From Dinner Tables To Kim K: Why The Collagen Debate Won’t Go Away
Main image – Asyamolochkova/Stocksy
There was a time when collagen barely registered in beauty conversations. Now, as Revive Collagen’s Sarah Power puts it, “collagen has gone from almost being unknown to now being the number one topic at a dinner table.”
She’s not wrong; it’s everywhere… In group chats, in wellness routines, and even in the beauty routines of celebrities such as Kim Kardashian.
And yet, for all its popularity, collagen remains one of the most confusing – and polarising – categories in beauty.
For every glowing before-and-after, there’s an expert insisting it’s expensive snake oil. Gummies, powders, creams, bone broth, sachets… everyone has a take, and most of them contradict each other. It’s no wonder so many people don’t know what to believe – or where to start.
So when I sat down with Power, President – EMEA & APAC, Revive Collagen, a brand used by high-profile names such as Amanda Holden, Louise Redknapp and Kim K (after being introduced to the brand by her longtime hair stylist, Chris Appleton), I was looking for clarity.
Image – @revivecollagen/Instagram
What actually matters? What’s just noise? And if you’re going to bother at all, how do you avoid throwing money down the sink?
Power, refreshingly, doesn’t dodge those questions. Her answers are practical, occasionally candid, and rooted in what she’s seen real women respond to over years of real-world use.
The collagen problem
One of the most useful things Power highlights early is the maths behind our natural collagen levels. “When you’re essentially 25, you start losing this one and a half percent of your collagen every year.”
It’s a small annual loss, but compounded over time, it explains so many of the changes we see as we age – particularly around perimenopause and beyond. Hair feels thinner, nails become brittle, and skin looks flatter, duller, less resilient. And often, Power says, this is the first alarm bell.
“Women tend to come and see someone not because of the 48 signs of menopause – generally because their hair, their skin, their nails… their physical attributes are suffering.”
Why most supplements don’t ‘work’
Here’s where Power gets candid – and where your money is most often wasted. “We’re a liquid supplement, so we’re 20 times the strength of a gummy or tablet. And we’re 85% more bioavailable than a gummy or tablet.”
That sentence alone explains a lot of collagen disappointment. If absorption is poor, results will be too – no matter how pretty the packaging.
Power goes further, “Regardless if you were never to try Revive Collagen, I would implore you to move all your supplementation away from tablets and gummies to liquid.”
Liquids, she says, are simply easier for the body to use, calling them “the rocket fuel of supplements.” It’s a belief shared by Revive Collagen’s founders, Samantha Faiers and John Bailey, who built the brand around the idea that supplements only work if your body can actually absorb them.
@revivecollagen Getting ready with a side of Revive Collagen ?
And there’s a behavioural piece too – one brands often ignore, “Nobody likes taking tablets. Right?” says Power.
Which leads me neatly to the common collagen counter-argument; why not just drink bone broth, since it’s been shown to be a simple (and affordable) way of increasing our body’s collagen supplies?
Power doesn’t dismiss it – but she’s pragmatic. “Bone broth works for some people… but it’s not for everybody and it’s certainly not for women who have a lot on their plate and no time,” she explains.
There’s also the issue of control. “When you’re cooking up your own broth, you don’t really know what the bioavailability is or the dosage.”
For many women, she tells me, collagen fails not because it’s ineffective – but because the routine is impossible to maintain.
What you’ll notice first
Another myth Power dismantles is the idea that collagen’s first visible impact is skin. “Within four to six weeks, you’ll start seeing your nails growing faster and stronger, you’ll start seeing your hair growing,” she tells me.
“Most importantly, people will start remarking on each other’s skin,” she goes on.
Once people do begin to see the changes in their own skin though, it can be emotional, according to Power – especially if it comes after a long period of putting everyone else’s needs ahead of their own.
Image – Revive Collagen
This is where the brand’s ‘Real Women, Real Lives’ campaign- unscripted Q&A sessions with real customers- comes in. Power describes sitting behind the camera, asking one simple question, “tell me about your journey.”
The answers, she says, are often overwhelming. “We had ladies who’d lost their husbands… stress, alopecia. We had ladies who had contact dermatitis on their hands and couldn’t even type anymore,” she explains.
“They felt so passionate that it’s worked for them that they’ve gone on and created these amazing reviews.”
One story still visibly affects her. “There was a lovely mum and a daughter… the daughter had identified in her mother this need to feel better in herself and prioritise herself, and then bought her the collagen as a present.”
“Everybody in the crew had tears in their eyes. It was just a lovely bonding moment.”
No miracle cure
Power is careful not to over-promise though. “We don’t make any medical claims… we don’t propose to be a cure for anything,” she tells me.
But she’s also clear on why supplements that work can have an impact on your entire body. “Most of your body is made up of collagen. Even the lining of your gut is made of collagen.”
When intake drops – and absorption is poor – non-essential functions are the first to suffer. “That’s where you start seeing your nails breaking, your skin lacking glow, your hair not growing.”
And instead of having to target multiple concerns with multiple supplements then, she says the right supplement can tackle a variety of issues. “Rather than lining up a list of 21 tablets that you have to take every morning, it’s just all in one sachet.”
@revivecollagen Did you know?? You would need to take 20 collagen tablets to get the quivalent collagen absorption of one Revive Collagen sachet.
More than that, she explains, “Consumers are looking for a product that is efficacious, tastes nice, and you can take on the go.”
And the brand’s straightforward, customer-first approach seems to be paying off. Revive Collagen is now the fastest-growing liquid collagen brand in the UK, is stocked in 5,500 stores in the USA, and has emerged as the number one collagen brand in the UAE since launching there last January.
Power explains that the brand’s philanthropic work (Revive Collagen has helped more than 1 million at-risk mums and babies worldwide access essential vitamins and minerals) through their partnership with Vitamin Angels is also a pull for its fanbase.
Sophie Barrett Amanda Holden and Sarah Power was taken at the Vitamin Angels Charity Event. Image – Revive Collagen
“It was really important for us that it wasn’t some wishy washy promise,” she tells me.
“Every time you come to the end of your box of collagen inside, it’ll tell you, ‘Thank you very much, because this box has allowed us to donate a six month supply of life saving vitamins and minerals to mums and babies’.”
The takeaway
You don’t have to take collagen. But if you do, the format matters more than most people realise.
Absorption matters. Consistency matters. And so does choosing something that fits into your actual life – not just your aspirational one.
Or, as Power puts it, “If you’re even starting a supplementation journey, then you’re already winning.”
The rest is just choosing not to make it harder than it needs to be.
Get Glowing!
