What is Biotin? And How Can it Help My Hair Growth?

Hair loss can cause significant psychological distress to most people — not just ladies, but men and children as well. Hair loss can be due to genetic inheritance, medical conditions, hormonal changes due to pregnancy or age, and drug prescriptions.

Common types of hair loss include female-pattern hair loss, male-pattern hair loss, alopecia areata, and thinning of hair. There’s a wide range of treatment procedures taken that aid in hair recovery, from using natural remedies such as garlic, essential oils such as black castor or amla oils, surgery, and use of supplements, such as biotin.

In this article, we’re going to focus on biotin for hair loss treatment. Does biotin help? And, what is biotin? Why is it good for the hair?

What is Biotin?

Biotin, formerly known as vitamin H and now known as Vitamin B7, is a water-soluble vitamin that is a part of the vitamin B complex. It can be found in egg yolk, liver, peanut butter, berries, legumes, mushrooms, and yeast. It’s involved in many metabolic processes related to the utilization of amino acids, carbohydrates, and fats, and therefore influencing cell growth.

The vitamin is always recommended as a dietary supplement for strengthening hair and nails. It’s found in several cosmetics and health products for both skin and hair. While the deficiency of biotin is rare, one might get hair loss if they don’t get enough biotin in their system.

Although there isn’t any scientific proof that biotin promotes hair growth, the vitamin improves the level of keratin in the human body. This is important because keratin is an essential protein that makes up your hair, skin, and nails.

Does It Really Help?

In 2015, a research was conducted by the Ablon Skin Institute Research Center in the USA. The team wanted to prove whether or not marine protein supplements could aid on hair growth in women with thinning hair. After the research was completed, it was evident that within 90 days, the volume of hair in women who took protein supplements had increased significantly, as compared to those who didn’t.

The proteins found in keratin produce amino acids when cells react with biotin. Biotin helps support protein infrastructures that allow new cell formation. Biotin does work. This, however, depends on how damaged your hair is. Biotin treatments aren’t meant for extreme cases of hair loss.

Significant signs of biotin deficiency include alopecia and scaly skin. People with excessive hair damage, or alopecia areata, may need to combine both zinc and biotin to prevent hair loss. They will, however, require high doses.

The fact that lack of biotin in our systems may lead to alopecia, is enough proof that, its supplementation will improve hair health, and hence making it an anti-hair loss remedy.

The market today offers a lot of biotin-infused hair products that are clinically-tested and very affordable. Therefore, you don’t need to just get them on foods or supplements. But then, a combination of both can give you even better results. Hair products such as shampoos, hair conditioners and treatments, hair oils, and hair growth serums are infused with biotin to help boost the growth of both head and facial hair.

Hair loss is entirely different in both men and women. Therefore, these biotin-infused hair products are specific to both genders.