Best Vitamins and Supplements for a Full, Healthy Head of Hair

By: David McGlynn, Men’s Health

So your hair isn’t what it used to be. Maybe your forehead is a little higher, the crown a little thinner. Though male baldness is common—two thirds of men shed at least some of their hair by the time they hit 35—the reasons for it are varied. In addition to genetics, hair loss results from certain diseases, meds, infections, radiation, toxins, and stress. And in some parts of the world, nutritional diseases and vitamin deficiencies can also cause hair to fall out.

Serious vitamin deficits are rare among American men, but scientists have begun to explore whether supplements might slow the rate of hair loss or even help hair grow back. “Though we’ve yet to see large, randomized clinical trials to show that vitamins aid hair growth, a number of smaller studies have shown some results,” says Men’s Health advisor and dermatologist Adnan Nasir, M.D.

The supplements market is awash with products promising to thicken your mane, and vitamins alone aren’t likely to work as well as the prescription treatments or procedures.

What that in mind, we dug into the scientific research to see which vitamins and minerals might be worth checking out. And while you’re looking around, we checked into the most common supplements containing numerous vitamins, herbs, minerals and other natural compounds for hair loss—ones often lumped under the term “nutraceuticals”—for you, too.

Read the full article on the Men’s Health website.

Click here to read UCI , Cedars-Sinai Medical Center and the Arizona College of Osteopathic Medicine research study.