Do Skin Supplements Work?

Best Supplements for Skin Health

Browse any shelf in the supermarket wellbeing section or pharmacy health aisles, and you’ll know that when it comes to supplements, there’s an astonishing array of choice.

In days gone by, we might have the choice between a simple one a day A-Z vitamin and mineral supplement and some fizzy vitamin C tablets. But now, every vitamin, mineral, antioxidant and phytonutrient is covered in a seemingly endless selection of tablets, capsules, powders, gummies, drops and drinks.

We can choose a supplement for all aspects of our health, from supporting our heart and brain, to gut health, healthy hair and better immune health. But in recent years, there's been a surge in nutritional supplements that promise to improve skin ageing, boost collagen production, support skin conditions such as acne and eczema and improve skin appearance.

So, are they any good? If so, what supplements can help specific skin conditions and which ones might improve our overall skin health? Which vitamins for healthy skin do we actually need? Which of them will truly benefit us and which ones are an expensive waste of money that will just get excreted in our urine?

In this article, we're going to look at the best vitamin and best beauty supplements that will look after your skin's health, whatever your skin type.

Why Might I Need Vitamin Supplements for Skin?

Depending on many factors such as our diet, age, gender and physical activity level, we all have different nutritional needs. This means that whilst some of us might benefit from taking a certain nutrient, others might not.

For example, a vegan is advised to take vitamin B12 supplements because there aren’t many plant based foods that contain this essential vitamin. But a meat eater probably wouldn’t need to take a B12 supplement, as they would presumably get enough from their diet.

Most vitamin and mineral supplements target our physical health, such as that of the heart, brain or muscles. Others target our mental wellbeing. But what about those that target our biggest organ, the skin?

What Are the Best Supplements for Skin Health?

Can a skin supplement work to maintain healthy, plump, youthful and blemish free skin? Or are we better off concentrating on the skin care products that we apply on the outside of the skin? Rather than supplements that tackle things from the inside?

Here’s our take on the matter and why we’re such big fans of our own skin supplement.

What Skin Supplements Are Available?

There are lots of skin care supplements available. From vitamins C and E to "dermatologist recommended" collagen peptides, it can be a minefield knowing which ones to choose. Here's some of the most popular, and most likely to help your skin stay happy and healthy.

Vitamin C for Healthy Skin

Basic vitamin supplements such as vitamin C (fizzy or otherwise) help to promote healthy skin. This is because vitamin C plays a role in skin health and wound healing. If we're deficient in vitamin C from our diet, then we might notice that our skin becomes damaged more easily, and take longer to heal than it should. We might also notice that our skin looks thinner and that our gums are more liable to bleed.

Vitamin C also helps to promote the production of collagen, the protein that keeps our skin plump, youthful and free from fine lines and wrinkles. Therefore, if you take the recommended daily intake of vitamin C in supplement form, it may help keep your skin healthier and more youthful.

Vitamin E Supplements and Skin Care

Vitamin E is also beneficial for the skin because it’s an antioxidant vitamin that helps to neutralise free radical damage to skin cells. It helps to protect the skin from UV damage from the sun and reduces inflammation. Vitamin E is usually supplied to the skin via the natural oil produced by the skin called sebum. If we have dry skin then we might not have enough vitamin E in our skin to have this antioxidant, phytoprotective effect.

We might consume enough vitamin E from eating foods such as cereals, nuts and seeds as part of a healthy lifestyle. But if we don't, and we don't top up our levels with a supplement, then we may notice skin concerns such as dryness and inflammation.

Other Important Vitamins and Minerals for Clear Skin

The mineral zinc, and one of the B vitamins, biotin, are also important for normal skin health. Zinc helps to support healthy skin by boosting wound healing. If we don't have enough, we might develop a rash or itchy skin that looks similar to eczema.

Collagen Beauty Supplements for Glowing Skin, Youthfulness and Skin Elasticity

Collagen is the most abundant protein in the human body. It supports the joints, keeping them supple and lubricated, as well as supporting the health of the muscles, bones and blood vessels. But perhaps most famously, collagen plays an important role in the youthfulness of our skin.

Collagen keeps the skin lifted and plump, minimising the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles, and preventing other visible signs of skin ageing, such as drooping and sagging. As part of the natural ageing process, we begin to lose our natural levels of this important protein. Shockingly, this process begin, albeit gradually, from around the age of 25. Then, as we progress though our 30s, 50s and 50s, this process slowly begins to speed up, hence visible signs of ageing as we approach our middle years.

For this reason, many people choose to take certain supplements that contain collagen. Collagen supplements are available as powders and drinks, that will boost your skin reserves of collagen and support your skin from the inside. The best collagen supplements are made from the highest quality ingredients, so it's worth investing in what you can afford.

Then there are the less well known skin supplements. These include hyaluronic acid supplements that help to boost skin smoothness and keep the skin hydrated and omega 3 supplements that help to strengthen the skin's natural barriers.

Healthy Fats: Omega-3 Fatty Acids

Not all fats are bad - in fact, the good fats that we hear about, including omega 3 fatty acids, are a great addition to your beauty vitamins regime.

In terms of the skin, these supplements help to protect against inflammation, which if left unchecked, could lead to certain skin conditions such as eczema and psoriasis. They can also help to support damaged skin and protect the skin barrier to support the overall health of the skin.

The Best Skin Supplements

The best supplements for you are the ones that support the needs of your skin. Supplements may help to protect against a worsening of skin conditions like eczema and can help to look after different aspects of skin health. They can help to protect your skin from sun damage and certain vitamins will also look after your hair and nails.

Technically, all of these supplements will ‘work’ to a certain degree. They’ll help to support all of the natural biological functions of the human body, including supporting skin health. But the answer to the question of if they’ll make any real and visible difference to the skin is debatable.

Because we get the majority of these nutrients from our diet anyway. If we’re deficient in any of them, taking a supplement will help to top up our levels. But we might not see any real difference in our levels of collagen and therefore the plumpness of our skin for example, just by taking a vitamin C supplement.

But there are other types of skin supplement that can produce healthier skin and visible results...

Do Sönd Make Skin Supplements that Work?

Yes! In our quest to find skin care products for skin like ours - acne prone, stressed out and contrary - we knew we had to step up to the skin care plate and develop supplements to support your skin needs, as well as skin care.

We spent many years looking for the right skin care products that would look after our skin, nourish it and manage our breakouts. But try as we might, there just wasn’t what our skin needed out there.

So what does any self respecting, stressy skinned entrepreneur do? Make their own! And make our own we did. That’s how the Sönd skin care range was born - out of sheer frustration.

Our range contains natural plant based botanicals and our hero ingredient, a silica salt complex. This has an alkalising effect, nourishing and supporting all skin types. Our cream cleanser, day and night cream, face serum and clay mask have all won themselves an army of fans, so we knew we had to give you more.

That’s why we developed our skin supplements. Sönd Alkalising Cell Booster Silica Supplements help to support the skin from the inside out. So you can benefit your skin with a double whammy of Sönd skin care from the outside with our range of skin care products, and from the inside with our silica supplements.

Could Silica Be the Best Supplements for Glowing Skin?

Silica plays a major role in the production of collagen. It does this by creating stronger bonds between protein molecules, and since collagen is a protein (the most abundant protein in the human body in fact), it makes the collagen in our skin more robust.

Collagen is responsible for keeping the skin plump by acting as a sort of biological ‘scaffold’ that the upper layers of skin sits on. Sadly, as we age, we naturally lose our levels of collagen, leading to the skin beginning to sag and develop fine lines and winkles.

Think of silica as the biological ‘glue’ that holds the collagen molecules together. The more silica that’s available, the stronger the collagen bonds and the plumper and more youthful the skin.

But like collagen, as we age, our levels of silica begin to decline. That’s why taking silica supplements is such a good idea! This little known supplement could soon become your skin’s secret weapon.

Do Skin Supplements Work?

The silica in our skin supplements is fully plant based and is naturally derived from bamboo shoot extracts. Take two tablets each morning with food for a couple of months and see just how clear, healthy and glowing your skin can become!

We truly want to help skin become happier and healthier, and believe that if we take supplements as well as using skin care to protect skin, our skin has the best chance.