If you've dealt with hair loss or thinning, you've felt the same desperation I did when my hair started thinning at 25 [ty, stress, hormones, and chemical damage]. I tried everything to make my hair grow faster: Hair-growth shampoos, castor-oil treatments, aloe-vera massages, rosemary-oil products—my bathroom soon became filled with products and DIYs that did legit nothing. Just before giving up, I decided to finally try a vitamin for hair growth—but I was skeptical.
“While hair-growth vitamins may potentially help improve overall hair health, there is not enough evidence to prove their efficacy for hair growth,” says board-certified dermatologist Marisa Garshick, MD. However, they can be great for the right person, according to experts. I asked dermatologists and trichologists if hair-growth vitamins are safe, if they can actually grow your hair, what vitamins are the best, and the hair-growth treatments they actually recommend. Keep scrolling:
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How do vitamins for hair growth work?
Usually, hair-growth vitamins, gummies, and supplements are filled with a mix of “hair-friendly” ingredients like biotin; folic acid; vitamins D, A, C, and E; and omegas, all of which supposedly work together to make your hair look longer, healthier, shinier, and stronger after a few months. That is, supposedly [yes, we'll get into it]. But first…
Are hair-growth vitamins safe?
Whether or not hair-growth vitamins are safe depends on your current health and the type of supplement or gummy you ingest. The thing is, supplements and vitamins are not FDA-regulated, meaning brands can kinda say and do whatever they want—and also add whatever mix of ingredients they want to their formulas. That’s not to say all gummies and vitamins are automatically scary and unsafe [after all, it is bad business practice to poison customers], but because hair supplements aren’t backed by government-approved data, the research around them is either nonexistent or highly suspect.
“A lot of the studies you find in support of hair supplements are actually funded by the brands themselves,” says dermatologist Dhaval G. Bhanusali, MD, who specializes in hair loss. “The literature is sketchy at best, and most dermatologists agree that supplements are not very impressive.” Instead, your best bet is to talk to your doctor [seriously—their many years of schooling made them pretty smart in the hair-growth department], or trying some topical products instead:
But if you're determined to try hair gummies, pills, supplements, and vitamins, regardless of what I say, then let me at least help you do it safely. So let's get into what you really want to know:
Do vitamins for hair growth really work?
Again, for the people in the back: Vitamins and supplements are not FDA-approved, which means there isn't a universal standard when it comes to ingredients, strengths, or formulations. So that means there’s never going to be an official yes or no answer as to whether vitamins for hair growth really work. But if you ask the experts—or me, who tried taking them for two months and was only left with breakouts—the answer to whether or not hair vitamins really work is pretty much a big ol’ NOPE across the board.
Plus, even though vitamins themselves are absolutely necessary and beneficial for your hair, they won’t do much if your body is already stocked with them—which it probably already is. “Most people get all the vitamins they need to manage their hair growth from their diet alone,” says trichologist Dominic Burg, chief scientist at Evolis Professional.
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Does biotin help hair growth?
Unfortunately, there isn’t a definitive answer on whether biotin [AKA vitamin B7] really helps hair growth, and every dermatologist we spoke with was on the skeptical side. According to dermatologist Vivian Bucay, MD,, if you’re taking a stand-alone biotin supplement, you’d need to take at least 5 milligrams daily for it to have a chance of affecting hair growth—but even then, there’s no guarantee it’ll do anything, she says.
It’s also worth noting that biotin—just like any supplement—isn’t without its downsides: Excess biotin has the potential to trigger breakouts in some acne-prone individuals [which is what happened to me]. More research is needed to understand the exact correlation, but what is known is that taking biotin can also affect major medical tests your doctor may perform. So, as we’ll repeat again and again, make sure to discuss all supplement-related info with an actual doctor before trying any.
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What ingredients help hair growth?
The ingredients that are going to help your hair growth vary from person to person. Generally, supplements are filled with vitamins that most people tend to through food every day. However, if your doctor confirms you’re vitamin-deficient, certain vitamins could potentially [potentially!] help with hair growth, says Dr. Bhanusali. “There are some studies and anecdotal evidence that support the idea that low vitamin D levels can hinder hair growth, and a lot of people tend to have low vitamin D, even if they’re otherwise healthy,” says Dr. Bhanusali. And the same goes for lower iron levels. “Many derms see good results by prescribing patients iron supplements and vitamin D supplements," he says, adding that you should always check with your doc before starting a supplement.
If you are *not* vitamin deficient [which, again, only a doctor can tell you] but still want longer, healthier, stronger hair, then sadly, “supplements will probably do very little for you,” says Burg. Hey, maybe you’ll be the lucky wild card—again, there are no mass studies definitively saying yes or no—but if we’re talking from a point of science here, your odds aren’t great.
Are there side effects to vitamins for hair growth?
I know what you’re thinking: What’s the harm in taking hair growth vitamins and supplements, just in case they do end up helping? But sadly, that’s not how vitamins work in a healthy [read: non-vitamin-deficient] human. Even if you were to ingest triple the vitamins your body needs [please don’t], you still wouldn’t reap triple, or even double, the hair growth rewards.
Why? Because “your body keeps only the vitamins it needs and then gets rid of the rest,” says trichologist Dominic Burg. It's kind of like pouring water into a glass that’s already 100 percent full. So unless you’re actually missing some key nutrients—i.e., your doctor has confirmed you have a deficiency—you’ll usually end up peeing out the excess vitamins pretty soon after you ingest them.
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What vitamin deficiency causes hair loss?
There isn’t just one vitamin deficiency that causes hair loss—thinning and shedding hair can actually be caused by multiple physical and mental factors. “There are a lot of women running around who are deficient and don’t realize it, either because of dieting, poor nutrition, or intense stress,” says Burg. And when you’re super stressed or not eating enough, “your body will shut down your hair growth first and redirect nutrients and energy to the organs that need it most,” he says, thus leaving you vitamin deficient and your hair growth at a standstill.
And if you’ve ever experienced a severe bout of physical or emotional stress [see: the pandemic], you might have noticed a sudden shedding of your hair a few months afterward. “It’s a delayed reaction to the stress or diet that usually occurs three months later,” says Burg. Of course, the only way to know for sure if your body is deficient is to have your levels tested by your doctor, so please wait for a physician to tell you supplements are safe for you to try.
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