Do Hair Supplements Actually Make Your Hair Grow? Let's See What The Pros Say

The number of women I know on some sort of hair growth supplement is astounding—far more so than those who take supplements for skin, nails, or other beauty endeavors.

Sure this is anecdotal evidence (no, I have not taken a formal survey of my friends' supplement usage), but it really does feel like the cult of hair supplements is a devoted one. Just scroll through social media, follow any influencer, or read most beauty websites: Hair supplements, by all accounts, are a thing, if not the thing. 

We're going to be real with you here: This is a complicated topic. Hair growth and health are influenced by many factors—both internal and external. That being said, many people swear by hair vitamins and supplements to help support hair health overall.* 

Now, the theory behind hair supplements really comes down to internal structural support. Let's explain: Hair is made up of keratin1, a type of protein that consists of about 18 amino acids2 including cysteine, proline, threonine, leucine, and arginine. And like most processes in the body, the production of keratin is heavily influenced by free radical damage and oxidative stress—both of which can be eased or neutralized by antioxidants.* 

Ok, but do supplements work? Well, while key nutrients and bioactives can support the synthesis and protection of hair*, clinical studies using supplements in healthy populations are hard to find. (You'll find some research in people with various nutrient deficiencies, but there's not much published research on hair supplements for the average person.)

And given that their mechanisms are more about creating optimal conditions for hair health, it's challenging to track just how much they influence hair growth.

As keratin is a protein, you want to make sure you're ingesting enough amino acids to aid in protein production. While collagen is not a complete protein, depending on your supplement's formula, it can contain several unique amino acids (sometimes as many as 18) that can play a valuable role in protein intake overall.*

Biotin is a very popular hair supplement addition. Biotin is a type of B vitamin, specifically B7. The vitamin is involved in keratin production3, and deficiencies are connected to loss and breakage.*

Many hair woes can be traced back to oxidative stress and free radical damage. So to support healthy hair, many lean on antioxidant nutrients and botanicals such as vitamin C, E, turmeric, and CoQ10, among others.* 

Since healthy skin and hair start on the inside, inadequate intake of certain nutrients may affect appearance. If you're not getting a robust, diverse diet (lots of fruits and vegetables, high-quality protein, and healthy fats), you may see physical signs like shedding, dullness, and breakage.

If you suspect nutrient insufficiency or even deficiency, your best course of action is to get checked out by a health care professional who can perform the correct tests and guide you on what to do next. 

There are many, many contributing factors to hair loss and thinning—some more pressing than others and some better understood than others. So if you're experiencing hair loss, it may feel impossible to pinpoint why it's happening. (If you're dealing with this right now, we empathize with you.)

Going to be honest with you: This is a deceptively complicated question! That's because adding length to your hair requires a combination of encouraging healthy growth while also preserving the hair you already have. (After all, new growth means nothing if you just keep having to trim off split ends and damage.) 

Now, on average hair grows about ¼ inch to ½ inch a month, according to Bridgette Hill, certified trichologist and founder of Root Cause Scalp Analysis. This may fluctuate depending on where you are on the hair growth cycle. Hair grows in phases11: anagen, catagen, and telogen, plus a theorized fourth phase, exogen.

You'll likely feel that your hair grows faster during the primary growth phase (anagen), but at any given point in time about 10 to 15% of your hair is in the shedding phase (telogen or exogen).

Unlike hair vitamins, which are dietary supplements, androgen blockers are topicals and medications that a health care practitioner could prescribe to influence your hair growth cycle.

"Hair-growth products are mainly androgen blockers with active ingredients that trick the body into extending the growing phase of the hair cycle," Hill says. "There are clinical and scientific studies that show these topicals and internal bioactives work."

A healthy hair follicle is vital to growth. One of the more common reasons hair follicles become damaged is by not having proper cleansing practices.

See, when you don't adequately remove buildup on the scalp, it can become inflamed. This happens because the inflammation starts to close off the hair follicle, limiting growth and eventually leading to shedding.

While some hair growth goals may be about length (and speeding up the time to get said length), others are more concerned about density.

"Beautiful, strong hair depends on good blood circulation, proper nutrition, and a healthy and supple scalp," says board-certified dermatologist Raechele Cochran Gathers, M.D., who specializes in hair care and founded MDHairMixtress.

See, what's theoretically happening with regular scalp massages is that the extra attention is helping encourage blood flow to the area, bringing with it oxygen and hair-healthy nutrients. This is especially helpful for those who do have a tense scalp, as muscle tension can often inhibit proper blood flow to the area. 

We wish this could be more straightforward, but unfortunately, hair loss, thinning, and growth are very complicated and individualized topics. Not to mention, we likely need more research done on effective ways to encourage growth—supplements included.