How Long Does It Take to Rebuild Collagen? (Timeline Explained)
How long does it actually take to rebuild collagen? A week? A month? A full skin cycle?
If you've ever started a new routine, peels, retinol, exosomes, copper, and then stared at your skin, wondering, “Is this even working?” This episode is for you.
Today, we're walking through the real timeline of collagen remodeling. What to expect at one week, one month, three months, and beyond.
And how to layer your treatments so your skin isn't just improving, it's transforming. This is your complete roadmap to firmer, tighter, more radiant skin with zero guesswork.
The big question: how long does it really take to stimulate and rebuild your collagen?
Well, far be it from me to burst anybody's bubble, but none of that is instant, right? Even the most aggressive thing that you could do, like a deep TCA peel or needling, 90 days is a turnover point where you can actually start to see those changes.
Because, you know, when you're stimulating collagen, that's happening deep in the skin. It's not a surface thing. It's happening very deep in the skin.
And then you have to think of all the time it takes, like the skin and the layers to turn over and everything, that collagen and elastin to thicken and plump the skin and push all that up. I mean, that takes time, right?
That takes a bare minimum of 90 days. And I feel like just as with anything, the longer, 90 days, five, six months, even longer, you know, it's just going to be a continuing process.
Right.
I want to say what the TCA peel wasn't. It documented that it could keep stimulating collagen for, I believe, nine months to a year, which is equivalent to one peel, continuously pumping up everything in the skin.
That's why it's like the anti-aging peel, right? Because you do it once and then for nine months, you've got all this bonus.
So if you are doing a series of monthly peels, like we recommend, or even the weekly peels, that's why we recommend consistency.
Consistency. And those will help. Everything will help. Lots of things will help.
Absolutely.
But the big, big, heavy hitters like that, I mean, those are, you know, your key. If you really want to change your skin, you need to do something a little bit more aggressive.
You need to do all the everyday things, but then you need to throw in, like what I call a treatment, like whether that's a peel or a needling or an IPL treatment, something along those lines.
Well, let's take a walk down that timeline to stimulate collagen. Let's focus on week one. What might someone feel or notice, or if anything?
I think if you're doing the things that are going to help with the collagen, let's say you're using your retinoids at night, you're using a couple of key active ingredients.
Sure.
You did some needling, you used a vitamin A peel, something along those lines. I think you're going to feel smoother, just, you know, skin from whatever exfoliation process or whatever process you did. It did stimulate something to happen in your skin, and that is going to speed up turnover. And so you're going to notice, you know, smoother skin, I would say.
Sometimes that could be related to swelling, though, you know, if you did needling or if you did a peel, you could be looking at a little bit of swelling in the skin. So everything looks better, you know, when there's a little bit of swelling involved or a little bit of rosiness, you know.
Especially if you're working on like an indentation scar or something along those lines, you might see that minor superficial swelling, and then that's going to kind of surface.
Yeah. So you could see a little something, maybe, but I think that's just going to be very, it's definitely going to be very surface.
Okay. Let's fast forward to maybe week four.
Yeah. So there's not going to be anything significant to notice other than sometimes people could see slightly more refined pores and similar features.
Makeup goes on a little smoother.
Makeup could definitely go on smoother, but that's more from the exfoliation.
Right.
I mean, if you've done a peel or something along those lines, or even if you did needling.
Right.
It's still stimulated a quicker turnover, but nothing major.
Okay. So let's fast forward, now…
But take your picture now.
Yeah.
Take your second picture, the picture before you started.
Correct.
Picture at month one. Now, you know where you're seeing, they look similar, but let's keep going.
Right. Absolutely. Now let's fast forward to, say, month three.
Yeah. Month three. I think you should take those month three pictures and put them next to each other. Well, before you start, you're going to see changes in your skin.
And they're not going to be massive changes. Like, let's say if you could even like place one photo over another and like some photo editing programs, and you can like see, oh, this line, you know, it might be a millimeter shorter than the other line, which is enormous, but not, not what people are wanting to see on their face.
I mean, they want to see those crow's feet gone, or they want to see this line gone, and that's not going to happen. It's too fast.
That's why I'm saying like 90 days is nothing.
Right.
And hopefully you're doing more treatments along this time, you know, you know, you've already done, let's say, three treatments.
So, you know, things are, you're starting to notice those little subtle changes come by, you know, day 90. And I think now you're just going to want to keep going because everything's getting smoother and a little bit tighter.
Maybe you notice some lines getting shorter. I think that's the big thing that you start noticing, is whatever little lines you have. They're shrinking slightly, or they're not as easy to see on there. You know, they look a lot shallower.
And that's why I think people tend to look at, you know, photos of customers or pictures that we might even put on the website, and accuse us of, Why don't you use people that are older and stuff? It's like, well, this lady's 55, you know, just because she doesn't look like she's 75 doesn't mean she's not 55, you know, we can tell.
She’s still trying to stimulate that collagen because, as we know, you stopped producing collagen in your mid-twenties.
25. What is it? It goes down 1% every single year after 25. So by the time you hit 50, you're 25% of your collagen is just like gone.
So if you were to do nothing, you would not be stimulating collagen.
Nothing. If you weren't using a retinoid or doing a peel or, you know, a mask and IPL collagen induction therapy, like needling and micro-infusion, if you were doing none of those things, your skin is just going downhill. And it's probably going down quite quickly.
Right.
You know, when you start reaching your forties, you start noticing those first lines. If you're seeing lines, you need to start immediately. If that's your wake-up call, like you've been losing collagen for 15 years now or 20 years.
As you said, if we're three months into the timeline and we're starting to see some things, but…
Subtle.
Between months six and 12…
Oh, huge.
That's when they're going to see the most results.
I think so.
Yeah.
Yeah. Yeah. That's when, like, and that's why, gosh, darn it. Photos are so important.
Yeah.
We'll have people pull up photos in the Facebook Guru group. I remember one lady, you know, it's been multiple ladies. Let's just say that right off the bat. That it'll come up in your timeline.
You know how, like you'll say, oh, here was your picture, you know, from a year and a half, a year and a half ago, two years ago, and they'll say, and they'll pull up that picture and they'll see this recent picture in his night and day.
It looks like they have lost 15 years of age on their face. Pigmentation is gone. Their skin is so smooth and beautiful.
And in the first picture, they actually even had makeup. They're trying to cover it up. Now they have no makeup on and their skin is just glowing, beautiful, and smooth.
And people are like, even people in the group, they're like, “What did you do?” “Oh, here's my regimen. And I did, you know, some peels, and you know, I did a couple of these and a couple of those.”
And they look like they aged backwards.
Right.
And you know, we're talking a year, a year and a half. I saw somebody who had like a two-year gap in between their photos, but it was just substantial.
And no matter what, those years are going to pass. So you might as well be doing something positive with that time, because no matter what, you're going to keep aging. Let's start aging backwards.
Let's reverse it as much as we can. Let's pump the brakes.
Yeah.
And let's try just to keep building this collagen, right?
That’s so important.
So let's talk about some Platinum Skincare products that we can recommend for customers to keep this collagen train moving.
Yeah. So let's start with the simple stuff. So like easy everyday products you can use.
We've got our Regenerate. We've got Copper Peptides. So CP Serum, a super place to start.
We've got Matrixyl Synthe'6, which is excellent for the eye area, as well as the entire face. It doesn't have to be just the eyes.
Syn-TC. So I always say TC stands for total collagen.
Yeah.
So definitely use this.
And let's really focus on those potions because those are concentrated ingredients.
Yeah. So, like SKINectura, this is our last one. So there are a couple of ways to use these, even the Copper. So this is something that you could use every day, right?
You can use these individually. We can mix them, make a two-potion or a four-potion combo. That's a great way to get these in here. Or you can take this and mix it into one of your favorite products.
Yes.
I want to stress, too, that if we move on to just for a moment, we'll talk about collagen induction therapy, which is micro-infusion, micro-needling, where you're infusing products into the skin.
What you can do is take your base serum. This is our EXO-EGF, and you're going to pour it into your tool. And then you can add, you know, one or two drops of one of these. And I suggest that if you're using more than one, use only one drop.
Yes.
You know, we don't need a super high percentage. These are very high. That's why I say, like a drop in here, you know, mix that up.
Now we're adding all the benefits of this. I would say any of these would be great options because there's already epidermal growth factor in here and replexium.
And so, replexium is another ingredient, just like these super ingredients for stimulating collagen. So we have one in here, but I didn't want to overload it. This would be a reasonably simple serum that anybody could use. We don't want to run the risk of allergic reactions or any other potential issues.
But you can go ahead and add your extras. Could you add a little copper? I want to say you can add. We have the GHK in our PDRN, right?
Dr. Pickart has talked about using the second generation. He doesn't mention needling it into the skin. He mentions either A, applying it right before or right after. I don't think that I suggest adding this copper into the serum, but the GHK, you could if you wanted to.
The 7%.
And we already have GHK in the PDRN, so you don't have to add it. But if you wanted to add it into the EHR or mix it in with whatever you're making up with your AD, which is the exosomes, any of those could be used.
So these, obviously, these are just every day. They're going to take a little bit longer.
You know, I suggest still 90 days. Always take photos and preferably for longer.
Now, if you're needling with it, you're going to get that in your skin much deeper. That could potentially yield quicker results.
But still, when we're talking peels, it still takes at least 90 days minimum. Photos are everything.
We always say that the potions should be the morning and at night, and on freshly cleansed skin, because they build into your skin. So the longer you're using those, the better results you're going to see. So again, our famous phrase, consistency is key.
That's right.
But it's true. So that's why we always keep saying it, because if you keep using them and, like you said, if you take that photo on day one and you're working on the eye area or what have you, in a month, you will see something happening.
You might feel like I feel like it's a little tighter or whatever. But like, don't just go by your memory. Take the photos. It's so hard. It's so hard to tell anything by just thinking you remember what you looked like in the mirror. You just don't.
Do you think that's why customers will sometimes get frustrated and kind of stop their regimen because they feel like, “Oh, I bought this Matrixyl and I've used it and it just doesn't work.”
Right. “I use a bottle and I don't see anything.” Okay. And my first question is always, where are your photos? Let's see your before and let's see your... And then they just drop off.
I was like, “Okay, well, then how do we know? What else are you using? Are you doing anything else? Are you not even washing your face, but you apply this once a day or once a week, or do you need to use ingredients consistently for them to work?”
I mean, think about it. They're topical, with needling and micro-infusing, pushing it deep into the skin. So yeah, you're going to get better results with that. We need to give these topicals time. It's a lower percentage that will penetrate the skin.
I do have a couple of tips for that, though. I mean, try to apply actives like this, and we do try to put things in this already, like our Regenerate here.
Yes.
This has nanohyaluronic particles in here. Nano things help push it deeper into the skin. You could use the nano hyaluronic and apply that at the same time as your serums.
And there's actually some of that in here already. We try really hard to incorporate nanoproducts into most things.
A penetrator.
Another thing that you can do is put some Emu oil on top. Yeah. Emu oil is a transdermal ingredient. Anytime that you put it on top of one, it will aid in pushing it deeper into the skin because it's so readily accepted. It can pull some things in there with it.
But, you know, some molecules are just too big, you know, like collagen. Far, far, far too big. It's a great moisturizer, but you're going to have to needle it into your skin. Most of these, though, are peptides. The beauty of peptides is that they are very tiny.
Yes.
They're very tiny, and they will penetrate. So, you know, just keep in mind, as with anything, it's going to take some time.
Another thing that's going to take some time and requires consistency, but is extremely helpful…
Yes.
…is LED. And I just cannot stress enough. There is no downtime, no pain. There's nothing negative about this.
Super easy.
Nothing negative. Put it on. I like to put it on literally at night. You know, I'll put it on. I make sure I don't put my retinoid on before I go to bed because you don't want to apply multiple products when using retinoids.
If I'm planning to put this on two times a week, it is my average. I will just put like a serum. Usually, my Regenerate or I have a mixture.
Well, let me say my Regenerate is a mixture of Regenerate, EXO AD, and PDRN.
Got it.
I put that on. So, I don't have a lot of buildup on my face. Put this on, go to bed. And like, I just fall asleep with it on. I set it for 30 minutes on high, and I will usually wake up when it turns off.
Right.
And then I'll just take it off and set it aside. Or sometimes I don't wake up. Wake up with the mask on, but that's okay. It's not doing anything. It's not harming me. It's not hot. You can breathe through it, and this will help.
But, you know, with all of the LED studies and hundreds of studies that have been done on this for decades, light therapy definitely helps. But, you know, you do have to be very consistent. You have to use it continuously to ensure it works correctly.
If you still want to apply retinoids or other products after removing your mask, you can return to your bathroom and vanity to put on your other products.
I just find it easy because I know myself. I know when I get into bed, I'm going to sleep. Like sometimes, you know, if you're going to stay up and watch TV or you're going to do something, well, that's fine.
Yeah.
Once you're done, take it off and put the rest of your products on.
Absolutely.
But that's, those are my nights where I know I'm probably going to sleep, but I want to put the mask on.
Yes.
I go for less is more. And it's okay to have a serum on. It's good to keep your skin moist…
Yes.
…when you have it on. Because I know that at first they always used to say, "Clean skin,” and clean skin is delicate. It's preferable over a whole bunch of products, but they're finding now that having some moisture in your skin, rather than dry skin, is just being dry.
Right.
Putting a water-based moisturizer on, like nano hyaluronic or similar products, helps the LED penetrate better.
Let's talk about the VISS IPL.
Yeah. IPL Intense Pulsed Lights, not a laser. Super for stimulating collagen. And all of these things do it in different ways, right?
So this one does it with its heat, of course. So it penetrates your skin. And this one has eight different levels, I think, depending on your skin tone. So any skin tone can use this. Besides, I want to say six. I want to say Fitzpatrick six. They suggest against, but Fitz all the way up to Fitzpatrick five. You can use it on one or two settings.
Right.
The lighter your skin, the stronger you can use it. And obviously, the stronger you're doing your flashes, the better results you're going to get.
So this is a really good one. If you're somewhere, you know, Fitzpatrick one through Fitzpatrick four, maybe five, great way to stimulate collagen. It's also super for hyperpigmentation and stuff like that.
But these two don't have a lot of downtime, right? Like when we talk about our LED, no downtime.
Yes.
The VISS has really no downtime. And when you read the directions, you can they suggest doing it between two and three times per week.
Okay.
Whenever you're going from one treatment to another, let's say you did this and you've only got two days, you have to wait.
Well, okay. After two days, you can still do whatever you want. And maybe you want a needle.
Right.
Perhaps you want to do a chemical peel. And then of course, read the what, however many weeks, I have to wait two weeks, and then I can do what? Well, I can do another one of those, or I can do this. And of course, at any time, you can do your LED.
So you can mix these all and alternate them together. Obviously, the LED Illuminate mask can be used after any of these treatments.
You could do your IPL and then do an LED. You could do your needling, then LED. You can do the only thing I would say, don't do LED, you know, while you're peeling on your skin, let's say you're doing a dream peel, which is a high, high percentage of vitamin A and vitamin C.
I always forget to mention that, but a vast percentage of vitamin C is in this. So great for hyperpigmentation. If this is on your face, you don't want to put anything else on. So don't do an LED or anything like that.
Right. Cause that it leaves on your skin for four to six hours after you apply it. So you just don't want to use anything else.
Yeah. Or it's not a lot. For most people, I would just put it on and go to sleep.
Yeah.
Right? That's what we call it, “The dream peel.” It is meant to be really easy, but no, we do have some that are like really restless sleepers or getting it all over. Okay. Put it on during the day.
Yeah.
I want to stress that for some people, we're going to be adding this to our next box printing. If you are really sensitive, six hours may be too much for you; you don't have to leave it on that long.
Oh, leave it on for an hour or two. See what works for your skin. So even those who are super sensitive can still potentially use this.
Yes.
Use it for a short amount of time, and then wash it off. You're good.
Some clients get a slight warming sensation.
I do.
I do as well. And it kind of like alarms them a little bit, you know, and you know, you don't have to have it on. Like you said, you can simply rinse it off.
No. And I find some people, let's say, okay, so retinoids, they don't last forever.
Yeah.
Right? And there, there's no excellent way to test a retinoid, you know, once you get this home.
There are studies done, and they tell you actually the hydroxypinacolone retinoid is granactive. That's like the sturdiest one thus far. They're finding that this is going to last the longest and keep its highest percentage, but no matter what, it is going to lose its percentage, so we recommend using this for a year.
Right.
Right? And super for collagen, since we're talking about collagen, that's why this is sitting here.
But let's say it's past a year. I had somebody message this morning saying that they had theirs for two and a half years. “What can I do with it?” Like they found it in the closet, and they're like, “Can I still use this?”
And I'm like, well, most likely, after two and a half years, you had a year and a half after this. Is there, as we don't know how much retinol is still in here?
Correct.
Maybe it's as potent as Fusion A 0.15 or something.
Got it.
Maybe, maybe less, maybe more. I don't know. But I told her because she didn't want to throw it out. She still wanted to kind of use it. She has like half a bottle left. You can try it. Maybe try like twice a week. See how your skin feels. See what happens.
You know, if you really want to use it up. If nothing's happening, you don't feel like you're getting any kind of retinoid, but if I go through it and start again, right? It's not like…
Absolutely.
But there are many ways to use this. You can use it as a standalone product. You can do your peel once a month with just that, or you could use TCA and then put that as your finisher. You could use Jessner as your finisher or boosting.
So I think that's super beneficial because we know that vitamin A is highly helpful for stimulating collagen and elastin in the skin. And then, I don't even know which to say is number one, whether it is needling, which literally is called collagen induction therapy, or TCA peels.
Those are your two heavy-hitting treatments.
These are so good. And I would like just alternate these. Or do a series of these and then a series of these.
Very true.
Both of these products are the most important thing.
So they're essential for collagen...
Collagen.
…stimulation.
Yes.
Those would be your two treatments. You can alternate those or choose one and space them apart. Once a month is likely a good rule of thumb. I know with the needling, if you're not as aggressive, you can do it a little bit more.
You can do it once every two weeks. Yeah. If you're not sensitive.
Correct.
I think I could probably do it every two weeks.
Yeah.
When I do it, I'm like, yeah, you know, I heal really quickly, and I don't have a lot of downtime or anything. I could do that every two weeks, but I have seen some people go extremely aggressive, and their whole face is red.
And I'm like, “Yeah, you might need to do that once a week.” I edit that out.
Right.
Once a month.
There you go.
Once a month is good. Once a month is good. And same with the TCA, but boy, such good options for stimulating collagen.
So let's recap. If a client or customer is looking for just daily products, and they want to really get their collagen stimulating. So we're talking retinoids.
Yes.
Peptides.
Yes.
Exosomes. Vitamin C.
Vitamin C. And we have our new vitamin C that'll be coming out soon.
That's exciting. I received a lot of messages about that.
Yes.
Eagerly awaiting.
Yes. Vitamin C is excellent for collagen. And yeah, we did kind of skip over that because I didn't have our vitamin C to hold, but that is, I mean, and it is no, and actually the one vitamin C that stimulates collagen the most is THDA, which is the oil-soluble form.
Got it.
And that is what our new Secret Agent is predominantly.
So fun. We will dedicate a whole podcast, I'm sure, to the latest Secret Agent VI product.
Yes. That'll be a super one. And that's your antioxidant for the day. So everybody needs that. You're going to get benefits no matter what.
Well, perfect. Good, good, good. So peels are super important.
Yes.
The micro-infusion is super important. Daily products. Let's talk about the biggest mistakes that someone could make when they're really trying to get their collagen going, and they buy a lot of this stuff.
They buy some, you know, this and that, and now they're prepping with Fade Bright, and they're doing a bunch of things. What could be a big mistake that they could make?
Well, the number one thing is not being too aggressive at the get-go. Like, you know, you have to ease into a lot of these products.
You're going to have to ease into the retinoids. You're going to have to ease into Fade Bright.
So let's start with no more than three times per week with those. No more than every other day. And that may be too much for some people.
Ease into it. And then don't try to do too many things at once. If it's okay to start with just the peel, you don't have to buy all of this. You can start with just the peel or just the microinfusion and do that for a little while.
Start with just the IPL. You don't have to do everything. Those are like, you know, do one, take photos.
Yes. Don't give up. Don't give up too soon.
Yeah, no, those photos are going to help keep you focused and moving forward. You're going to start seeing those results, and then you're going to be excited and think, "Okay, now what else can I do?"
That's okay. Take your time with it. Do one for a little while, then try another one for a little while. Continue taking those photos. Maybe go back. Try another one.
Just always keep doing something. Like always, keep moving forward. That's from like a Disney movie. Keep moving forward.
Yes, right?
It's like I think about it all the time, and it's so true.
So would that be your one thing that you would stress? Just be consistent. Keep moving forward.
Keep moving forward. Keep doing something. I feel like doing a treatment. And you can pick a treatment and do a treatment every single month. Just be consistent with that, no matter what it is.
Yep. I feel like if they've got consistency and they're diligent and they're using the products that we recommend in a slow, steady way, they're going to be successful.
They're going to get results, and they're going to see more collagen and elastin.
They just have to be patient, patient, patient.
Yes.
Yes.
It's simple.
Absolutely. Well, if you have any other questions, feel free to give us a call at 1-800-917-3155. We're happy to help.
Absolutely. You can also visit us on Facebook at Platinum Skin Care Gurus, or email us at support@platinumskincare.com. We respond all the time, even on weekends.
Yes, we do. All right.
All righty.
