WHAT DOES COLLAGEN ACTUALLY DO?

Skin. Bones. Joints. Tendons. Ligaments. Collagen gets talked about like a beauty ingredient but your body has considerably bigger plans for it. So what does collagen actually do?

FIRST THINGS FIRST: COLLAGEN ISN'T JUST ABOUT SKIN

If your relationship with collagen started somewhere between a beauty supplement and an expensive face cream, fair enough. But collagen is actually the most abundant protein in the human body, accounting for roughly 25–30% of its total protein.

And it's everywhere.

Your skin contains it.
Your bones contain it.
Your cartilage contains it.
Your tendons and ligaments contain it.

There are at least 28 different types of collagen, although types I to IV are the most common. Type I alone makes up more than 90% of the collagen in the human body and is found in places including skin, bone and tendons. 

In very simple terms: collagen helps give tissues structure and strength.

OKAY, BUT WHAT DOES IT DO FOR YOUR SKIN?

Quite a lot. Collagen is a major structural component of the dermis, the deeper layer underneath the surface of your skin. Together with other components of the extracellular matrix, it helps give skin its structure and mechanical strength. Which explains why collagen became such a beauty obsession in the first place.

But there's an important distinction: having collagen in your skin and drinking collagen are not the same scientific question.

We know collagen is fundamental to the structure of skin. Whether taking collagen peptides can meaningfully change how your skin looks or behaves is something researchers have had to test separately. And that evidence isn't perfectly tidy.

A 2025 meta-analysis of 23 randomized controlled trials initially found improvements in hydration, elasticity and wrinkles. But when the researchers looked specifically at independently funded and higher-quality studies, those effects were no longer statistically significant. 

Other reviews have reached more positive conclusions. A large 2026 umbrella review covering 16 systematic reviews, 113 randomized controlled trials and almost 8,000 participants found overall favorable results across several skin and musculoskeletal outcomes. 

Translation? There is promising research. There is also still debate. Welcome to science. 🤓

WHAT ABOUT YOUR JOINTS?

Your joints aren't made of collagen alone, obviously, but collagen is an important structural component of cartilage, the connective tissue that helps cover and cushion the ends of bones in joints. This is also an area where collagen supplementation has been studied quite extensively.

The 2026 umbrella review found reductions in several measures of pain and stiffness among people with osteoarthritis, although not every outcome measured showed a significant improvement. That's worth knowing. It's also very different from saying collagen supplements can somehow rebuild everyone's joints. They can't make that promise, and neither can we.

AND TENDONS AND LIGAMENTS?

This is the part of collagen that doesn't get nearly as much Instagram attention. 
Tendons connect muscle to bone. 
Ligaments connect bone to bone.
And collagen is one of the major structural proteins that gives these tissues their tensile strength. In other words: your collagen is doing considerably more than worrying about your forehead.

Research is now looking at whether collagen supplementation, particularly in combination with exercise, can influence how tendons adapt to training.

A 2024 systematic review and meta-analysis found positive effects on tendon morphology when collagen peptide supplementation was combined with longer-term physical training, although the certainty of evidence for tendon outcomes was still low to very low. 

A newer 2026 systematic review found that some trials reported greater increases in tendon size and stiffness with collagen supplementation plus resistance or plyometric training. But the field is still relatively small, with only eight randomized trials included and considerable differences between study protocols. 

So: interesting? Absolutely. Case closed? Not yet. But we are on it.

WAIT. COLLAGEN FOR MUSCLES?

This one needs some nuance. Collagen is a protein, but it isn't generally considered the best protein for directly stimulating muscle protein synthesis because its amino acid profile differs from high-quality complete proteins such as whey. So we're not about to tell you to replace your post-workout protein with collagen. But that doesn't mean collagen has no relevance to an active body.

The 2024 meta-analysis found that collagen supplementation alongside training was associated with modest improvements in fat-free mass, muscle architecture and maximal strength. The certainty of the evidence ranged from low to moderate depending on the outcome. And the connective tissues surrounding and transmitting force from your muscles, including tendons, contain plenty of collagen.

So when we talk about body at BADDIE, we're deliberately looking beyond muscle alone.

SO WHY DO WE LOSE COLLAGEN?

Your body makes its own collagen. That process requires amino acids and several micronutrients. Vitamin C, for example, is required for normal collagen formation, which is one reason you'll find vitamin C alongside the collagen in BADDIE.

But collagen metabolism changes as we age, while external factors such as UV exposure can also affect the collagen-rich extracellular matrix of the skin. That doesn't mean your body suddenly stops making collagen on your 25th birthday. There is no collagen switch that flips off after your birthday cake. It means collagen synthesis, breakdown and tissue remodeling are biological processes that change over time.

AND WHAT HAPPENS WHEN YOU DRINK COLLAGEN?

No, the collagen in your drink does not travel intact to your cheekbones.

Hydrolysed collagen has already been broken down into smaller peptides. During digestion, these are further processed into amino acids and small peptides that can be absorbed into the bloodstream. Your body then decides what happens next. 
That's also why the idea that marine collagen automatically “goes to your skin” while bovine collagen somehow “goes to your joints” doesn't really hold up.

We investigated that particular rabbit hole already.

→ Marine vs Bovine Collagen: Does the Source Really Matter?

AND WHAT DOES BADDIE DO?

Beauty BADDIE contains 10 g of hydrolysed marine collagen peptides, together with vitamin C, zinc, biotin, niacin and 120 mg hyaluronic acid. We didn't add collagen because it's currently having a very good time on TikTok. And we didn't formulate BADDIE around skin alone.

GLOW is part of the story. BODY is too.

Collagen is a structural protein found throughout your skin, bones, cartilage, tendons and ligaments. And the research into supplementation now stretches across both skin and musculoskeletal health.
That's the bigger picture we had in mind when we put 10 g in a can.

THE BADDIE VERDICT

Collagen does a lot more than keep the beauty industry busy. It's one of your body's major structural proteins and an important part of your skin, bones, cartilage, tendons and ligaments. Does drinking collagen guarantee better skin, stronger joints and indestructible tendons? Obviously not. But reducing collagen to “the protein for pretty skin” misses most of the story.
Research into collagen supplementation now covers skin, joints, connective tissue, body composition and exercise. Some findings are stronger than others, and there are still plenty of questions left to answer.  Which is exactly why BADDIE wasn't built around one beauty claim.

10 g of collagen. For more than your glow.