Do Gummy Vitamins Work to Cure Hair Loss? I Tried Them, and Here's What I Think

One of the surest signs a man is aging is his hair (or lack thereof.) As soon as a guy starts balding, it starts to feel like it’s all downhill from there. My dad went gray and bald in his early 20s, and my grandfather also lost 80% of his hair, giving him the Grandpa donut look. So I know my own future might not look so pretty.

Hair loss is incredibly common: in fact, by the age of 50, nearly 85% of guys will have thinning hair. But now that I'm in my mid-20s, I'm eager to take every possible precaution against early male pattern baldness. So when an Instagram ad for Hims' men’s gummy vitamins popped up promising to preserve my luscious locks, my interest was piqued. I followed the company on Instagram and did some research.

Hims is a men's health and wellness startup that sells, among other things, skincare products and erectile dysfunction drugs. The brand sells supplements that contain finasteride, which blocks production of DHT, the hormone that shrinks hair follicles and slows down hair growth (it's also sold under the brand name Propecia). The gummy vitamins in particular contain Vitamin B7, a.k.a. biotin, which helps to promote hair, skin, and nail health. For the purpose of this experiment, I decided to try just the gummy vitamins and Hims' topical minoxidil drops for my scalp. (Minoxidil is an FDA-approved drug that's said to increase blood flow to the hair follicles.)

At first, I thought it was yet another Instagram gimmick. Will a bottle of gummy bear vitamins really give me healthier hair?, I thought. I'd seen the Kardashians promote their own version of SugarBearHair gummy vitamins, but I'd heard mixed things about them. Plus, I knew that not even the most effective anti-baldness treatments on the market, such as Propecia and Rogaine, actually were proven to promote hair growth so much as they slowed hair loss down.

Still, Hims featured sleek, dude-friendly branding, and I'm a sucker for good marketing. So I decided to take the chance with this new brand and placed my first order for Hims multi-vitamin gummy bears and the topical scalp drops.

At the start of my experiment with Hims, I decided to really test the efficacy of the supplements by bleaching my hair platinum blonde. I knew this would be the ultimate test, because hair dye can often cause hair thinning and breakage.

To my surprise, as well as the surprise of my colorist, my hair stood the test and continues to hold up strong. There’s been little to no breakage and it feels thick to the touch, even after a root touch-up. In fact, my root touch-up actually took longer than we expected because my hair was fighting the bleach more than when I originally had it done.

Even more surprising, I feel like my hair falls out even less after bleaching it than it did before. While last year, it felt like my hair was shedding constantly, that no longer appears to be the case. It still sheds, but not as often or as much. Plus, my hair has stayed consistently split end-free, a notable difference from before I started taking the gummies and another indicator that my hair is thicker and healthier. Check out the full story here.