Collagen for hair: thicker, healthier-looking hair from the inside

Why does hair feel thinner in your forties and fifties?

Many women notice slimmer, drier-feeling hair in their forties and fifties because the deeper layer of skin every follicle is rooted in is built from collagen, and from early adulthood the skin makes a little less collagen each year. The strand you brush is made of keratin, a protein, and each hair follicle sits in the dermis, the deeper layer of your skin.¹ Its deeper part is dense connective tissue made of collagen fibre bundles.² Think of it as the soil, with every follicle rooted in it.

The soil changes with time. From early adulthood the skin makes about 1.0% to 1.5% less collagen each year,³ and your scalp is skin too. By your forties and fifties those small yearly steps have added up, and many women notice a ponytail that feels slimmer or lengths that feel drier.

You are in good company. In one study of 178 postmenopausal women in Thailand, 52.2% had female pattern hair loss, and 73.2% of those cases were the mildest grade.⁴ Our guide to collagen and menopause covers what else shifts at this stage.

Researchers have also measured what happens to hair when people take collagen every day, and the results are encouraging.

How does collagen you drink reach your hair?

Collagen you drink reaches the layer of skin around your hair follicles through your bloodstream, and quickly. Researchers who gave volunteers a drink of hydrolysed collagen then found collagen peptides in their bloodstream, with levels at their highest within one to two hours.⁵

The dermis is where your follicles live, and the bloodstream is what supplies it. So the thinking behind the hair research is that a collagen drink supports the ground the next centimetre grows out of, while the strand you can already see stays as it is. Hair trials run for weeks and months for that reason.

It also explains why collagen and keratin work as a pair. Keratin is the strand and collagen is the layer that holds the follicle, so the idea is to look after the second while your body gets on with building the first.

Image slotWoman in her early fifties brushing thick, shiny shoulder-length hair by a sunlit windowassets/img/blog/hr-brush.webp

Does collagen help hair growth and thickness? The trials

Two randomised, placebo-controlled trials say yes: in one, hair was measurably thicker after 16 weeks of daily collagen peptides, and in the other, hair looked healthier after 12 weeks of a daily marine collagen drink. Each looked at hair a different way. One measured the width of individual hairs. The other used expert grading, and the participants' own answers, to judge how the hair looked and felt.

The first result carries weight because it was measured with an instrument. A micrometre is tiny, but so is a hair, and in that trial hair got thicker with collagen. Across a whole head, wider strands are what make hair feel fuller in your hand.

The second trial shows the change is something you can see and feel. It was double-blind, and more of the collagen group agreed their hair felt thicker and smoother, as the chart below shows.

How long does collagen take to work for hair?

Allow 8 to 16 weeks for collagen to show in your hair. Scalp hair grows about 1 cm a month,¹ so the hair that benefits is the new length coming through at the root, and that takes time to show. Each study reported at its own point, and together they cover weeks 8 to 16.

For skin and nails alongside hair, see how long collagen takes to work.

Before and after: what did 106 women report?

Of the 106 women who took our liquid marine collagen every day for 8 weeks and told us what changed, 86% reported healthier hair.⁸ Nails and skin came along with the hair.

If you have ever abandoned a supplement halfway through the pot, you will like one more number from that trial: 99% of the women found it easy to include in their daily routine.⁸

What else is in Core^™ for hair?

Besides 11,000 mg of hydrolysed marine collagen, types I and III, each portion of Core^™ carries biotin and selenium with your hair in mind. Each of those two nutrients carries an authorised health claim.⁹

• Biotin, 5,000 µg per portion. Biotin contributes to the maintenance of normal hair.
• Selenium, 27.5 µg per portion (50% NRV). Selenium contributes to the maintenance of normal hair.

The drink in the 12-week trial paired its collagen with vitamin C, and so does Core^™, with 120 mg in every portion. Vitamin C contributes to normal collagen formation for the normal function of skin. All of it comes in one small measure, with no separate tablets to remember.

What do women say about collagen and their hair?

Women describe hair that feels thicker and fuller: one writer found hers felt that way by month six of marine collagen, and a verified buyer says she loves what it does to her hair, nails and skin. Trials give you averages, and these two describe what the result is like to live with.

How should you take collagen for hair?

• Daily, without gaps. The trial results above come from a dose taken every day. Your follicles are working all the time, so a steady supply suits them.
• One portion. Shake the pack, pour into the cap and drink it straight, or stir it into water or a smoothie. Keep the pack in the fridge once opened.
• A full dose. The hair trials used 2.5 g of collagen peptides and 8 g of hydrolysed marine collagen a day. Core^™ gives you 11,000 mg per portion, sugar free and berry flavoured.
• Long enough to grow it out. Women in our trial reported healthier hair at 8 weeks, and the measured gain in thickness came at 16.

Take one portion of Core^™ every day, without gaps, for at least 8 weeks, the point at which women in our trial reported healthier hair. For skin and nails as well as hair, our guide to marine collagen for women brings all three together.

Questions about collagen and hair