Pooled trials of collagen supplements report better skin hydration and elasticity, but a 2025 meta-analysis found those gains only in the trials that pharmaceutical companies funded. Beef tallow doesn't have any collagen. USDA's record for beef tallow lists 0 g of protein per 100 g, and collagen is a protein.
This post is for anyone weighing a collagen powder.
The jar I'd hand you for the look of fine lines is Velvet Face Renewal ($89 as of October 5, 2026). It doesn't add collagen either. It's our clinical-strength face jar, built around a true 1% bakuchiol.
What did the collagen trials measure?
The trials give people a daily dose of oral collagen or a placebo, then measure their skin weeks later. Choi and colleagues reviewed 11 of those trials in 2019, covering 805 people. Eight of them used collagen hydrolysate at 2.5 to 10 g a day, for 8 to 24 weeks. That's too short to say much about year two. The reviewers called the results preliminary but promising, and said the best dose still needs work.
A 2021 meta-analysis in the International Journal of Dermatology by de Miranda and colleagues pooled 19 studies with 1,125 people aged 20 to 70. Of them, 95% were women. The authors concluded that 90 days of hydrolyzed collagen reduces wrinkles. They reported better elasticity and hydration too, and that's the result most collagen marketing leans on.
Who paid for the trials, and does it change the answer?
Harvard's Nutrition Source flags the problem. Most if not all collagen supplement research, it notes, is funded or partly funded by industries that could gain from a positive result. The FDA, it adds, doesn't review supplements for safety or effectiveness before sale.
Myung and Park put the funding question to a test in a 2025 meta-analysis in The American Journal of Medicine. They pooled 23 randomized trials with 1,474 people, about 64 per trial. Taken together, collagen looked like it worked. Then the authors split the trials by who paid, and the trials without pharmaceutical company funding showed no effect on any of the skin measures. High-quality trials showed no significant effect either. Their conclusion was that there's currently no clinical evidence to support the use of collagen supplements for skin aging.
What's in a collagen powder, and can a cream get it into skin?
Collagen is the most abundant protein in your body, and Harvard's page says its fibers build connective tissue. A tub labeled collagen peptides or hydrolyzed collagen holds that protein cut small. A 2020 review in Antioxidants by Aguirre-Cruz and colleagues explains the cut: collagen is denatured, then enzymes break its chains into peptides of about 1 to 10 kDa (kilodaltons, a unit of molecular weight). Native collagen sits near 300 kDa. The review's examples run from beef bone and pig collagen to fish scales and chicken breastbone cartilage, which is where label words like bovine and marine come from.
Swallowed collagen doesn't arrive at your face as collagen. Harvard notes that digestion breaks it into amino acids, which go wherever the body most needs protein. On skin, size is the wall. The Aguirre-Cruz review says native collagen can't get through the stratum corneum, skin's outer layer, because the molecule's too big. Harvard adds that research hasn't shown shorter peptides do better, though one mouse-skin study in the review found about 8% of a 5 to 13 kDa hydrolysate got through. In a cream, the review credits hydrolyzed collagen with holding moisture at that outer layer, which makes it a moisturizer.
Does beef tallow have collagen?
No, and the reason is in how tallow gets made. We source 100% suet, the dense fat from around the kidneys, from grass-fed and grass-finished cattle on Montana family ranches, bought direct. Our Montana render partner renders it low and slow in wet and dry steps. In the wet step, the fat melts out and rises to the top, while proteins leave with the water underneath. It's all in our post on how tallow is rendered for skin.
USDA's FoodData Central record for beef tallow lists 100 g of fat and 0 g of protein per 100 g. No protein means no collagen. Where you read that tallow is full of collagen, the fat's being confused with the tissue it came from. A chilled pot of beef broth shows both. The fat sets in a hard cap on top, and the jelly underneath is gelatin, which Harvard describes as a form of collagen made by boiling animal parts. That jelly is where the collagen went. The cap is beef fat, the kind a tallow balm starts from, and our post on the fatty acids in tallow covers what it's made of.
Where does a balm fit, and where does a clinician take over?
A balm does one surface job here. Tallow slows water loss from the top layers of skin and relieves the feel of dry, tight skin. The AAD says trapped water gives skin a more youthful appearance. That's why fine lines read softer while a balm is on, and our post on whether beef tallow helps with wrinkles covers it. A plain fat doesn't add collagen. It doesn't screen UV, so the morning layer needs sunscreen over it. It's cosmetic care, not a treatment. Your provider's plan comes first.
Whether a collagen powder belongs in your day is a call for your doctor or a registered dietitian, who'll know your history.
Velvet is the jar I'd pick for the look of fine lines. It's suet tallow for the water-holding part, with a true 1% bakuchiol, twice the 0.5% in the published head-to-head trial against retinol. Our post on bakuchiol vs retinol covers that trial. Velvet also carries 1.5% oil-soluble vitamin C (tetrahexyldecyl ascorbate), a form that suits a balm with no water. CoQ10 and rosehip CO2 round it out, and the research set the doses. It's a morning and night jar.
The jar for this job is Velvet Face Renewal ($89). Subscribe to two jars and a third rides free, and every subscription takes 25% off the first delivery.
Questions we hear
Does beef tallow have collagen?
No. USDA's FoodData Central record for beef tallow lists 0 g of protein per 100 g, and collagen is a protein. Rendering melts the fat out of suet while proteins leave with the water. Collagen lives in connective tissue, which is why broth and gelatin carry it and the fat on top doesn't.
Do collagen supplements work for skin?
Pooled trials report better skin hydration and elasticity over 8 to 24 weeks. A 2025 meta-analysis of 23 randomized trials by Myung and Park found those gains only in trials funded by pharmaceutical companies, and none in high-quality trials. The authors concluded there's currently no clinical evidence to support collagen supplements for skin aging.
Can collagen in a face cream get into your skin?
Whole collagen can't. A 2020 review by Aguirre-Cruz and colleagues puts native collagen near 300 kDa, too large to pass the skin's outer layer. Harvard's Nutrition Source adds that research hasn't shown shorter peptides do better. In a cream, hydrolyzed collagen works as a moisturizer at the surface, the same surface job a balm does.
Are collagen peptides the same as hydrolyzed collagen?
Yes. Harvard's Nutrition Source describes collagen peptides and hydrolyzed collagen as broken-down forms of collagen that are easier to absorb. They're made by cutting collagen into small peptides with enzymes, and labels add the source, such as bovine from cattle or marine from fish.
Does a tallow balm help with fine lines?
A tallow balm softens the look of fine lines while it's on, by holding water in the top layers of skin. The AAD says trapped water gives skin a more youthful appearance. A balm doesn't add collagen, though. For the look of fine lines over weeks, Velvet Face Renewal pairs suet tallow with a true 1% bakuchiol, under sunscreen by day.
Go deeper
Our skin terrain reading path is the hub for the terrain series. Eat your hydration covers bone broth and the food side of collagen, and nose-to-tail nutrition for skin covers zinc and histidine. If you're new to tallow, start with our beef tallow for skin guide. Blood sugar, glycation and inflammaging covers what stiffens collagen from the inside, and drier skin in perimenopause and menopause the years when it thins.
Sources
- Myung SK, Park Y (2025). Effects of collagen supplements on skin aging: a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials. The American Journal of Medicine 138(9):1264 to 1277, September 2025.
- Aguirre-Cruz G and colleagues (2020). Collagen hydrolysates for skin protection: oral administration and topical formulation. Antioxidants 9(2):181.
- United States Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service (2019). Fat, beef tallow. FoodData Central database, SR Legacy release, FDC ID 171400.
- Choi and colleagues (2019). Oral collagen supplementation: a systematic review of dermatological applications. Journal of Drugs in Dermatology 18(1):9 to 16, a review of 11 randomized trials.
- de Miranda RB, Weimer P, Rossi RC (2021). Effects of hydrolyzed collagen supplementation on skin aging: a systematic review and meta-analysis. International Journal of Dermatology 60(12):1449 to 1461.
- AAD (2021). 11 ways to reduce premature skin aging. American Academy of Dermatology, public education page, last updated February 24, 2021.
- Harvard Chan School of Public Health (2021). Collagen. The Nutrition Source, reviewed May 2021.
Brian is the founder of Craft Tallow, a small-batch tallow skincare line shipped from Cottonwood Heights, Utah, built on 100% grass-fed suet. Questions? Reply to any email from us; it lands with him.