If you love the feel of leather caressing your skin, you are enjoying the feel of collagen against collagen. Cleveland Clinic physicians report that 75% of your skin is collagen. Skin care specialists at Dermaxime call collagen the "glue" that keeps your face together. It is a connective tissue, and along with two similar fibrous proteins, elastin and keratin, collagen forms the framework for skin and hides, bone, hooves and horns. Collagen is sticky, tough and elastic.
Stickiness
The "sticky" nature of collagen has been appreciated since prehistoric times. In 1998, Amelie A. Walker, writing for the Archaeological Institute of America, reported that archaeologists in Israel had discovered an 8,000 year old human skull decorated with intricate patterns made from collagen glue. The gluey nature of collagen was exploited by a simple and ancient process, which is still used today. It is based on prolonged boiling of animal parts and by-products.
University of Copenhagen scientists in a 2009 report published in the "Journal of Applied Physiology," describe collagen as a triple-stranded, long, fibrous protein, which provides a major contribution to the structures of skin, bone, tendons and the sheath around your organs. Collagen in your body, unaltered by artificial chemical processes, is a flexible, resilient and constantly renewable adhesive that accounts for both the toughness of your bones and the supple softness of your skin.
Toughness
Dermatologists reporting for Dermaxime say collagen is not indestructible, but it is tough. It stretches only a little before breaking. According to a 2005 report published in the "Journal of the Society of Leather Technologists and Chemists," collagen's long, fibrous molecules are aligned like a well-made rope, and the fibers cross-link with each other so that a broken fiber is reinforced by its neighbors. Toughness is further enhanced by the fact that any broken or torn collagen fibers are detected by your body's cells.
The body renews and multiplies collagen replacements quickly. This is in part how muscles, tendons, bones and skin grow with exercise and renew themselves after injury. The toughness of collagen is easy to see in scar tissue when the rebuilding process exceeds the renewal needed for repair.
Elasticity
Dermatologists practicing at The Cleveland Clinic describe collagen as an elastic component of skin and other organs. Skin's elasticity takes advantage of collagen's toughness to limit stretch and tear injury to your skin's even more elastic component, elastin. A third protein in your skin, keratin, adds just enough hardness to serve as a sort of built-in armor for the collagen and elastin. According the "The Science Encyclopedia," collagen's elasticity might be better described as "springy" and flexible. Cartilage collagen, as found in the tip of your nose, immediately springs back into shape when you push on it.
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