Does Nutrafol's oral hair-growth supplement measurably speed up hair growth in women with self-perceived thinning hair, beyond just making hair 'feel' thicker?

Women using this supplement saw measurable improvements in hair growth speed and visible scalp coverage over 6 months -- but because there was no placebo group and participants knew which product they were taking, some of this improvement could reflect expectation effects or natural month-to-month fluctuation in hair growth rather than the supplement itself.

What they did

Women with self-perceived thinning hair, confirmed by a dermatologist, were randomized to one of four different Nutrafol formulations (with no inactive placebo group) and followed for 6 months, measuring hair growth rate, total and terminal hair counts, and scalp coverage.

What they found

Hair growth rate increased 18.6-36.7% across the four formulations; total hair counts rose 4.4-8.2%; terminal (thick, visible) hair counts rose 6-7.9%; scalp coverage improved 5.3-8.5%; more hairs were measured in the active growth (anagen) phase. Improvements were visible by 90 days and continued through 180 days.

Limitations

No placebo or inactive control arm -- a major limitation for any supplement trial, since hair growth naturally fluctuates and placebo effects in hair-loss studies are well documented; open-label (not blinded) design; the study was funded and run by the manufacturer's parent company, including paying the journal's publication fees -- a clear and significant industry-funding conflict of interest.

Who paid for it

Nutraceutical Wellness, Inc. (Nutrafol's parent company) funded the research and publication fees

Read the original

A 6-Month Prospective, Open-Label, Randomized Study Showing Increased Hair Growth Rate in Women Using Multi-Targeting Hair Growth Nutraceuticals ↗ · Dang R, et al. · DOI 10.1007/s13555-026-01866-z · we summarised this from the abstract