Collagen is everywhere in skincare marketing. Collagen creams. Collagen supplements. Collagen-boosting serums. The industry has made collagen synonymous with youthful skin, and they're not entirely wrong—collagen is fundamental to how your skin looks and feels.
But here's what the collagen marketing often misses: your skin doesn't need more collagen applied to its surface. It needs the raw materials to produce its own collagen efficiently. And one of those essential raw materials is sulfur.
This is where MSM enters the conversation—not as another trendy ingredient, but as a foundational component of your skin's collagen-building machinery.
Understanding Collagen's Role
Collagen is the most abundant protein in your body, making up about 75-80% of your skin's dry weight. It's the structural scaffolding that gives skin its firmness and resilience. When collagen is plentiful and well-organized, skin looks smooth, firm, and youthful. When collagen degrades or production slows, you see sagging, wrinkles, and loss of elasticity.
Your body is constantly producing collagen, but this production slows with age—by about 1% per year starting in your mid-twenties. Environmental factors like UV exposure, pollution, and stress accelerate collagen breakdown. By middle age, the balance has shifted: you're breaking down collagen faster than you're building it.
This is why the skincare industry obsesses over collagen. The challenge is that most collagen-focused products don't address the production side of the equation.
The Problem with Topical Collagen
Here's an uncomfortable truth the industry doesn't always highlight: topical collagen has limited effectiveness.
Collagen molecules are large—too large to penetrate the outer layers of skin and reach the dermis where collagen actually resides and functions. When you apply a collagen cream, you may get some surface hydration and temporary plumping, but you're not replenishing the structural collagen that determines how your skin ages.
Even "hydrolyzed" collagen, which is broken into smaller fragments, has questionable ability to stimulate meaningful collagen production in the deeper skin layers.
Oral collagen supplements have more research support, but the science is still evolving. Some studies show benefits; others are inconclusive. And even when oral collagen helps, it works indirectly—your body breaks it down and theoretically uses those amino acids to build new collagen.
What makes more sense? Providing your skin with the direct building blocks it needs for collagen synthesis.
Sulfur: The Missing Collagen Component
Collagen synthesis requires specific amino acids arranged in a characteristic structure. Two sulfur-containing amino acids—cysteine and methionine—play essential roles in this process.
Sulfur is critical for forming the cross-links that give collagen its strength and stability. These disulfide bonds connect collagen strands, creating the robust, organized structure that provides skin's firmness. Without adequate sulfur, collagen production falters, and what collagen does get produced may be weaker and less functional.
MSM (methylsulfonylmethane) provides bioavailable sulfur that your body can readily use for these synthesis processes. Unlike some sulfur sources, MSM is well-absorbed and has been shown to support collagen production in research settings.
How MSM Supports Collagen Production
MSM supports collagen synthesis through several mechanisms.
Direct Sulfur Supply: MSM provides the sulfur necessary for the disulfide bonds that stabilize collagen's triple-helix structure. This is the most direct contribution—raw material for construction.
Supporting Amino Acid Availability: The sulfur from MSM contributes to the pool of sulfur-containing amino acids your body uses for collagen production. It's helping ensure your body has what it needs when it needs it.
Reducing Inflammatory Interference: Chronic inflammation impairs collagen production and accelerates collagen breakdown. MSM's anti-inflammatory properties help create conditions more favorable for collagen synthesis.
Antioxidant Support: MSM supports glutathione production, which protects existing collagen from oxidative damage. This is about preserving collagen, not just producing it.
Beyond Collagen: The Complete Picture
While collagen gets the headlines, it's not the only structural protein in your skin. Elastin provides stretch and snap-back. Keratin forms the protective outer layer. Various other proteins contribute to skin's overall structure and function.
These proteins also rely on sulfur. The same MSM that supports collagen production supports elastin and keratin synthesis. You're not just boosting one component—you're supporting the entire structural foundation of healthy skin.
This comprehensive approach is part of why MSM appears in every product we make on our Washington State farm. We're not chasing single-ingredient trends. We're supporting skin health at a foundational level.
What the Research Shows
Studies on MSM and skin health have shown promising results. Research has demonstrated that MSM supplementation can improve skin firmness, reduce wrinkles, and enhance overall skin quality. While much of this research has focused on oral supplementation, the mechanisms—sulfur supply, anti-inflammatory action, antioxidant support—apply equally to topical application.
One study found that MSM supplementation led to significant improvements in skin elasticity, firmness, and hydration compared to placebo. Participants also showed improvements in skin roughness and overall appearance.
These results align with what we'd expect given MSM's role in structural protein synthesis. When you provide the raw materials for collagen and elastin production, skin responds by producing more of these essential proteins.
The Synergy with Goat Milk
We pair MSM with fresh goat milk in every formulation, and this combination creates synergy for collagen support.
Goat milk contains its own amino acids and nutrients that support skin health. Its natural lactic acid provides gentle exfoliation, helping remove dead cells that can interfere with product absorption and stimulating mild collagen production through controlled microinjury.
The combination delivers MSM more effectively while providing complementary support for skin structure. It's not just about delivering sulfur—it's about delivering it in a context that maximizes benefit.
A Different Approach to Anti-Aging
The anti-aging industry often focuses on dramatic interventions: retinoids that force rapid cell turnover, peptides that signal specific pathways, lasers that create controlled damage to stimulate rebuilding.
MSM represents a different philosophy. Rather than forcing change through aggressive actives, it supports your skin's natural production processes. It provides raw materials rather than demanding results. It works with your skin's biology rather than overriding it.
This approach is gentler, but it's not less effective over time. Consistent support for collagen production accumulates into real improvements in skin firmness, elasticity, and overall quality. And it does so without the irritation, purging phases, and sensitivity that come with many aggressive anti-aging treatments.
Who Benefits Most
MSM-supported collagen production benefits anyone concerned with skin aging, but some people see particularly significant results:
Adults 30+: As natural collagen production declines, supplemental support becomes more valuable.
Active People: Athletes and active individuals break down collagen faster due to physical stress. They need more support for ongoing repair and maintenance.
Those with Sensitive Skin: People who can't tolerate retinoids or other aggressive anti-aging actives can still support collagen production through gentler means like MSM.
Post-Pregnancy: Pregnancy dramatically affects skin elasticity. Supporting collagen production helps skin recover its pre-pregnancy firmness.
Our Muscle Cream and Active Cream both contain MSM alongside other supportive ingredients, providing collagen support in formulations designed for daily use.
Building Structure Over Time
Collagen support isn't about quick fixes. Like building muscle or improving fitness, it's about consistent effort over time.
Each application of MSM-containing skincare provides building blocks for collagen synthesis. Over weeks and months, this accumulates into measurable improvements. Skin that produces collagen more efficiently today will show the benefits in improved firmness, reduced wrinkles, and better overall structure over time.
From our Washington State farm, we offer MSM-based skincare that supports this long-term approach to skin health. Not dramatic promises of overnight transformation, but genuine support for the biological processes that keep skin looking and functioning its best.
Your skin knows how to build collagen. It just needs the right materials.
