Biotin and collagen: which ingredient is right for your beauty routine?

When starting an ingestible beauty routine, there is no shortage of beauty-boosting vitamins and supplements to choose from.

Two of the most popular ingestible beauty ingredients you’re likely to come across are biotin and collagen. But which one is right for you and your routine? Let’s dive into biotin vs collagen.

Collagen and biotin are popular beauty supplements, but have very different functions, benefits and results. Here we breakdown the differences of biotin and collagen supplements and help you determine which ingestible beauty supplement is going to address your concerns with the best results.

Is biotin the same as collagen?

Biotin and collagen are ingredients commonly used in ingestible beauty products and supplements. But is biotin the same as collagen? No. Biotin is a vitamin while collagen is a protein. And both provide different benefits for beauty routines, with different results.

What is biotin?

Biotin, also referred to as vitamin B7 or vitamin H, is a B complex vitamin. Explained at its most simple, biotin helps the body convert food into energy. It functions as an essential cofactor for carboxylase enzymes required for several metabolic pathways, including energy production and the metabolism of fatty acids, amino acids and gluconeogenesis.

What is collagen?

Collagen is the main structural protein in the body. It’s responsible for giving hair, skin and nails their lustre, strength and firmness¹. As we age our natural collagen levels deplete. This results in the appearance of fine lines, wrinkles, sagging skin, brittle nails and lacklustre hair.². This is why it’s important to supplement your natural collagen levels with a collagen supplement.

Biotin beauty benefits

Supplementation with biotin can have a positive effect on hair and healthy hair growth.³ As biotin plays a role in keratin production, it’s thought this is how the vitamin contributes to supporting healthy hair growth, particularly for those deficient in biotin. Symptoms of biotin deficiency include hair loss and hair thinning and research shows in otherwise healthy women experiencing hair loss, 38% presented with biotin deficiency, and a further 49% presented with suboptimal serum biotin levels⁴.

True biotin deficiencies are rare. However, there are several factors that can contribute to a biotin deficiency that impact women, including pregnancy, alcoholism, gut issues affecting absorption and chronic use of antibiotics⁵. Because of these contributing factors, Vida Glow’s scientifically formulated Hairology capsules include biotin, to help supplement biotin levels in the body.

Collagen beauty benefits

Supplementation with collagen has beauty benefits for hair, skin and nails. Collagen supplements, including Vida Glow’s Natural Marine Collagen, have been clinically proven to reduce fine lines and wrinkles ⁶, plus increase skin elasticity⁷. A multi-benefit product, collagen can also support hair thickness. Collagen supplementation works at the dermis layer of the scalp to help create the optimal environment for healthy hair to grow⁸. Anecdotally, one of the first benefits of collagen supplementation people see is in their nail health and strength with a reduction of brittleness and flaking.

How does biotin and collagen work in the body?

Biotin stimulates keratin production in hair. Biotin is not stored for long in the body – and most of the biotin we receive is from food like meat, eggs, fish, seeds, nuts, and vegetables. Vida Glow’s Hairology capsules also contain biotin, to help mitigate any effects of a biotin deficiency.

Collagen on the other hand is a natural protein in our bodies, which can be supplemented with a hydrolysed collagen powder. Once ingested, marine collagen is absorbed and distributed into the bloodstream to the dermis layer of skin. In fact, 70% of our skin dermis layer is made up of collagen. Here, it stimulates fibroblast proliferation, generating the production of fresh collagen and resulting in firmer more youthful looking skin.

Biotin and collagen supplements: Which one is for me?

Deciding whether your beauty routine would benefit best from collagen or biotin ultimately comes down to identifying your key concerns. If your concerned solely about hair health, then a biotin supplement might be a helpful addition to your routine. If you want to address hair, skin and nails, then a collagen supplement will provide multiple benefits with clinically proven results.

With that said, collagen and biotin can be safely taken in the same routine. For those concerned with signs of skin ageing (think fine lines and wrinkles) as well as slow hair growth, thinning hair and damaged hair, we recommend an ingestible routine of Vida Glow’s Natural Marine Collagen and Hairology – which contains biotin as well as a selection of vitamins and minerals clinically studied for their positive effects on hair health, thinning and growth.

So, if you want healthy, longer, stronger hair, and a complexion that is firm, youthful and glowing – add both collagen and biotin into your routine with Vida Glow’s Natural Marine Collagen and Hairology capsules.

Sources

1. Ricard-Blum, Sylvie. "The Collagen Family." Cold Spring Harbor Perspectives in Biology, vol. 3, no. 1, 2011, a004978. https://doi.org/10.1101/cshperspect.a004978

2. Varani, James, et al. "Decreased Collagen Production in Chronologically Aged Skin." The American Journal of Pathology, vol. 168, no. 6, 2006, pp. 1861–1868. https://doi.org/10.2353/ajpath.2006.051302

3. Patel, Dipal, et al. "A Review of the Use of Biotin for Hair Loss." Skin Appendage Disorders, vol. 3, no. 3, 2017, pp. 166–169. https://doi.org/10.1159/000462981

4. Trüeb, R. M. "Serum Biotin Levels in Women Complaining of Hair Loss." International Journal of Trichology, vol. 8, no. 2, 2016, pp. 73–77. https://doi.org/10.4103/0974-7753.188040

5. Mock, Donald M. "Biotin: From Nutrition to Therapeutics." The Journal of Nutrition, vol. 147, no. 8, 2017, pp. 1487–1492. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC5525106/
   

6. Duteil, Luc, et al. "Effect of Low Dose Type I Fish Collagen Peptides Combined or Not with Silicon on Skin Aging Signs in Mature Women." JOJ Case Studies, vol. 6, no. 4, 2018, 555692. https://doi.org/10.19080/JOJCS.2018.06.555692

7. Proksch, E., 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, vol. 27, no. 1, 2014, pp. 47–55. https://doi.org/10.1159/000351376

8. Oesser, Stefan. "The Oral Intake of Specific Bioactive Collagen Peptides Has a Positive Effect on Hair Thickness." Nutrafoods, vol. 1, 2020, pp. 134–138. https://doi.org/10.17470/NF-020-0019.