Does Biotin Make Your Hair/Nails Grow?

I went out on a limb and decided to cut my hair to my shoulders and it was quite possibly one of the worst decisions I’ve ever made. I then proceeded to make this decision even worse by getting layers…My hair has never been shorter and I want it back to the length that it once was- so I decided to take Biotin gummies- specifically Nature Bounties.

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(Photo by Walgreens.com)

With these gummies I took them twice a day and saw my nails grow obnoxiously, but my hair not so much.I realized that while my hair had no significant difference, my nails did-so I wanted to take a look at how Biotin works.

Biotin also know as “Vitamin H,” is a part of the Vitamin B complex and promotes healthier skin, hair, nails and liver. The vitamin also assists the nervous system in functioning normally. Although it is rare, people can be deficient in Biotin- it happens and cracked corner of the mouths, hair loss, and brittle nails are just a few of the symptoms to look out for if this should ever come across in your life.

I decided to test this like I said previously on myself because I did not want to spend money on extensions nor have the patience to wait for it to grow- although I was let down by the results…my nails looked great!

With this observational study, I made the following:

X Variable- Hair

Y Variable-Biotin

Confounding Variable- How fast my hair grows, chemicals used from hair dye could have ruined my hair, genetics, etc.

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(Photo by Customersservice.com)

My roommates have tested the vitamin on their hair with the capsule forms with different brands and saw that their hair was less likely to fall out, it wasn’t growing fast than usual.

In more recent trends celebrities like Kim Kardashian among others have sponsored Sugar Bear Hair, a blue bear gummy with a high dose of Biotin in them. These bears have been all over the place because people swear that their hair has grow up to six inches in 3 months of taking them which is double the length of not taking Biotin vitamins. I have yet to try these gummies, but results vary for everyone.

By looking at my study I have concluded that Biotin can work for some people and the end results are different for everyone because everyone is different.

There is no reverse causation in this case because Biotin makes hair thicker/stronger the same with nails… If you had all of these previously and took Biotin- you might not notice a difference in your results. However- Biotin does not make hair thin or brittle or nails weaker so in this case, reverse causation is ruled out.

I’m attaching a study that was done with Biotin therapy on a boy who had UHS- Uncombable Hair Syndrome… the results were amazing! This study was entirely experimental although you can argue observational because the results were visible. His mother decided to test the boy’s hair follicles and see if the structure would change and if UHS would improve- check it out!

 

One thought on “Does Biotin Make Your Hair/Nails Grow?

  1. Cassandra N Kearns

    Really interesting blog choice! From personal experience, I have never taken a biotin supplement, but find that my nails also grow extremely fast. I have been thinking about taking biotin, though, to help my hair grow. After reading your article, I feel as though your argument does not have a lot of scientific evidence to back your question. I found an article describing a study that was done, and it was concluded that biotin only helped nail growth, and that there was no evidence on whether it actually affected hair growth at all. If you talked more in depth about this study, you may have ended with a different conclusion. Here is the link: https://intothegloss.com/2015/06/effects-of-biotin/

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