Question on Vitamins

[Lavette35]

Hey all, I am new to the board and I am thoroughly enjoying all that I have read. My question is on vitamin supplements for the hair. I would like to know which are the best for achieving longer lengths? Where can they be purchased, etc. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

Lavette

 

[elliot]

Hello Lavette35,

I have copied Bargello's Hair Regime. Many people here use some type of variation of this.

HTH
Elliot



Here is the original text:

By: Bargello
longhairlovers.com
Growing Out Message Board

Vitamins are very important for not just the growth of hair but for overall health. After doing years of research on vitamins, I have found what vitamins work and what ones don't. My overall health has improved 200% since st! arting my vitamin program. And healthy body means healthy nails, skin, and hair.

Multivitamin: I believe everyone needs to be on a good multivitamin. You need a vitamin that contains at least 100% of the most of the recommended daily nutrients. I am very partial to Vitaminshoppe's One A Day vitamin. This is an excellent vitamin for overall health. Note that it does not contain iron. This might be a concern and might not be. Most menstruating women can benefit from extra iron in their diets. If you happen to be a woman that becomes iron deficient easily, you might just wish to add in an extra iron supplement. By not having iron, this makes a good supplement for men, teens, and post-menopausal women.

Calcium: We all need calcium in our diet. This is something that is an absolute necessity. There is some calcium in the above multivitamin, but not enough. Remember that when taking calcium you also need Vitamin D and Magnesium for the calcium to be absorbed proper! ly. Most multivitamins will contain Vitamin D and Magnesium.

Now for the vitamins which promote healthy hair, skin, and nails.

Hair Vitamins: I like a good hair vitamin to start my program. There are several out there. GNC's Ultra Nourishair is probably one of the best I have seen. It is what I take and is the absolute heart of my program. I am a firm believer in this vitamin. It contains all the necessary vitamins needed for healthy hair.

Note: I do not like the vitamins that state for Hair, Skin, and Nails. They generally have less than you really need of the necessary vitamins for healthy hair, skin, and nails. I am not sure why, but they do. If you take a good hair vitamin, your skin and nails will automatically benefit.

MSM: This vitamin is very important for healthy hair, muscles, and joints. It helps to decrease hair fall out. It does this by assisting in making the growth stage of the hair longer. The longer you are able to retain the ! root, the longer you hair will grow. You may take up to 2000mg/day. Note: Ultra Nourishair contains 500mg of MSM. I take an additional 1000mg/day.

Silica: Helps in the shine of hair. It is also a very valuable antioxidant. It assists in a lot of other areas other than just helping your hair be soft and shiny. There is silica in the Ultra Nourishair; I take an additional 500mg/day.

Evening Primrose: There is so much to say about this essential fatty acid. It contains Omega-6 Fatty Acid (Gamma-Linolenic Acid). This is a good Omega-6 Fatty Acid. It has several benefits of which I will only name a few. Some of the benefits are reducing PMS, clearing up eczema, helping your skin glow, minimize fine wrinkles, reduce cholesterol, help with your metabolism, and cure hair and nail problems. It helps nourish straw-like hair. You really only need 480-960 mg of GLA to reap wonderful benefits. I personally take 500mg/day. You should see results with Evening Primrose as ea! rly as 2 weeks of daily consumption. Your scalp should feel less dry and the hair growing in should feel softer and more nourished.

Flaxseed Oil: Now flaxseed Oil is wonderful in the sense that it contains both Alpha-Linolenic Acid (Omega-3 Fatty Acid) and Gamma-Linolenic Acid (Omega-6 Fatty Acid). Omega-3 is very important in our bodies too. We need both to help maintain a healthy body. Omega-3 has been know the help ADD/ADHD (Attention Deficit Disorder). It is also essential for healthy hair, skin, and nails. It helps hair in the same way Omega-6 does. Why take both? Because the cells of the body need both to work properly. Our bodies do not make either of the Fatty Acids, we must supplement. Taking both will help the cells of the body work more efficiently and in return help growth of hair as well as health of hair and body. I take 500mg/day. I really don't think you need more than that, but experiment. You might find your body does need more.

Biotin: Now ! biotin is what really can boost your hair growth. Skin, nails, and hair rely on biotin to grow. So, if we feed our bodies more biotin, then our skin will look better, and our nails will be stronger, and our hair will grow faster and stronger. My hair vitamin contains 1200mcg of biotin. I take an additional 2400mcg/day. I have played with the dosage a little and have found that my hair definitely grows faster with the total biotin of 3600mcg/day. You might need to play with this too. You might need more or less than I do for results.

Protein: I can't scream enough about protein. We need it. I don't care if it plant or animal. Truthfully your body can absorb and utilize plant protein better than animal. This is why vegetarians are incredibly healthy. I drink a protein shake everyday with my vitamins. I drink it with milk (it tastes better and I get extra calcium and protein with the milk), vegans can make a protein drink with soymilk (get it with calcium added and you ! have the benefits of extra vegetable protein and calcium). Adding protein to your diet will help your body all the way around. It will function better and you will not be as hungry all the time. I suggest a protein drink of at least 22gr. of protein. I suggest at least one serving a day. If your diet is really bad, you can drink more. The extra protein will also help your hair grow. It is protein too, you know.

With all this said, everyone is DIFFERENT! You might need more of something than I do, or less. Vitamins are personal things. You need to play with them to get the correct dosage for you. They are not a cure all. They can help your body in ways you wouldn't think about. I have tried to keep the above information brief. I could write pages about each vitamin and why you should take it. The above program works very well for me. My hair grows at the speed of 1 ½" per month. One thing to always remember, when starting a vitamin program, don't expect results overni! ght. It will take your body 2-6 weeks to benefit from vitamins. This time period depends on how depleted your system is. The average time being 4 weeks. If you are recovering from a serious illness, it could take longer.

One word about prenatal supplements. I personally do not think they will boost hair growth anymore than a good multivitamin. There are a lot of good over-the-counter prenatals out there. I like Natrol probably the best. When I sat down and actually compared the ingredients in prenatal vitamins and multivitamins, the multivitamin actually had more than the prenatals did. Prenatal vitamins do contain extra iron (for anemia), folic acid (for birth defects), and potassium (to help with muscle cramps). Now, none of those ingredients will boost hair growth. I have had 3 pregnancies and I have NEVER taken prenatal vitamins. When I presented my vitamin program to my OB-GYN, each one has stated that they could not have put together a better vitamin program fo! r overall health during pregnancy and after. They have never prescribed a prenatal for me. There really was no need.

If you wish to take a prenatal in addition to a good multivitamin, by all means do. The only reason I think doctors have stated that there has been a boost in hair growth is that generally people don't take vitamins until they get pregnant. They take a prenatal and their hair starts to grow. They think it is the prenatal when in fact it is just getting some good vitamins in the system and the result of pregnancy itself. Pregnancy can cause your hair to grow faster as your body is renewing things a lot faster.

**As of 4/22/2002 Bargello has increased her intake of Biotin to 7500 mcg/day.

 

[TinyT]

I have vitamins from Sams Club, and the rest are from puritan's pride. Here's the link for puritan's pride:
www.puritan.com

Hope this gets ya started.

Tracy

 

[Brownie]

[ QUOTE ]
I have vitamins from Sams Club, and the rest are from puritan's pride. Here's the link for puritan's pride:
www.puritan.com

Hope this gets ya started.

Tracy

[/ QUOTE ]
Same here. Sam's has great prices, and of course, everyone knows about PP's buy one get 2 sale right now.

 

[tasha]

Is there a reason based on Bargello's vitamin regimen why a multivitamin is needed when you are already taking the GNC's ultra nourishair vitamins? Currently the multi I am taking has all the same ingredients that the ultranourishair has?

 

[FineChyna]

see this comment i do not under stand:

Hair Vitamins: I like a good hair vitamin to start my program. There are several out there. GNC's Ultra Nourishair is probably one of the best I have seen. It is what I take and is the absolute heart of my program. I am a firm believer in this vitamin. It contains all the necessary vitamins needed for healthy hair.

if my memory serves me right i think the GNC hair skin and vitamin pill has more vitamins in concentrate than ultra nouris hair does....so wouldn't make sense to take the hair skin and nail since it has more in concentrate than the norish hair pills?

 

[FineChyna]

[image]http://www.drugstore.com/products/prod.asp?pid=68748&catid=11345&trx=PLST-0-[/image]

[image]http://www.drugstore.com/products/prod.asp?pid=80758&catid=11345&trx=PLST-0-[/image]

the only difference i pretty much see is in MSM

 

[Nonie]

It's more than just quantities of the vitamins; the compositions are also important. For instance, although GNC Nourishair doesn't have as much biotin as GNC Hair, Skin and Nails, it does have amino acids which the HSN doesn't have. And it does have B5 and silica - which are lacking in the HSN also.

It's really hard to find a multi that has all the supplements in the concentrations we'd all like. Which is why it may be better to get a multi with the most complete composition, so that you know you're getting most of what you need matched up with the vits they work with best. And then you can add single elements onto that if you feel you need more...within safe limits, of course.

 

[soslychic]

Wow, whatever the case or errors or variances, that is still some really good information. (Printing as we speak)

 

[melodee]

Question- So it's safe to take a multi and a Hair formula even though they both have an abundance of some of the same vitamins or minerals? Will it cause vitamin overload?

 

[Nonie]

Well, it depends on how much of each vitamin is in either multi. You're better off getting an all round multi that includes as many of essential nutrients as possible, then if you need more of specific vitamins, you get those separately...as long as you don't exceed what's considered safe in those extras. Fortunately for biotin or MSM, there's no toxic amount. So if you want to take both a general multi and a hair multi, just do your homework to ensure you're within allowed limits for each vitamin/mineral - especially the oil-soluble ones; but also know that a lot of the water-soluble extras you take may simply be flushed out of your system since your body may not need the extra supply - a wasteful exercise if you ask me.

Alternatively, if you eat well and just want to boost your hair growth, I say getting a hair multi is better than getting individuals by themselves coz chances are a hair multi will come with the elements matched up with those with which they work with best. Although again, that may not be a problem if you have a well-balanced diet that might provide the necessary matches. OK, now I'll hush up.

 

[soslychic]

What is the vitamin shoppe's one a day? I can't find it on their website..

 

[Nova]

Ultra Hair by Nature Plus is an excellent supplement for aiding in hair growth. Just make sure you take them on a full stomach. Otherwise, they may make you feel very queasy! One more thing, they have a strong (vitamin) odor. I generally hold my nose when I take them.

 

[soslychic]

What results have you had with this vitamin Nova?