Hair loss

What nutrition can and cannot do for thinning hair

Hair follicles divide fast, so they react early when the diet falls short. That is why nutrients come up as soon as hair thins. Zinc, selenium and biotin each contribute to the maintenance of normal hair, and copper contributes to normal hair pigmentation. Those are the claims approved in Europe, and they mark the honest limit. A supplement can close a nutritional gap. It does not change a genetic pattern: up to half of men over 50 see pattern hair loss, and no capsule reverses it. If your goal is growth and thickness rather than shedding, our supplements for hair growth sit next to this page.

Forms and doses we look at closely

Zinc: we prefer bisglycinate or citrate over zinc oxide, which the body absorbs poorly. UK advice is to stay at or below 25 mg a day from supplements, because a lot of zinc lowers copper absorption over time.

Biotin: labels of 10,000 mcg are common. That is hundreds of times what the body uses, and a bigger number on the box is not a bigger result. High-dose biotin can also distort blood test results, including thyroid tests, so tell your GP before a test.

Iron: low iron stores are one of the most common nutritional reasons for shedding in women. Extra iron does nothing if your levels are already fine, so ask for a ferritin test before you start with iron products.

Collagen, saw palmetto and marine complexes: these carry no approved hair claim in Europe. We stock them because people ask for them, and we say plainly what the evidence does and does not cover.

Testing before buying is not overkill. Iron stores, vitamin D and thyroid function explain a large share of sudden shedding, and once you know, you can buy one targeted product instead of three broad ones. For all UK adults, 10 micrograms (400 IU) of vitamin D a day is advised in autumn and winter, which is worth having in place anyway.

How we choose what goes in this collection

We judge every product on three things: the form, the dose and whether the combination makes sense. So we favour well absorbed zinc forms over oxide, we keep single zinc products at 25 mg or below, and we are sceptical of biotin megadoses that look impressive and do little. Iron we list with the clear advice to test first. In more than ten years we have learned that outcome beats margin, so we only carry brands we stand behind. We buy directly from the brands, our compliance team checks every product before it goes live, we test ourselves and independent labs spot-check batches. How we select our brands.

Who this collection suits

Nutrients play the biggest part in a few clear situations:

• shedding after pregnancy or during menopause
• vegan or low-variety diets, where zinc and iron intake is often lower
• hair loss after illness, surgery or a stressful stretch
• hair that feels thinner and more brittle, without a receding hairline

Give any product three to six months. Hair grows roughly a centimetre a month, so a fresh growth phase needs that long to become visible. If skin and nails bother you too, Hair, skin and nails groups products by that goal.