Consumer Survey's Top Hair Vitamins for 2024
Updated 04/21/2024We’ll show you the top 4 factors that affect everyday hair loss + the best vitamins for healthy hair growth.
It’s a common misconception that hair is just about aesthetics. Everyday hair loss has been scientifically shown to have unexpected effects on our mental health, such as feeling self-conscious or sad. Luckily for us, there are ways to help prevent these negative side-effects.
"We all long for the thick, healthy hair of our youth and changes to our hair over time can affect our self-esteem," says Lauren Cornell, a Registered Dietitian. "But we shouldn't feel shame about changes that happen to our hair. The truth is our hair naturally changes over time by factors both within and outside of our control," adds Cornell.
Most people lose about 100 hairs per day. And while we know there are many factors that influence how much you lose, that doesn't mean they're not worth exploring in order to be proactive about preventing future loss associated with aging.
Here are the 4 most common factors that affect hair health. Plus, we reveal our top solution for longer, fuller hair below!
The Top 4 Factors That Affect Hair Growth:
StressIt is true that stress can lead to everyday hair loss. For example, accidental or even physical injuries could cause so much frightful stress on your body that it sends follicles into their resting phase prematurely. Achieving stress relief can be difficult, but if you find a strategy that works for you then your natural hair should start to grow normally.
AgeHair loss is an inevitable part of getting older. As you age, your hair spends more time in the resting phase which means there may be increased shedding and less growth.
HormonesThe reason that some people's hair appears to be thicker than others is because of their hormone levels. Testosterone and DHT are male hormones which cause body or facial hair growth, but female bodies naturally produce these same hormones at a much lower level.
Researchers have found that after around age 40, testosterone decreases resulting in thinner, slower-growing hairs as well as more loss for females who experience menopause where estrogen falls off dramatically.
NutritionA healthy diet is instrumental to a beautiful head of hair. The active growing stage where your follicles are most productive (the anagen phase), typically lasts 3-5 years—and can be affected by genetics as well as key nutrients that help support hair's strength while helping reduce normal breakage and shedding over time.
Click Your Hair Type
Everyone is unique! Click on your hair type to learn exactly what YOUR hair needs to stay healthy and strong.
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Type 1: Straight Hair
Common Characteristics
- When healthy, has a natural shine
- Extremely strong
- Difficult to curl/style
- Typically thins out later in life
- Tends to get oily faster than any other type
What Your Hair Needs From You:
- Ingredients that maintain strength
- Avoid buildup to increase shine
- Hydration from the inside out
What To Look For In A Hair Vitamin
Look for a supplement infused with antioxidants and B vitamins to help increase hair strength and promote growth
Additionally, look for:
- Tocotrienols to stimulate hair growth
- Biotin to prevent and reverse hair loss/thinning
Try to find:
- Folic acid and saw palmetto extracts to fortify and strengthen hair and keep its natural shine
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Type 2: Wavy Hair
Common Characteristics
- It's often fine with a nice shine
- Temperamental to styling and styling products
- Frizz and split ends are a prime issue
What Your Hair Needs From You:
- Ingredients that both maintain and repair
- Avoid buildup
- Hydrate the ends with natural oils
What To Look For In A Hair Vitamin
Look for folic acid that will not only promote hair growth, but you’ll also notice it will help strengthen your nails, as well.
Also, look for:
- Zinc is vital to maintaining a healthy hair shaft and can help keep hair from thinning
- Reishi mushroom to help boost hair growth and improve circulation
Try to find:
- Flaxseed oil and folic acid, which are both packed with vitamins and known to help maintain shine.
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Type 3: Curly Hair
Common Characteristics
- Curly hair is usually full-bodied
- Will get frizzy from overstyling, buildup, lack of moisture and humid climates
- The thicker the hair the dryer it becomes
- Tends to lose moisture easily
What Your Hair Needs From You:
- Infuse it with vitamins and antioxidants for enhanced growth.
- If your hair is thicker, hydrate your strands with natural oils.
What To Look For In A Hair Vitamin
Look for biotin and folic acid as both have been proven to help promote hair growth to keep your hair growing long and strong.
Also, look for:
- Reishi mushroom to help fortify your hair and improve circulation to your scalp
- Vitamin E to help repair damage from harsh heat and chemicals and keep your hair shiny and smooth
Try to find:
- Vitamin A to help keep your scalp nourished and hydrated
- Vitamin B to provide your hair with the vital nutrients it needs to continue growing long and strong
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Type 4: Coily Hair
Common Characteristics
- Tightly coiled in an "S" or "Z" shape
- Full-bodied
- Tends to be extremely dry and brittle
- Has issues with shrinkage and absorption
- Doesn't have a noticeable reflective shine
What Your Hair Needs From You:
- If it's thinning, infuse it with vitamins and antioxidants that can help prevent breakage.
- Coily hair needs lots of hydration. Cover the entire surface of your hair with natural oils so it doesn’t dry out and break.
What To Look For In A Hair Vitamin
Flaxseed oil and biotin are essential to your hair type because they are packed with vitamins and known to help keep hair hydrated and even prevent over-drying.
Also, look for:
- Saw palmetto to help fortify and strengthen your hair from the inside out
- Vitamin E to help repair damage keeping your hair healthy and strong
Try to find:
- Vitamin A to help keep your scalp nourished and hydrated
- Vitamin B is packed with vital nutrients to boost hair growth
What You Should Be Looking For In A Hair Vitamin:
The importance of nutrition is often overlooked, but it plays a vital role in our outward appearance.
Registered Dietitian Lauren Cornell explains, "A lot of people don't realize that their hair is actually a visual representation of how we're taking care of ourselves from the inside—what we're eating, what supplements we're taking or not taking, everything that we're doing to take care from the inside out. After all, the hair growth process is not only influenced by outward factors, but also the types of food, vitamins, and minerals we put into our bodies."
That’s why dermatologists and dietitians alike recommend adding a quality hair supplement to your daily routine to keep your locks as healthy as possible.
Now that we've broken down common culprits behind thinning or loss, let's discuss what ingredients to look for—and which ones to leave alone—when choosing an effective hair vitamin blend.
"Many hair care brands claim their products will help, but not all hair growth solutions are created equal,” warns Registered Dietitian Lauren Cornell.
Our comprehensive research has revealed that a quality hair vitamin should have many, if not all, of the naturally derived and clinically studied ingredients listed below to support the hair repair cycle and promote new growth.
Top Ingredients To Support Hair & Scalp Health:
- Pantothenic Acid (B5) –– Supports the adrenal glands to promote hair growth and strengthen follicles.
- Zinc –– Helps your body better absorb nutrients and assists in oil production to keep your scalp hydrated for healthy hair.
- Biotin* -- Helps rebuild hair and protects the scalp against harmful environmental factors.
- Reishi Mushroom --This adaptogenic herb helps promote stress relief for the mind and supports sleep so that stressful situations (that may cause hair loss), may have less of an effect.
*The minimum clinically-tested daily amount needed for hair growth is 2500mcg.
Grow Stronger Hair.
Though the above ingredients can help with prevention and maintenance, only these clinically studied ingredients have the studies to show they can help rejuvenate problem follicles and even everyday hair loss.
Clinically Studied Ingredients Shown to Help Strengthen & Grow Healthy Hair:
- Tocotrienols –– A powerful form of Vitamin E that has been shown in two clinical studies to promote hair growth when you need it most.
- Saw Palmetto* –– A potent berry extract that helps naturally block the hormone responsible for hair loss, DHT, from being formed in the body.
*Some beauty experts compare Saw Palmetto to Minoxidil (the active ingredient in Rogaine).
Be Cautious of Hidden Ingredients
Try to avoid cheap hidden synthetic fillers, binders, and artificial ingredients. Many companies claiming to be all-natural will sneak them in. These ingredients are often found in the tiny print at the bottom of the label. Some have been linked to health concerns and other serious side effects in high doses. Try to avoid these synthetic additives: microcrystalline cellulose, magnesium stearate, gelatin capsules, silicon dioxide, chromium
Our Unique Research Procedure
We conducted in-house research to verify that the ingredients in the supplement were the same as claimed on the label. We also looked at what users had to say in their reviews and learned from their experiences.
After months of analysis, we determined the best hair growth vitamin on the market today.
Top 5 Hair Growth Vitamins For 2021
We've compiled this list after testing over 60 different brands of hair vitamins for potency, ingredients that are scientifically formulated to work, and user satisfaction.
The Hair Growth Vitamins We Tested
- Hairfinity
- Viviscal
- Hair La Vie
- Keranique
- Hair Essentials
- Mane Choice
- Sugar Bear Hair
- Maxi Hair Vitamins
- Silk Advanced Biotin Complex
Top Pick
#1: Hair La Vie Clinical Formula Hair Vitamins
Hair La Vie's powerful and synergistic Clinical Formula Hair Vitamins is the first and only supplement to include the top two hair-promoting ingredients (US Plus® Saw Palmetto and EnvolMax® Toctotrienols) at the recommended levels to help promote hair growth, strengthen existing strands, and enrich hair’s appearance in as little as 30 days.
Hair La Vie also added a powerful Redensifying Proprietary Blend that's made with amla, reishi mushroom, flaxseed oil, bamboo stem, and horsetail. This combination of clinically studied ingredients and a potent proprietary blend help ensure results that tower above the rest.
We were impressed with the glowing 5-star reviews detailing excellent user experiences, as well as impressive yet real results displayed in before and after photos. Plus, we had no trouble contacting their kind and knowledgeable customer service team.
Hair La Vie stands behind their product with a strong, 90-day, no-hassle, money-back guarantee, making them the obvious choice for our #1 pick.
Rating
#2: Essential Elements: Hair Hero
Coming in second is Hair Hero by Essential Elements, which was made to address the hormonal changes, nutrition deficiencies, and everyday stresses associated with hair loss.
Their proprietary blend was designed with the essential vitamins and minerals needed to nourish and replenish hair for optimal growth support over time and is suitable for all hair types.
We also loved that they only used holistic, hair-supporting ingredients backed by science including: biotin, folic acid, saw palmetto, and hydrolyzed collagen.
Many women reported substantial growth with regular use over time, as well as improved hair texture—noticing that it was both silkier and shinier.
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#3: NutraFol Hair Vitamins for Women
We loved Nutrafol for it's physician-formulated and 100% drug free blend. We found their customer service team to not only be readily available, but extremely helpful, as well.
Users raved about the benefits of NutraFol for enriching thinning and shedding hair as well as boosting their overall appearance and health.
Unfortunately, though this product had many stellar reviews, we do recommend proceeding with caution as a few users noticed stomach issues when taking NutraFol.
Overall, we love the look and vibe of the Nutrafol brand and found that they created a product they really believed in.
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#4: Viviscal Extra Strength for Women
The Extra Strength Hair Growth Program by Viviscal comes in at #4 in our top 5 best hair vitamins because it contains many of the top ingredients we listed above -- though not all. However, their formula is shown to stimulate the scalp and promote growth.
Unfortunately, we couldn't rank it any higher on our list because it also contains a lot of filler ingredients, such as glycerol, silicon dioxide, and magnesium stearate.
Viviscal's brand recognition and excellent customer service, however, were par for the course and we felt confident including it on our list of the absolute best.
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#5: Hairfinity Advanced Haircare
Rounding out our top 5 is Hairfinity for its nutrient-packed formula, including many of the essential vitamins we listed above such as folic acid, biotin, pantothenic acid, and hydrolyzed collagen.
Users raved about the benefits of Hairfinity for enriching thinning hair and boosting overall health.
Hairfinity recommends taking their supplements either as a preventative measure for potential hair loss due to aging or simply if you desire thicker, fuller hair.
Overall, we love that the company has such positive manufacturing practices and uses only botanical ingredients.
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While Hair La Vie is our pick for the best hair vitamin we've found so far, we would still love to hear your hair vitamin stories. Send us your experiences, comments
Sincerely,
Bianca Thompson,
Senior Health Editor
What We Do
ConsumersSurvey uses a unique three-step approach to reviewing the most popular products in the online marketplace
1. Research First we conduct in-house research with a highly qualified editorial team comprised of individuals who specialize in various fields.
2. SurveyWe survey our readers who have tried the product over time in order to learn from their experiences.
3. OpinionWe monitor public opinion in the world’s most popular marketplaces, from Amazon and eBay, to Bizrate and Pricegrabber.
