Many consumers are seeking natural solutions for hair thinning and hair loss, because prescription drugs for these conditions often have side effects. Nutrafol is a hair care brand that claims to have a "natural approach" that's "clinically proven to support your hair growth."
But do Nutrafol supplements contain research-backed ingredients for hair growth? What did the clinical trials on Nutrafol find? Does the brand use any unhealthy additives? And does Nutrafol cause side effects?
In this article we'll answer all of these questions and more, as we analyze the ingredients in Nutrafol Women and Nutrafol Men to give our take on whether or not the supplements are likely to be effective for hair growth, and whether or not they're healthy.
We'll also review the clinical trials funded by the brand, compare Nutrafol to another leading natural hair growth brand called Viviscal, and discuss the risk of side effects.
Key takeaways:
- Both Nutrafol Men and Women clinically proven to work
- Both supplements contain relatively high nutrient doses
- We do not currently recommend Nutrafol
Nutrafol Women Ingredient Analysis
The vitamin and mineral ingredients in Nutrafol Women are shown below:
Vitamin A and selenium are two ingredients in the vitamin and mineral blend.
We have not come across any clinical evidence that multivitamin supplementation improves hair quality.
The dosage of some of these nutrients are relatively high, particularly vitamin A and vitamin D which are fat-soluble, meaning they're not as easily excreted from the body as water-soluble nutrients like B-vitamins.
In 2022, a different supplement company had to recall their products from the market because the high supplemental vitamin doses were causing toxicity in some consumers, according to the CBC.
The other active ingredients in Nutrafol are shown below:
Collagen derived from fish was shown in a 2022 clinical trial to cause hair regrowth, which suggests that the hydrolyzed marine collagen in Nutrafol Women may be effective.
Saw palmetto extract has been clinically shown to be effective for hair loss, as we documented in our review of another hair loss supplement called Hair La Vie.
Hyaluronic acid was shown to cause hair growth in a clinical trial published in the BioMed Research International journal, however this was a test tube study, so the data is less conclusive than a study with human trial participants.
The inactive ingredients in Nutrafol Women, shown below, should be safe and non-toxic:
Nutrafol Women Clinical Trial Analysis
Nutrafol Women has been studied in a legitimate clinical trial published in the Journal of Drugs in Dermatology.
The purpose of the trial was to determine if Nutrafol Women caused hair growth and improved any hair quality parameters.
Women took either Nutrafol Women capsules or placebo capsules over the course of six months.
The group taking Nutrafol Women had a 10% higher hair count after six months than the control group.
We're impressed by Nutrafol funding legitimate clinical research, and we will conclude that Nutrafol Women is effective for supporting hair growth in women.
Nutrafol Men Ingredient Analysis
The ingredients in Nutrafol Men are shown below:
This supplement has a similar formulation to Nutrafol Women.
Saw palmetto extract is likely included at a higher dose (we can't determine the exact dose because it isn't published but it's listed earlier in the blend), which seems appropriate because saw palmetto has an antiandrogenic effect according to clinical research.
Men have higher levels of androgens (steroid hormones) than women, which is partly why men generally lose hair earlier than women.
Collagen and hyaluronic acid are included in Nutrafol Men, and we already determined these ingredients to be potentially effective in the previous Ingredient Analysis section.
Our main complaint about this supplement is the same as that for Nutrafol Women: some of the nutrient doses are relatively high, which may pose toxicity concerns with long-term use.
Nutrafol Men Clinical Trial Analysis
Nutrafol Men was tested in a clinical trial published in The Journal of Clinical and Aesthetic Dermatology.
Both men and women participated in the trial, and were assigned either Nutrafol Men or Nutrafol Women based on their sex.
The trial lasted 24 weeks, and 83.7% of male subjects experienced improvements by the end of the trial.
79.5% of female subjects experienced improvements as well.
Nutrafol Men was reported to be less effective in men with African ancestry.
Asian hair showed a thicker hair diameter and faster growth, while men with European ancestry experienced higher hair density.
We consider this trial to be less conclusive than the trial on Nutrafol Women because it was not placebo-controlled, but we do consider Nutrafol Men likely to be effective based on these results.
Does Nutrafol Cause Side Effects?
In most hair supplement reviews, we have to make an educated guess about whether or not the supplement will cause side effects based on its ingredients.
But since both Nutrafol Women and Nutrafol Men have been studied in clinical trials, we can analyze the trial results to determine risk of side effects.
No serious side effects were reported in either of the clinical trials on Nutrafol.
In the Nutrafol Men trial, one patient experienced diarrhea, but it's hard to say for certain whether that was caused by the supplement or diet, because it resolved itself naturally.
We do not consider Nutrafol likely to cause side effects.
Nutrafol vs. Viviscal
Nutrafol and Viviscal are arguably the most popular natural hair growth supplements, so consumers are often curious about which is more likely to be effective.
As we documented in our Viviscal review article, Viviscal has also funded legitimate clinical research proving their supplements increase hair growth in both men and women.
We would recommend Viviscal over Nutrafol to women, because the hair growth results in the Viviscal clinical trial on women were more impressive.
We would recommend Viviscal over Nutrafol to men for different reasons.
We consider the men's supplements to be equivalently effective, but Viviscal is significantly cheaper, so we'd recommend Viviscal for cost reasons.
Our Clean Hair Growth Picks
Ritual HyaCera is our top hair growth supplement.
This supplement contains wheat oil extract, and a 2024 clinical trial reported that a wheat lipid complex had "a reducing effect on hair shedding and a stimulating effect on hair reappearance and growth."
MBG Omega-3 Potency+ is our top hair thickness pick.
Supplementation with omega-3 fats and antioxidants is clinically shown to improve hair density, and MBG's supplement contains both.
Both of the products recommended in this section are free of ingredients we consider to be unhealthy.
Nutrafol Pros and Cons
Here are the pros and cons of Nutrafol in our opinion:
Pros:
- Clinically proven to work
- Contains research-backed active ingredients
- No unhealthy inactive ingredients
- Formulations optimized by sex
- Positive online customer reviews
Cons:
- Expensive
- Brand's website charges for shipping
- Uses proprietary blends
- Slightly worse than Viviscal in our opinion
