Unless you have a vitamin deficiency, it is unlikely that you actually need to be taking a bunch of vitamins. Sometimes, those unnecessary vitamins can be sneaky: There are a lot of “hair growth” supplements out there that, turns out, are little different from the daily vitamin supplement you may already be taking. Seriously? Yup. They promise improved results, but often for women in the US and Europe, vitamin deficiency is not the culprit for your thinning hair, brittle strands, or inability to keep those baby hairs from falling out (so frustrating!). I used to be right there with those same struggles, even though I was only in my teens. I later found out what was actually worth my time and money–it wasn’t vitamins. XD

(Also, yes, the photo is my cabinet right now… you’ll see why)

On the other hand, there is a lot of merit to selectively choosing herbal, mineral, fiber or protein supplements to improve areas in your diet you may be lacking. For example, if you have a slow GI tract and can only fit so much food before feeling full, sometimes you can add a little protein powder or fiber powder to give you a little boost (plant protein in your oatmeal). Or you could be lacking in biologically available sulfur (do you incessantly crave garlic, asparagus, broccoli, egg yolks, and onion)? That could just be what flavors really light up your brain, but chances are that’s your body’s way of trying to tell you it needs more.

I mention this last one because, from years of food insecurity and an artificially imposed diet (not one I wanted) when a child, I so craved various things that I would go into a cafeteria and load up my plate with every form of onion and garlic from across the stations as a “side” to my main course, and scarf all of it down, raw. So, I still love my onion and garlic now, but of course I no longer feel the need to eat that much in one sitting! I happy to say that I get what I need from a well rounded diet, now that I have my own kitchen and financial independence. Another thing that really helped, was an MSM supplement by Happy Body.*

*(Keyboard warriors out there, before you get uptight and claim that MSM causes hair loss if you stop taking it… please understand that if you experience that, it means your normal food isn’t supplying you with what you need. In this situation and without the MSM, your body can’t keep up with the improved hair growth anymore, the very reason you thought to try the MSM in the first place–hair loss, brittle hair, thinning hair, hair that won’t grow past shoulder length, etc.)

I’d love talk all about MSM specifically, but I will save that for its own post. As with any supplement, the key here is to understand what your diet may not be supplying you with, and then find something that works to address that lack. If the supplement works well for you, and note you often have to wait up to three months before you start seeing results, maybe consider tweaking the foods you eat so you aren’t so reliant on the supplement. In some cases though, you probably are eating just fine, but your body may be recovering from an illness, injury, or stressful event where having the boost of a supplement or two would be welcome.

This approach to supplements is exactly why though I take a list of herbal supplements currently, doesn’t mean I will always be taking them. When I do take them, I space them out so as to ensure I’m not taking too many antioxidants together (generally fewer is more), or too many plants that have blood thinning effects (my blood pressure dropping can be so awful), or minerals that are known to cause nausea (like zinc, oh boy!).

I am in the process of updating my page “Products I Use (and Don’t)” on my website, and going forward I’d love to make a post on each of the supplements I use. More specifically I’d like to explain why I take the forms I do, how and when I taken them, and whether I plan to continue. Again, some of these are with the intention of getting my body on track as I tweak my diet (fiber), testing whether one of them was something I lacked enough of in my normal food already (protein), or as a specific remedy to symptoms I experience on a monthly basis (like Black Cohosh for my period, it’s amazing).

So, sure, I do take collagen, but I’ve been enjoying it as powder form and a natural form (fish skin, yum!) long before it was a fad. It’s not necessarily a “magic bullet” as the growing (what, 10 million dollar, now?) collagen industry wants to push to you (like, collagen gummies are so unnecessary and expensive). But for my needs at present, the multi collagen powder additions to my food is really helping me to get my body back on track and see the areas my diet needs improvement. I know the changes I’ve already took have meant little to no shedding for the first time in my life, and all those baby hairs are staying put and growing in densely! My hair line also looks great, which I’m totally excited about.

Thanks for joining me 🙂