Do Hair/Skin/Nail vitamins really work?

[FroggyMonkeyMom]

I'm sure there are threads and articles already but I'm trying to get two toddlers ready to go out, and cleaning my disater of a kitchen at the same time :-) can someone hook me up with some links? Vitamins, supplements, diet, personal experience with these. Thanks! I haven't been taking great care of my hair lately and was very close to cutting it all off less than two weeks ago, but this site has changed my mind. I am also going to try honey for highlights and maybe look for some hair sticks, which I never tried before but looks simple enough. :-)

[PinkyCat]

In my personal experience, yes, I swear by them. They contain things good for growth like MSM, niacin, biotin, etc. I've spent an arm & leg in the past, but have found that Country Life Maxi Hair vitamins to be the best and nice and cheap. I take them before bed.

Before these, my hair grew .5" per month - now I can get .75"+.

[Amber_Maiden]

They can work, but also if you just take a standard multivitamin that will also work just as well!

[ladonna]

Yes they work for me. I was taking a hair and nail's vitamin but they made me nauseous, so I switched to B-vitamins and D3 my hair grow pretty fast. I went from shoulder length to a little past APL in 3 month's. I think the vitamins are the reason my chin is breaking out though, I didn't even have acne as a teen.

[angelfell]

I take one that is also a multivitamin, or at least it has most if not all the stuff (and the same amounts) as a regular multivitamin. The downfall? I hake to take it three times daily. The upside? It's good for your WHOLE body, not just your hair, skin, and nails ^-^!

I believe they work. A few months after I started taking them I started noticing all these annoying, short hairs all over my crown.. new hair growth, so I couldn't complain. They even started growing hairs back in I'd apparently lost around my bangs, probably because of messing with them too much.

They've also improved my skin and nails, too, as said. My skin is very soft (although, I do exfoliate and use lotion.. but I've noticed improvement) and my nails grow like crazy. Only problem is I bite them all off.. darn my awful habits

[Hairwish]

They worked for me too. I can't say my hair grew much faster because of them, but they definitely keep my shedding rate under control.

[FroggyMonkeyMom]

Any particular brands anyone would like to recommend?

[Hairwish]

I've had very good results with Forcapil. I don't know if you can find them in the US, but they contain: vitamin b complex, vitamin d, cystine,methionine, biotin and zinc. In Romania, they're considered to be among the best vitamins for hair and nails.

[Lucky]

Yes they work for me. I was taking a hair and nail's vitamin but they made me nauseous, so I switched to B-vitamins and D3 my hair grow pretty fast. I went from shoulder length to a little past APL in 3 month's. I think the vitamins are the reason my chin is breaking out though, I didn't even have acne as a teen.

That's pretty amazing, would you mind sharing what brand(s) you use?

To the OP, I like GNC's Ultra Nourishair. Their biotin and MSM are also good (I'm currently taking the two latter). I do think that MSM has sped up my growth a bit (though I don't have any hard proof, just sort of a feeling) and biotin does help with my overall hair health and makes my nails stronger to boot!
ETA: your hair is beautiful FroggyMonkeyMom, please don't cut it!

[caiti42]

I tried hair, skin and nails but when I switched to just a multivitamin I found it to work much better. I take Swisse brand.