Hair Supplements : The After Effects

 Hey ladies!

I've been writing on supplements for the past two weeks, and it's turning out to be quite an enjoyable topic. Each week finds me having something new to expand on the previous post. Last week I wrote on how to get the best out of your supplements. Today I want to tackle the issue of after effects of supplements. I'm not talking about your usual Vitamin B Complex or vitamin C that you might pop and stop. I'm specifically talking about pills geared for optimal hair health and growth, such as biotin, msm and brand name hair, skin and nails pills.

1. Perceived slump in growth

Supplements boost growth because your vitality is at its optimum. Your growth rate will temporarily be faster due to the nutrients that will prolong the growth phase (such as msm), and add to maximum growth. Once you are off the supplements, your growth will go back to its normal state as the extra vitamins and minerals are no longer present. In the leading months after you stop, it will seem as though your hair no longer grows, or is doing so really slowly. This is just the previously normal rate which you forgot about. Your hair hasn't stopped growing. Its just doing so, less noticeably now.

2. Shedding

As I stated above the supplements will prolong the growth phase of your hair. Once you stop supplements, the hair which was supposed to be resting or shedding starts doing what  it was supposed to on its ordinary schedule. I once took biotin for three months. When I stopped, I was shedding like a cat. This tends to be experienced by quite a number of ladies who stop with their supplements. The good news is, my shedding normalised after two months. It's not always that kind of happy ending others unfortunately.

3. Breakouts

This is both a side effect and after effect, depending on the person.

Sometimes these excess vitamins cause an imbalance which may result in breakouts. Be prepared for this possibility if you are going to take any supplements. Luckily for me, when I was on biotin, I didn't experience any.

4. Supplements addiction

Now this is more psychological really. This is when one gets to the point where they over-rely on the pills they are popping to grow their hair and keep it healthy. And further believe they can't have healthy hair without them.  Don't let your supplements become your healthy hair journey. Remember it's the hair care basics that sustain a lush head of hair.

Now this may seem like a list of reasons not to take supplements, but it is not. I just think that  when deciding to go on them one should be fully aware of the good and possible bad effects that stem from their use. Next week, we'll look at how we can counteract and prevent these effects.

Have you experienced any of these effects when using supplements? Share below!