Beauty

[bargainsgirl]

Has anyone tried this?  Says it  is "drug free".

[Montana]

This is not a new product.  I tried it many years ago and it did nothing for my hair at all. I took it for six months and had no results. 

This was my experience but It might be different for you.

[SilleeMee]

It's basically a vitamin supplement with a little added protein (shark cartilage powder), biotin and silica extract powder(horsetail). Biotin and silica have been shown to improve hair growth, but the amounts included in Viviscal are skimpy looking to me.  Nothing in Viviscal will make you sprout new hairs, but it might give you healthier looking hair over time...but really, a healthy diet will do that, too.

[Shelbelle]

Used it for 6 months, cost me $200, total waste of time snd money. 

[glam_girl]

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@SilleeMee wrote:

It's basically a vitamin supplement with a little added protein (shark cartilage powder), biotin and silica extract powder(horsetail). Biotin and silica have been shown to improve hair growth, but the amounts included in Viviscal are skimpy looking to me.  Nothing in Viviscal will make you sprout new hairs, but it might give you healthier looking hair over time...but really, a healthy diet will do that, too.

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Hi @SilleeMee  !  I am actually looking for hair supplements at this very moment.  It is so overwhelming.  Which amounts of active ingredients would be effective in your opinion and which combination of ingredients are best?  I have tried many supplements over the years.  Some are better than others.  I usually take hair vitamins twice a year for about 3-4 months in spring, then rest a few months and start the cycle again in the fall.  I have done that for several years when I started Phyto vitamins (that is how they recommended the supplements to be taken) and it is what works for me.  I see QVC has Andrew Lessman's supplements (which I haven't tried before) and they have a zillion options I haven't tried on Amazon.  I value your feedback since you are a professional in the science field.

[SilleeMee]

@glam_girl 

I don't take any 'hair vitamins'. In the past I tried biotin but it made my hair very coarse and brittle. If you've had any success with biotin then maybe a 10,000 mcg daily amount could help. A few years ago, when I stopped taking the biotin, I started taking bamboo extract silica powder. It's similar to the silica (horsetail) found in Viviscal only the bamboo silica is more potent. I buy a powder form of bamboo silica powder from Amazon and take a heaping 1/4 teaspoon daily, mixed in with my daily green drink. For me the bamboo has made my hair healthy...it's very shiny and silky, no split ends and I heat style my hair. If you're interested in this bamboo powder check out item number  B01LWBFI3H  over on Amazon and read about it there. Just type that item number in the search box to find it. 

[Shelbelle]

I have tried mega doses of Biotin, Lessman, Viviscal, Keratin, Bamboo, Cynatine, Silica, Biosil, and the list goes on, nothing makes a difference. Now using Verisol collagen, and want to try phytoceramides too.  My nails are great, but hair has never improved. 

[SilleeMee]

I also take 700mg daily of phytoceramides supplements. That has some interesting findings in it's ability to improve follicular health. I can't remember exactly how that works but it has something to do at the cellular level involving the lining of the insides of the follicles. 

Another thing that I do is keep my head covered, with a hat, when I'm out in direct sunlight.  UV light from the sun has been shown to cause hair fallout by prematurely causing the hair-growth cycle to go into the shedding phase. Some topical hair-growth (scalp) products contain sunscreen listed as their active ingredient. That says something to me.

[Porcelain]

Since I've started taking DIM by Smoky Mountain Naturals and Thyroid Energy by Now -- my hair has thickened up significantly. I don't see scalp showing through my hair so much. My hair looks more normal again.

These supplements might not be right for everybody, though. I'm trying to even out my perimenopausal hormones (via DIM), and I have a sluggish thyroid that isn't bad enough to take medication for. These are working great for those purposes, plus it makes sense that they may be positively affecting my hair thickness.

[Porcelain]

What is Viviscal supposed to do?