We’ve all seen them on the shelves at our local store as well as advertisements on television. But do hair growth vitamins really help us achieve healthy, longer, thicker hair?
To answer this question we must first educate ourselves on what exactly is in these vitamins. Though exact ingredients and profiles vary brand to brand, most hair growth vitamins contain some combination of vitamin c, vitamin a, vitamin b3, fatty acids, collagen, folic acid, and biotin.
These nutrients are essential to hair growth in humans. According to manufacturers’ claims, these vitamins can stimulate hair growth, prevent hair loss, promote healthy texture, fight dryness and damage, decrease scalp flaking, and prevent breakage.
Sounds great but do they actually work? While there is promising research that these nutrients are beneficial to our hair as well our skin and nails, some of the doses needed to see results are much higher than any found in an over the counter capsule. That being said – they don’t hurt. If there is a vitamin deficiency at the root of your hair problems, increasing your vitamin intake can be a good place to start.
Just don’t be unrealistic about the results. While hair growth vitamins can help some people, they aren’t a miracle cure for hair loss and won’t help in more severe clinical hair loss cases. If you fall into the latter category, we suggest meeting with a qualified hair transplant surgeon who specializes in medical management to figure out where to begin.