Vitamin supplements

Can vitamin supplements stop hair loss?

If you search the internet, a couple of seconds work will quickly reveal a multitude of vitamin supplements that claim to stop hair loss. Do they work? Well, first of all, you have to remember that there are lots of different types of hair loss, of which male-pattern baldness is only one. So while a particular vitamin supplement may rightfully claim to stop hair loss, you would do well to check the small print before assuming it can help with male pattern baldness.

Here, we will take a closer look at some of the Vitamins that our bodies need to maintain and grow healthy hair. We’ll also consider whether taking supplements of these vitamins could ever make a difference to male-pattern baldness – or whether this is simply another case of unscrupulous product marketers exploiting men who hope for a miracle cure.

The ‘Hair Food’ Cocktail

We recently found a ‘Hair Food’ Cocktail online. It claimed to include all the vitamins which nutritionists recommend for growing healthy hair and recommended you drink it every day for breakfast. Here are some of the vitamins that scientists have shown our bodies need to maintain healthy hair and a healthy scalp.

Vitamin A

Vitamin A is important in the production of sebum, which adds oil to the scalp and stops it from getting too dry. Good sources of Vitamin A are carrots, broccoli, spinach and eggs.

Vitamin B

Vitamin B comes in a variety of different forms which influence hair growth and health in different ways. For example, Vitamin B6 helps to create melanin, which provides hair with its colour. You’ll find it in meat and egg yolks. Vitamin B3 is also though to aid hair growth by reducing cholesterol, which plays a role in the formation of DHT.

Vitamin C

Vitamin C helps maintain healthy hair and skin. It is mostly found in citrus fruits, kiwi fruit, pineapple, tomatoes, green peppers, potatoes with their skins and dark green vegetables.

Vitamin E

Vitmain E increases scalp circulation and is primarily found in soybeans, nuts, dried beans and green vegetables.

Vitamin H

Vitamin H is also known as Biotin. Biotin is thought to promote hair growth and to stop your hair from becoming too dry.

The ‘Hair Food’ Cocktail claims to incorporate all of these vitamins into a single breakfast drink, which includes eggs, yoghurt, wheat germ oil and a number of supplements. Of course, on the surface, ensuring that your hair has all the vitamins it needs to grow healthily sounds like a sensible thing to do. However, there is no evidence to show that a drink like this will help at all with Male-Pattern Baldness.

Part of the problem is terminology. Anyone can suffer from hair loss and it is often the case that women lose some of their hair after pregnancy, for example. So a drink that cures hair loss may well do that – but only in the cases where vitamin deficiency is the cause of the hair loss. But as we have explained elsewhere on this site, male-pattern baldness is a genetic condition that results in certain men having excess levels of a chemical called DHT. So no amount of vitamins are going to help.

There are a number of different types of alopecia which each have different causes. Male-pattern baldness, or Androgenetic Alopecia, is only one kind. The moral of the story is definitely, therefore, to make sure that you choose your products and treatments carefully. Male-pattern baldness is a very specific condition – and most generic ‘hair loss’ treatments will probably not be appropriate.

So vitamin supplements can’t help at all?

The harsh fact is that vitamin supplement will not make any difference at all to male-pattern baldness. So you can certainly save your money before you go investing in any expensive supplements. Of course, vitamin supplements will not do your hair any harm either. They may even make your remaining hair feel and look in better condition – but unfortunately it will continue to fall out.

It is important to remember that the vitamin supplement industry is worth a lot of money and it continues to grow. As more and more people buy products over the internet, manufacturers are more and more generic in how they describe their products, in the hope that they can lure more people into trying them. Therefore, most products you find will confidently claim to treat ‘hair loss’ – rather than going into specifics about what type of hair loss it can treat, how successful it is and whether it is appropriate for male-pattern baldness.

Rather than trying to enhance their vitamin intake, the majority of men would be better advised to visit their doctor, discuss their hair loss and get a proper diagnosis. If you have male-pattern baldness, your doctor will advise you that vitamin supplements will not help. You may be prescribed an alternative, FDA-approved treatment such as Minoxidil or Finasteride, which directly tackle the causes of male-pattern baldness. You can find out more about both of these drugs in other articles on this site.

If you are not diagnosed with male-pattern baldness, and your hair loss has a different cause, vitamin supplements could help. In most cases, a blood test will ascertain whether you are lacking a particular vitamin. However, do not instantly assume that supplements are necessarily the right approach to take to curing a vitamin deficiency. The majority of people should be able to get all the vitamins they need through a balanced diet. If you are therefore lacking a particular vitamin, it could be that your doctor will want to look at improving your health or lifestyle in other areas, rather than simply suggesting supplements.

In short, the more you know about your condition, the better equipped you will be to find the right sort of treatment. As we’ve emphasised elsewhere, male-pattern baldness is a phenomenon that scientists are still learning about. As new studies emerge and  we understand more about the causes of the condition, we will be able to understand far more clearly why some products work – and why some won’t!