There are several kinds of hair growth pills: pills that treat hair loss, pills that help people grow healthier hair, and pills that make hair grow faster. Hair growth pills that treat hair loss are commonly marketed toward men and treat baldness on the crown of the head. Other pills claim to help people grow healthier hair and, while it is true that diet plays a role in having healthy hair, some people remain skeptical on how much these pills actually help. In addition, the last kind of hair growth pills are advertised as having the ability to make hair grow faster, but these medications are basically vitamin supplements that should be approached with the same skepticism as pills that claim to lead to healthier hair growth.
Some pills are scientifically proven effective and government approved to treat male pattern hair loss (MPHL). These pills are typically limited to men only and are only able to treat certain areas of the head, like the very top. The pill is usually taken once daily, and results are seen within one year. Hair growth pills that treat baldness do not work for everyone; if results are not seen within one year, further treatment is unlikely to help. The pill must usually be taken every day for the rest of the patient’s life to prevent the recurrence of excessive hair loss.
Other hair growth pills claim to make a person’s hair healthier. Human hair does need essential vitamins and protein to grow strong, healthy, and shiny, but this kind of hair growth pill is nearly always a vitamin supplement. Although vitamin supplements are typically harmless when used according to their directions, how much they help is sometimes called into question. For example, unless someone has a specific vitamin deficiency, his or her body is unlikely to absorb the entirety of that vitamin. The best way to get healthy hair is to maintain a diet full of important vitamins and protein, in addition to supplementing for deficiencies.
Hair growth pills that claim to make a person’s hair grow faster are often very similar to healthy hair pills. They are basically a vitamin supplement, sometimes loaded with so much of certain vitamins that the user finds himself or herself with oddly colored urine. Most healthy people’s hair grows at around the same rate, which is 0.5 inch (12.7 mm) per month. It is possible to restart hair growth once it has stopped or quicken hair growth once it has slowed due to illness, but doctors and researchers are skeptical about whether it is possible to speed up the hair growth of an otherwise healthy person.