen supplements can also work to prevent brittleness in hair and nails and may even stimulate growth, companies claim. 

There are many kinds of ingestible collagen products on the market in powder and liquid form — some of which are being infused into coffee drinks and smoothies to shake up bottled water routines. Read on for the latest product development trends in ingestible collagen. 

Collagen Powders and Smoothies 

This past January, actress Kate Hudson, founder of apparel line Fabletics, introduced In Bloom, a new line of dietary supplement powders with business partner and former NFL tight end Colin Peek. (For more information about the products, Essential Elements, Beauty Aura, Brain Flow, and Green Proteins, click here.)

This summer, Mediterranean-inspired, garden-grown skin care brand Testament Beauty partnered with fellow Brooklyn, NY-based business, gourmet kosher supermarket Ouri’s Market in developing a limited-edition collagen-infused smoothie. 

Available at Manhattan’s Upper East Side and New Jersey locations, the smoothie was inspired by Testament’s best-selling treatment, its Turkish Coffee 3-in-1 Mask containing antioxidants cacao, coffee, and avocado. Touting an “inside-out” glow, the smoothie contains collagen with a blend of coconut cream and flakes, almond butter, banana, espresso, almond milk, and cacao nibs. Testament Beauty Founder Sophia Chabbott said the energy-boosting concoction with “skin-loving” ingredients puts the perfect pep in her step as a busy on-the-hop New Yorker. 

This spring, Nutrafol jumped on the collagen smoothie bandwagon with its Hair Health Hero Smoothie with Juice Press. The drink was engineered to support hair health with a bevy of skin-health ingredients like banana, passionfruit, kale, pea sprout extract, and vitamin E. One Health Hero proponent is new mom, plus-size model Ashley Graham, who said it keeps her hair healthy. 

Hair loss is common in new mothers with shedding typically peaking about 4 months after giving birth, per the American Academy of Dermatology. 

Speaking of hair growth, this summer also saw the release of Vital Proteins’ complexes for hair growth, which features a blend of Lustriva, a biotin complex, and the brand’s best-selling Collagen Peptides. Taken daily for three months, Vital Proteins Hair Complex is clinically proven to help grow thicker and fuller hair for all hair types, according to the company.

Meanwhile, its new Vital Proteins Skin Complex is made from a blend of Holimel melon juice concentrate, Verisol collagen peptides, Vital Proteins collagen peptides, hyaluronic acid, and vitamin C to help consumers transform a dull complexion to a radiant one.

Another brand seeking to address common consumer issues is ingestible beauty brand Vida Glow. In March 2022, the 10-year-old brand, founded by entrepreneur Anna Lahey, launched a hydrolyzed collagen peptide powder made from sustainably sourced fish skin to provide essential micronutrients to stimulate collagen production. 

Available in peach, pineapple, blueberry, mango, and flavorless, Natural Marine Collagen can be mixed into water, coffee, or tea. The recommended dosage is twice-daily at breakfast and before bedtime for women 35 and older, with a recommended use of once-daily for under 35. 

Vida Glow’s Natural Marine Collagen uses a natural hydrolyzation and proprietary enzymatic process whereby the amino acid content of the pre-hydrolyzed fish materials enhances the absorption process to 90%. Per Lahey, tangible results are seen at the 8-week mark. In a double-blind, placebo-controlled trial, wrinkles and fine lines were decreased by 50% with elasticity, firmness, and hydration improving up to 91%.

The brand’s anti-glycation supplement, Anti-G-Ox, was designed for younger consumers to help protect healthy skin against premature signs of aging caused by environmental aggressors such as UV light, smoking, alcohol consumption, and a poor diet lacking sufficient fruits and vegetables. 

Glycation is the skin’s natural aging process that eventually leads to wrinkles, lines, and discoloration. Because poor sugar metabolism caused by diets high in sugar and saturated fats compound the glycation process, the antioxidants in Anti-G-Ox help to balance sugar metabolism, aiming to yield an energized, rejuvenated complexion. The powder — available in pomegranate, sherbet, strawberry, raspberry, and berry — can be poured twice-daily onto the tongue where it melts and gets distributed into the bloodstream in 15 minutes. 

The brand’s Radiance Capsules target pigmentation, dull and uneven skin tone on a cellular level. The product was designed following Lahey’s experience with postpartum pigmentation following a bout of melasma. Its key active, SkinAx2, contains champagne grapeseed and French melon extracts that support melasma pigmentation and dark marks caused by past acne breakouts, sunspots, and undereye circles. According to Lahey, 100% of survey participants said they were happy with the results after 3 months of usage. 

Gwyneth Paltrow’s GoopGlow Morning Skin Superpowder, in orange and lemon verbena flavor, can be mixed with water and taken at breakfast or on-the-go. The supplement contains vitamins C and E, grapeseed proanthocyanidins, and CoQ10, which supports cellular energy production in the mitochondria and defends cells from damage caused by free-radicals. The blend helps to protect against
oxidative photodamage.

Liquid Collagen 

Collagen products can also be found in liquid form. The brand SpoiledChild, owned by beauty and wellness company Oddity, makes an E27 Extra Strength Liquid Collagen in mango flavor that supports skin elasticity and visibly minimizes wrinkles. The product also claims to support healthier hair and nails. Other benefits include boosting digestion, building bones, and joint mobility. 

Backed by actress Jamie Chung, the liquid collagen requires a dose of 1-2 tablespoons daily. After 4 weeks of continued use, the vitamin C and hyaluronic acid-infused liquid collagen improved skin, hair, gut, bone, and joint health in 97% of participants in a consumer study; 91% saw firmer, more glowing skin and a reduction in wrinkles in 8 weeks. 

SpoiledChild launched in February 2022 with billboards in New York City’s Times Square that read “Getting old is getting old” and “Stay immature.” The new brand followed the success of Oddity’s sister brand, Il Makiage, which has grown to a more than $250 million online venture. 

SpoiledChild features the same proprietary technology used by Il Makiage to expand into the wellness category with personalized hair and skin products. SpoiledChild uses an online quiz called SpoiledBrain powered by AI to match consumers to skin and hair care products. 

“There is an entirely new generation of consumers that are redefining the rules of aging on their own terms,” said Suzanne Fitzpatrick, co-general manager of SpoiledChild. “We wanted to create wellness products for them — products that break from the standard ‘anti-aging’ traditions and put the consumer in control of their future.”

For sophisticated consumers, model and actress Autumn Kendrick offers a marine collagen-infused sparkling tea called RA.D8 (pronounced radiate) from her father Ron’s wellness brand GnuSante Creations. The brand means “relentless pursuit of health” and donates 1% of proceeds to ocean conservation efforts. The sustainably sourced fish collagen blend touts glowing, plumper skin with vitamin C, Lycored Lumenato and carotenoids that fight UV damage and help support
collagen growth.

The sparkling tea — available in lemonade thyme, green apple ginger, cool pineapple, and blueberry vanilla — also contains sea buckthorn, a source of omega 3, 6, 7 and 9. Kendrick said she sips the beverage in lieu of a glass of wine to wind down from a busy day and right before bedtime when skin is in a reparative state.  

“Beauty from within is very inclusive,” said Kendrick. “What I found from the ingredients and digesting them, my skin has become more balanced. I don’t have the same dry patches. I don’t have the same red zones. It’s really become more all-around glowing without the same struggles of trying to figure out what I need for this area.”