Collagen skin creams a waste of money, 'say scientists'. Well, they have been saying it for years

You know my least favourite journalistic cliche? It’s not “romp”, although I’m pretty sure nobody outside of the pages of the red-tops has ever “romped” with a member of their preferred sex. I don’t even know how one romps; I imagine one it involves playfully hitting one another with pillows. And it’s not “a friend of the [alleged romper] told The Daily Intrusion [after we gave them £10,000]“. It’s “scientists say”.

So I winced this morning reading the phrase “expensive collagen creams are a waste of money, scientists said today.” The story is, apparently, that the wrinkle-smoothing claims of various ludicrously overpriced skincare products are nonsense, because the collagen molecules they contain are too large to be absorbed through our skin, and therefore sit uselessly on the surface of our skin until we next wash.

read more  by Tom Chivers