Biotin Supplements: Strengthening Hair & Nails

Hair, nails, horns - biotin will help grow anything. (Photo by foxypar4)

I've started a new experiment: I'm taking 5 mg of biotin daily to see whether it has a visible effect on hair and nail growth. According to Wikipedia,

Biotin is often recommended for strengthening hair and nails. Consequently, it is found in many cosmetic and health products for the hair and skin.

The Recommended Adequate Intake is only 30 micrograms for males age 19-70. Biotin deficiency is rare, so supplementing with biotin is questionable:

There are, however, no studies that show any benefit in any case where the subject is not actually biotin deficient.

Still, some people have claimed that they have noted benefits after adding more biotin to their diets (just Google "biotin hair"). A lot of supplements contain only 5-50 mcg of biotin, which probably won't make any difference unless you have a deficiency. The strongest supplement you can get in Finland has 5 mg (which is equivalent to 5,000 mcg) and is sold as an animal supplement, though it is used by people as well, since it's cheaper and contains more biotin than products meant for humans.

The supplement will last for a month, after which I'll try to review the results using my unscientific and subjective methods.

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