You may have heard that prenatal vitamins are good for your hair, and help encourage hair growth. While it's certainly true that many women who are taking prenatal vitamins have thick, lustrous hair, it's not safe to assume that simply because you take prenatals, you'll be able to grow thicker, healthier hair as well.
Prenatal Vitamins
The purpose of a prenatal vitamin is to provide a nutritional supplement for pregnant women. Similar in many ways to a daily multivitamin, prenatal vitamins contain higher quantities of certain key components--most notably iron and folic acid--that pregnant women need in larger amounts than non-pregnant women. In general, prenatal vitamins provide no benefit to non-pregnant women, unless they're planning to conceive shortly.
Hair Growth
Your hair is part of your integumentary system, or the body system that includes the skin and nails. While many people think that hair needs nourishment, in reality, the hair you can see and touch is not living--the living cells are in the hair follicle, which is located under the skin. Hair follicle cells need nutrients and vitamins like any other body cells, and they get these from the food you eat, delivered via the bloodstream, explains Dr. Lauralee Sherwood in her book "Human Physiology."
Nutrient Misconceptions
Unfortunately, simply because hair follicle cells need certain vitamins to function doesn't mean that taking more of those vitamins will make hair grow faster. Your hair grows at a rate partially determined by genetics, and partially determined by many other factors. If you are malnourished, your hair may be unhealthy or grow slowly, but as long as you're eating a healthy, balanced diet, there's nothing you can do to make your hair grow faster.
Prenatal Misconceptions
Because many pregnant women have thick, full hair and are taking prenatal vitamins, it's common to assume that the vitamins cause the rapid hair growth. This is not true; simply because hair grows fast while you're taking vitamins doesn't mean the vitamins cause the growth. In fact, pregnancy hormones cause hair to grow a bit faster. Further, pregnancy hormones reduce the rate at which you naturally shed hair, leading to a thicker head of hair, explains Dr. Miriam Stoppard in her book "Conception, Pregnancy and Birth."
Using Prenatals
In general, while you shouldn't expect that prenatal vitamins will help your hair grow faster or healthier, it won't hurt you to take them--particularly if you're planning on trying to conceive in the next few months. Katherine Zeratsky, writing for MayoClinic.com, notes that prenatal vitamins aren't harmful to most non-pregnant women. It's worth noting, however, that they're quite expensive compared to regular daily multivitamins, meaning that it's not likely worth the extra money.
References
- "Human Physiology"; Lauralee Sherwood, Ph.D.; 2004
- "Conception, Pregnancy and Birth"; Miriam Stoppard, M.D.; 2008
- MayoClinic.com: Prenatal vitamins
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