Over the past 20 years I've been through three phases of taking a collagen supplement. 20 years ago it was being marketed as a supplement for improving joint function but, knowing that collagen also played a part in keeping skin looking plump, I'd thought it might help my skin too. I took it for about a year but didn't see any difference.
Then about 8 years ago I read a respected nutritionist saying that she took a collagen supplement and I thought I'd give it another go (I take a lot of supplements). Again, I took it for about a year and didn't see any difference that I could attribute to the collagen.
Since then the number of collagen supplements has continued to grow, and now being marketed specifically at skin, hair, nails. So when Beauty Pie launched supplements at the end of last year - with typical BP hype - I thought I'd try their collagen supplement. I took it for about nine months but again couldn't discern any difference.
So that's my experience of taking collagen supplements. However, if you read the reviews of the collagen supplement on the BP website (of which there are currently 359) they are overwhelmingly positive, saying how much it has improved their skin/nails/hair. Negative reviews are mostly about the taste and texture with very few saying that the result has been disappointing. I'm pretty sure, btw, that BP doesn't publish reviews selectively.
I don't know what to make of this difference between my experience and that of most reviewers. I wonder if a collagen supplement can help to make up for a lack of something in your diet - something which presumably I didn't lack but the positive reviewers did. The BP collagen supplement also includes Biotin and Vitamin C and I wonder whether it's those two (fairly cheap supplements) rather than the (expensive) collagen, that's making the difference for some people.
I also wonder though whether people are somehow being hyped into seeing results. That feels disrespectful of others' experience but there are reviews from people saying they've taken it for a month and their skin etc is so much improved. That can't be the case can it? Even if it does work for some people, surely it takes time.