Why I Stopped Recommending Every Other Collagen on the Market, Except This One

Vital Proteins built a massive brand. Bulletproof did a lot to bring functional nutrition into the mainstream. BUBS has a great story behind it. Sports Research has been around forever. These are real companies making real products that real people buy.

But I’m going to be honest with you about what’s actually in them. Because after 25 years in this industry, the thing that frustrates me most isn’t bad companies — it’s good companies selling incomplete formulas and calling it done.

Walk into any supplement store, open any browser, and search for collagen. What you’ll find, almost universally, is Type I and Type III collagen from bovine hide. That’s it. That’s the category. Vital Proteins, Bulletproof, BUBS, Sports Research — they all sell essentially the same thing in different packaging at different price points. Grass-fed bovine, hydrolyzed, Types I and III. Some of them add Vitamin C. Some add hyaluronic acid. But the collagen itself? Same two types. Same single source.

And look — Type I and Type III are important. I’m not dismissing them. Type I is the most abundant collagen in the human body. It’s in your skin, your tendons, your bones. Type III runs alongside it in your skin and blood vessels. If your only goal is skin, hair, and nails, you can make a reasonable argument for a Type I/III-only product.

But here’s the thing. Your body isn’t just skin, hair, and nails.

Your cartilage is Type II. Your joint cushioning, the stuff that erodes as you age and gets destroyed by high-impact training — that’s Type II. And Type II collagen from cartilage behaves completely differently than Type I from bovine hide. It needs to be undenatured — meaning it can’t be heat-processed — or it loses its biological activity. Most collagen manufacturers use heat in their processing. The moment you apply that kind of heat to Type II collagen, you’ve changed its structure. It doesn’t work the same way anymore.*

Not one of the brands I mentioned above includes Type II. Not one.

Then there’s Type V. Found in your hair follicles, corneal tissue, bone matrix, liver, and muscle matrix. It plays a structural role in how collagen fibers are organized and laid down in your tissue — it’s essentially the architect that tells the other types where to go. We source it from eggshell membrane, which also naturally contains hyaluronic acid and glucosamine. Most brands don’t include it because it requires a separate sourcing process and it’s more expensive to do right.

And Type X. Found in cartilage and new bone formation. Works synergistically with Type II for joint and bone health. Again — not in any of the products I mentioned.

Here’s where I get a little fired up.

When I was formulating Perfect Collagen®, I didn’t go to a contract manufacturer and say “give me a multi-collagen blend.” I spent eight months sourcing each of the five types independently — grass-fed bovine for Types I and III, wild-caught marine fish for Type I peptides with smaller chain sizes that cross the gut barrier more efficiently, chicken bone broth for Type X, chicken sternum cartilage for undenatured Type II, and eggshell membrane for Type V.

Five sources. Five independent quality checks. Five different processing requirements.

That’s not how most brands operate. Most brands find a single supplier who blends multiple types together in one batch. It’s cheaper, it’s faster, and the consumer can’t tell the difference on the label. But the sourcing integrity is completely different. And in this industry, sourcing integrity is everything.

I know what you’re thinking. “Vital Proteins is $30. Why is yours $46?”

Fair question. Here’s the honest answer: I’m not competing on price with a product that has one collagen source. I’m competing on completeness. You could buy a Type I/III-only product for $30 and take it every day and get some benefit. Or you could take Perfect Collagen® and get five types from five independent sources with Organic Vitamin C included, for $46.

That’s $16 more per month. For a formula that covers your joints, your cartilage, your bone matrix, your hair follicles, and your skin — not just your skin.

“I’ll let you do that math.”

I take Perfect Collagen® every single morning. One scoop in my coffee. It dissolves instantly, no taste, no residue. I built this formula because I couldn’t find anything on the market that did what I needed it to do. Everything I could find was a Type I/III product dressed up with a nice label and a lifestyle brand around it.

I’m not saying those products are bad. I’m saying they’re incomplete. And after 25 years of formulating supplements, I decided to build the one I actually wanted to take.

That’s Perfect Collagen®. Five types. Five sources. Professional grade.

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