how long before you notice anything, honestly

I gave up on my first collagen powder somewhere around day nine. I had been mixing it into coffee, watching my face in the mirror like something was going to happen by Friday, and when it did not, I decided the whole category was a scam and moved on.

Looking at the actual trial timelines now, day nine was never going to show me anything. I was not testing collagen. I was testing my own patience.

what the trials actually measured, and when

Hydration comes first. Proksch and colleagues, in a double blind placebo controlled study published in 2014, measured a rise in skin hydration at four weeks.

Elasticity follows. The same group's wrinkle study measured reductions in eye wrinkle depth at four and eight weeks, with the effect still present four weeks after supplementation stopped.

Nails are twelve weeks. Hexsel and colleagues ran 2.5 grams a day for 24 weeks and reported a 12 percent increase in nail growth rate and a 42 percent drop in broken nails, measured at the twelve week mark and beyond.

Joints are slow. Clark and colleagues ran 24 weeks in athletes with activity related joint discomfort.

Bone is the longest. König and colleagues ran 5 grams a day for a full twelve months in postmenopausal women and measured bone mineral density.

so the honest answer is a range

Four weeks before anything is measurable. Eight to twelve weeks before it is the kind of change you would notice yourself. Longer for the structural stuff underneath.

And there is a lag built into the biology. Skin cells turn over roughly monthly. Nails grow about three millimetres a month, so the nail you are looking at today was made a while ago. Hair is slower still. You are not waiting on the ingredient. You are waiting on the tissue.

the two things that decide whether you get there

Dose, and consistency. Every study above used a real amount taken every single day. Not most days. Every day, for months.

Which is why I now think adherence is the actual product problem in this category. A powder that works perfectly in a trial does nothing in your kitchen if you stop using it in week two, and almost everyone stops in week two.

what I would tell my day nine self

Pick a format you will genuinely finish daily. Check that it holds a real dose, not a sprinkle. Then give it twelve weeks before you decide anything, and stop checking the mirror in the meantime.

We made a can partly because of this. Twenty grams of collagen protein, cold, no mixing, no sink. The point of a format you enjoy is that twelve weeks stops feeling like a commitment.

the research i leaned on

• Proksch E, Segger D, Degwert J, et al. Oral supplementation of specific collagen peptides has beneficial effects on human skin physiology: a double-blind, placebo-controlled study. Skin Pharmacology and Physiology. 2014;27(1):47-55.
• Proksch E, Schunck M, Zague V, et al. Oral intake of specific bioactive collagen peptides reduces skin wrinkles and increases dermal matrix synthesis. Skin Pharmacology and Physiology. 2014;27(3):113-119.
• Hexsel D, Zague V, Schunck M, et al. Oral supplementation with specific bioactive collagen peptides improves nail growth and reduces symptoms of brittle nails. Journal of Cosmetic Dermatology. 2017;16(4):520-526.
• König D, Oesser S, Scharla S, et al. Specific collagen peptides improve bone mineral density and bone markers in postmenopausal women, a randomized controlled study. Nutrients. 2018;10(1):97.

LÉS is a beverage, not medicine, and nothing here is medical advice.