Best Hair Supplements for Women

Two of the best-studied hair supplements for women are Nutrafol Women's Balance and Viviscal. Each beat a placebo in a trial of women with thinning hair. Nutrafol Women's Balance was tested in women around menopause. Viviscal was tested in women whose thinning was not pattern hair loss. High-dose biotin on its own is one to skip, because it can throw off thyroid, hormone and heart lab results. And if your hair is thinning along your part, crown or temples, a supplement alone isn't the treatment studied for that. Minoxidil is.

Which hair supplements for women have been tested against a placebo?

These two supplements have placebo-controlled trials in women: Nutrafol Women's Balance in women around menopause and Viviscal Extra Strength in women with thinning hair. No trial has compared the two head to head, so neither has been shown to work better than the other.

Which hair supplement fits me?

• You're in perimenopause or past menopause and your hair is thinning. Nutrafol Women's Balance is the one tested in women like you.
• Your hair thinned after a stretch of stress, poor eating or changes to your cycle. Viviscal was tested in that group. The trial left out women with pattern hair loss, sudden heavy shedding (telogen effluvium) and alopecia areata, so its results don't speak to those types of hair loss.
• You're allergic to fish or shellfish. Skip Viviscal. Its key ingredient is a blend of shark and mollusc powder, and women with these allergies were kept out of the trial.
• You're on hormonal birth control or hormone therapy. The Viviscal trial left out women who had used either in the past six months, so its results don't tell you how it works for you.

Should I take biotin for thinning hair?

Skip high-dose biotin on its own. Many lab tests use biotin as part of how they work, and biotin in your blood can scramble the result. In a small study of healthy adults, taking 10 mg of biotin a day for one week threw off 9 of 23 tests built this way. Some read falsely high and others falsely low. The thyroid test TSH came back falsely low on one analyzer, which could make a thyroid look like it's working differently than it is.

The FDA warns that biotin in supplements can cause wrong lab results that may go unnoticed. That includes falsely low troponin, the blood test used to check for a heart attack, and the FDA keeps receiving reports of it.

If you take any supplement with biotin in it, tell your clinical team and the lab before blood work.

What if my part is getting wider?

A wider part is a sign of female pattern hair loss, and a supplement is the wrong first move for it. Dr. Yadav, quoted by NCOA, says thinning around menopause is often patterned, with hair getting less dense along the part, crown or temples. Thinning from aging tends to be slow and even across your whole scalp.

Minoxidil is the treatment studied for female pattern hair loss. In a nine-month trial of 72 women, a 0.25 mg minoxidil pill raised hair density from 102 to 115 hairs per square centimeter. A 2% minoxidil solution raised it from 107 to 113. Both made individual hairs thicker. The difference between the pill and the solution was not statistically significant, and side effects were minor.

Minoxidil solution is FDA-approved for hair loss. Minoxidil pills are not FDA-approved for hair loss, but clinicians commonly prescribe them off-label for it. Our clinical team can prescribe minoxidil if it fits your goal.

Women on minoxidil talk about unwanted facial hair, and how they deal with it. One woman wrote: "Facial hair growth including lashes and brows. I'm okay with it. I now shave my face monthly." Ask your clinical team what to watch for.

How long do hair supplements take to work?

Give any hair treatment three to six months. Most people see visible changes in that window, and results depend on daily use. Hair loss has no cure, so you keep your results only while you keep going.

Some changes show up sooner in the measurements. In the Nutrafol trial, women on the supplement had more hair growth than the placebo group by day 90.

Slow starts are normal with minoxidil too. One woman on minoxidil pills wrote: "For the first 4 months of oral, I didn't notice anything, and it was disheartening." Then: "It wasn't until 5 months in that I could see new hair growth."

Since you're signing up for months either way, compare the cost. Prescription hair plans NCOA reviewed started at $40, $50, and $70 to $90 a month, against $70 to $79 a month for Nutrafol. A supplement isn't automatically the cheaper choice, so price both before you commit to six months.

If your part, crown or temples are thinning, a supplement alone may not be enough. Take the quiz, and our clinical team will see whether minoxidil fits your plan.