Does Collagen Actually Work? My Agent Nateur Review After One Month

Breaking Down Collagen

Or rather…building it up!

Let’s be honest. The collagen market is…crowded.

There are peptide powders, supplements, creams, shampoos, and even drinks. You can get it from bovine, marine, or vegan sources. Type I? Don’t forget II and III! They’re all very different, and yet all very much the same, but be careful, you don’t want the one that doesn’t do what the other one can! Does it work? How do you know if it actually works?

With so many questions and so few answers, it has started to feel like the collagen craze is making us all crazy.

Here is the Beginner's Guide to Collagen.

There are 28 types of collagen, but for the sake of this article, let’s focus on four:

Type I: Most common, found in all connective tissue

Type ll: Found in joints + the discs in your spine

Type lll: The main kind found in your skin + blood vessels

Type lV: Found in your kidneys, inner ear, and eye lenses

It’s rare that you’ll see a collagen supplement with every single type. Why, you ask? Because depending on whether you’re using bovine, marine, or vegan collagen, those types vary and therefore service different parts of the body.

For example…

Bovine: Rich in types I and III—most effective for supporting connective tissue in joints, ligaments, tendons, and skin

Marine: Mostly rich in type I—most effective for skin, hair, and nails

Vegan: Does not contain any of the 28 types, but can have collagen-boosting ingredients like vitamin C, quercetin, copper, and zinc

Most collagen supplements are hydrolyzed so as to be more quickly and easily absorbed into our system, often delivered through powder, pill, or liquid form. But hark! Not all collagen peptides are created equal. High-quality collagen is always sourced from grass-fed, pasture-raised cows, wild-caught fish, and/or organic ingredients.

Phew! That took a load off. Now let’s get into the good stuff.

The “It Girl” of Collagen

Agent Nateur’s holi(mane) is the best in its class, and that is no accident.

Founder Jena Covello developed the self-care brand after years of suffering with endometriosis and adenomyosis, endless back and forth with Western doctors, and five painstaking surgeries. After being guided by a holistic practitioner, she dived head first into the world of natural medicine and healing remedies.

And so was born Agent Nateur’s extremely luxe, carefully crafted, thoughtfully curated portfolio of skincare products that help one glow from the inside out. Every ingredient has been chosen for its purity, efficacy, and potency, sourced from the highest quality ingredients from France, Germany, Switzerland, Bulgaria, and other European countries.

So what makes holi(mane) so special?

Formulated in partnership with functional medicine practitioner Dr. Will Cole (who Gwyneth loves), holi(mane) combines the highest quality wild-caught, non-gmo marine collagen with pearl powder for a deeply penetrating, skin-boosting collagen that knocks all other marine collagens out of the park.

Pearl powder, for those who are less familiar, is an ancient healing adaptogen that has been used in Chinese Medicine for thousands of years. Most known for being the richest source of calcium on the planet, pearl has adaptogenic properties that help with collagen production, tissue regeneration, wound healing, oxidative stress, and even anxiety and nervousness.

That’s right. It’s just two simple, synergistic ingredients that make up holi(mane)’s power-packed peptides. And Agent Nateur’s version contains collagen types I, II, III, and IV, helping with beauty on every level.

Spilling the Collagen Tea

“Have you tried it?”

“Everyone’s tried it.”

“It’s the only one that works.”

“Once you try it, you’ll never use anything else.”

When I first discovered Agent Nateur’s holi(mane) collagen, I was being compressed between several influencer-type shoppers at my local Erewhon (which I say I hate, but won’t stop frequenting). Although my eyes twinkled while reflecting back its mermaid-like packaging, I thought nothing of it. “I already take collagen. I bet this is all hype,” I thought to myself. For almost $100 a bag, it was very easy to write it off as “just another Instagram-worthy trend.”

Then, my close friend, whom I trust deeply, had to go and tell me that it was the only collagen she had ever seen produce results. “This is why my hair looks so good,” she said.

As an “I’ll try anything once” wellness type, I had to find out more.

Baseline

I do all the things as far as my own collagen production goes. I make weekly bone broth, I take vitamin C, I avoid sugar, gluten, dairy, caffeine, alcohol (but I still find fun, I promise!). There is not one thread of elastin that is not accounted for in my body! So the standards for holi(mane) were HIGH.

After 30 Days…

People had scared me about the taste of marine collagen. Would it be too fishy? Would it dissolve? How would I incorporate it into my daily rituals?

Every day, I had one scoop—either in my morning cup of bone broth* or in my post-workout smoothie. I was pleasantly surprised to discover that fishiness was not an issue in any regard, and it seemingly dissolved better than my usual bovine collagen peptides.

I noticed that my complexion was more even than usual and I definitely lost fewer strands in the shower. Most importantly, I felt more luxurious, like I was upping my ~radiant vibrations~ every day, transcending onto a new plane of self-care. Is it expensive? Yes. But are there other things that I’m willing to concede on or consolidate in the future to continue my collagen habit? Also yes.

I think, because I was already on some serious collagen-focused protocols, the results were less “OMFG” for me. But I do think that this is the type of purchase that would 1) give someone who has been less collagen-focused more noticeable results 2) encourage someone to clean up their lifestyle so as to support this high-class collagen 3) provide more skin, gut, and immune support regardless of one’s present path.

I will also add, for those who are boosting collagen on a budget or already have their bovine peptides of choice, opting to take holi(mane) even every couple of months is an awesome way to mix up the kinds of protein sources you’re getting every now and again (I confirmed this with my naturopathic doctor!!).

*Hot/Cool Tip: Make sure whatever liquid you put it in is not too hot. While tea and my daily cup of BB (bone broth) were amazing vehicles for marine collagen consumption, too much heat can denature it, making it less efficacious.