Trying Hair Vitamins for 30 Days
Hi Prepsters;
I’ve recently been noticing some hair thinning at the crown of my head, and after seeing a fellow blogger trying hair gummy vitamins, I decided to try them out over 30 days.
My hair
My hair thinning began over the past two years. I initially believed it was happening because of the stress of university and the over-styling I was doing a year into blogging, but to be sure I went to see my doctor. After extensive blood work, and a scalp evaluation, my doctor said that my hair thinning was probably due to genetics and getting older. Just as I was beginning to feel helpless, I saw a tweet from a blogger talking about how hair vitamins changed the quality of her hair.
The Vitamins
There are literally hundreds of different vitamins in the market that cater to improve your overall appearance, but the most popular one for hair is the Nature’s Bounty, Hair, Skin, and Nails Gummies with Biotin. The biggest appeal about these vitamins is that, apart from your hair health, they claim to help strengthen your nail, and improve the overall look of your skin. I found the 165 pack at my local Walmart for $16 CAD (9c/per unit) and was in hopes that this little, strawberry flavoured, gummy would be the secret, missing piece of my general maintenance routine.
Days 1-14
The first week went by pretty uneventfully, I looked forward to eating these candy-like vitamins after breakfast every morning. Towards day 6 I noticed my skin was becoming oily, which is strange considering my skin has always been relatively dry. I didn’t notice any difference in either my hair or nails. By Day 7 I was having a full breakout on my face, something that hasn’t happened to me in ten years. I reduced my gummy intake from two a day, to one. I also started using witch hazel toner, which is an astringent. (Meaning it tightens your pores but also dries your skin)
Days 15-29
My skin had stabilized by week two, and I noticed my hair was starting to look shinier, and my nails were less brittle, however, my body hair was also starting to grow faster and thicker. I wax my skin once a month, but after week two I started seeing long, and noticeably thicker hairs growing on my arms and face, a side effect that no one had warned me about. I decided to continue on with the experiment for the last two weeks.
The last two weeks were where I saw the noticeable changes in my hair. My hair started to become fuller and shinier looking, my nails were breaking less, but I was still getting occasional pimples. Was it as groundbreaking as everyone was making these vitamins out to be? Probably not. I think an improved diet filled with Vitamins A and E would have resulted in a similar outcome. Also, once you stop taking the vitamins, the results disappear.
60 Day Update
60 Days after i started taking hair and nail vitamins, I’ve noticed my hair is breaking less. I still do think I’m losing hair (especially on the crown of my head). but not at the same pace as I was before. My nails have experienced the biggest impact. They no longer chip and break as easily as they used to before. My body hair is also still growing at an accelreated pace, meaning, I’m waxing once every three weeks, instead of four. My next update will be a month from now.