Celebrity-backed hair vitamins that promise to grow thick long hair is prompting skepticism from nutrition experts who warn consumers to beware of false claims.
The two biggest brands, SugarBearHair and Hairburst, say their vitamins will improve hair growth, according to a report on the BBC website.
Kylie Jenner (pictured) and other celebrities are paid to promote the hair vitamins to their millions of social media followers.
Kylie – who claims to be a “self-made” billionaire – said on social media: “SugarBearHair is one of my favorite hair care secrets and they are delicious.”
Both brands list the same ingredients – biotin, vitamin B7 and vitamin B12 – which they claim improves overall hair health and growth.
But dietician Aisling Pigott-Jones urged consumers to use caution.
“If you’re (vitamin) deficient you may have some hair loss, or some reduced growth, but taking biotin when you’re not deficient isn’t going to improve your hair health,” Ms Pigott-Jones, of the British Dietetic Association, told BBC Wales’ X-Ray program.
“There is nothing in this that would make your hair grow quicker or look better,” she stressed.
“If you want to take multi-vitamins I would, [but] I always advise there is no pill that will replace a healthy balanced diet.”
Hair stylist Matthew Arnold, of Cardiff’s Bauhaus hair salon, also warned that celebrities advertising hair products on social media often wear wigs and have “teams of hairdressers.”
“It could be a weave, it could be a wig, but again people are buying into that image that if they use these products they are going to get that sort of hair growth, which isn’t always the case,” Arnold said.
A Hairburst spokesman claimed his products contributes to the “maintenance of normal hair”, which encourage overall healthier hair growth.
When asked if he was misleading consumers by using celebrities who wear hair weave and wigs, the spokesman said hair extensions could be a short-term solution for people waiting for their hair to grow.
Photos by Flubydust/ Gettyimages, Rick Kern/Getty Images
