# Vitamins for your hair **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 9, 2002, 2:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vitamins-for-your-hair/108080 "2002-05-09T14:36:14Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![galen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/ecc23a/32.png) [@galen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/galen)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2002, 2:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vitamins-for-your-hair/108080/1 "2002-05-09T14:36:14Z")
Some cosmetic products, lotions and so forth, contain vitamins, mostly E. Is there any reason to think that vitamins on your skin or hair can have any effect? ---
**Author:** ![rookie523](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/71c47a/32.png) [@rookie523](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rookie523)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2002, 2:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vitamins-for-your-hair/108080/2 "2002-05-09T14:45:58Z")
i read somewhere that vitamin e for the hair does nothing… revitalizing hair is a scam… hair is dead skin cells or something like that. one can’t revitalize something dead… i think some hair care stuff coats the hair with something… but it can’t revitalize it… ---
**Author:** ![Podkayne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/edb3f5/32.png) [@Podkayne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Podkayne)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2002, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vitamins-for-your-hair/108080/3 "2002-05-09T16:15:42Z")
The vitamins won’t be absorbed into cells and used to build more/better cells, 'cause hair, and the top layer of your skin, are dead. However, vitamin E is also an oil, so it would be absorbed by your hair or skin the same way other oils are and make it feel smoother and look shiny and healthy. You can get pure (?) vitamin E in capsules, too. The [url=“[http://www.aad.org/PressReleases/TopicalVitamins.htm](http://www.aad.org/PressReleases/TopicalVitamins.htm)”}American Academy of Dermatology{/url] also says that vitamin E is a good antioxidant, so it might prevent further damage to dead cells (which, once damaged, cannot repair themselves, of course.) I use a brand of shampoo and conditioner that claims to have vitamins (rhymes with Schmantene) because it’s the only product I’ve tried that keeps my (very long long) hair in good condition. However, I cannot say whether it’s the vitamins that make it work. Maybe if I had the same basic formulation, _sans_ vitamins, it would be equally effective. It’s also entirely possible that certain vitamins, applied topically, would have certain salubrious effects on one’s hair, but they are not present in sufficent quanties in most hair care products to make any difference. Now that I think about it, I’m not at all clear on how vitamins are used by your body when you injest them, either, aside from a basic fifth-grade health-class “they do good things” sense ---
**Author:** ![bibliophage](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bibliophage/32/7615_2.png) [@bibliophage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bibliophage)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2002, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vitamins-for-your-hair/108080/4 "2002-05-09T20:42:24Z")
**Cecil Adams** in _The Straight Dope_, p. 179 (I can’t find the column online). > [@](#): > > Your hair is made up of _dead_ tissue, and no amount of protein, vitamins, minerals, or seasonings is going to make it live again. ---
**Author:** ![Edward\_The\_Head](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ce73a5/32.png) [@Edward\_The\_Head](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Edward_The_Head)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2002, 2:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vitamins-for-your-hair/108080/5 "2002-05-10T14:14:50Z")
If you want nice hair let me tell you what I’ve found out. I’ve been trying to grow my hair longer for a few years now. The first thing I read, in a book about hair I found at Bath and Body works, is that the only thing that has been shown to make hair non dry is Penthanol (sp?). I found some high end shampoo and conditionar that has it in it. Seems to work ok but I still have a dry spot. I found the best thing is to get a good brush and brush your hair every day. I found a site, though I don’t have it now, about long hair and they said to brush it 50-100 strokes a day. The natural oils in your hair are the best thing for it. Over the last month of doing this my hair has gotten much better.