Hair La Vie is a hair care brand that sells both supplements and topical products. The brand suggests that their products can help consumers achieve “Great hair, naturally” with “science-backed beauty breakthroughs.”
But do Hair La Vie products contain ingredients proven in medical studies to cause hair growth and improve hair quality, or are these just marketing claims? Do their products contain any questionable additive ingredients? Can vitamins even improve hair quality? And how do real users rate and describe the effects of Hair La Vie products?
In this article we’ll answer all of these questions and more as we review the ingredients in Hair La Vie products based on clinical research to give our take on whether they’re likely to be effective.
We’ll also share real, unsponsored user reviews of Hair La Vie.
Hair La Vie Vitamins Review
The most popular Hair La Vie supplement is called Hair Vitamins. The ingredients list is shown above.
The majority of active ingredients in this formulation are vitamins and minerals like vitamin A and iodine, as would be suggested by the name of the supplement.
A medical review published in the Dermatology and Therapy journal analyzed the role of vitamins and minerals in hair loss. The study authors suggested that deficiencies of vitamins and minerals may accelerate hair loss, but we haven’t come across any medical evidence that supplementing with a blend of vitamins and minerals reduces hair loss or causes hair growth in healthy adults.
Biotin is a B-vitamin that’s often included in hair supplements, however as we explained in our Viviscal reviews article on another popular hair supplement, we are unable to identify any medical evidence that biotin improves hair quality or causes hair growth unless the patient has a biotin deficiency.
Saw palmetto extract may be effective for hair loss, and according to a 2020 medical review, the 320 milligrams (mg) in Hair La Vie is an appropriate dose. The above-linked study found that this botanical ingredient was especially effective for androgenic alopecia, which is the most common type of hormonal hair loss.
EvNolMax is a palm fruit extract rich in tocotrienols, which is a type of vitamin E. These compounds were shown in a 2010 clinical trial to increase hair count by 34.5%.
Collagen was shown in a 2022 clinical trial to promote hair growth, but this was an in vitro (test tube) study, so the results are less conclusive than a study with human participants.
The remaining active ingredients in this formulation are included in a Proprietary Blend. We are unable to identify any medical research suggesting these compounds cause hair growth.
Overall we consider Hair La Vie Hair Vitamins to be potentially effective for hair growth and for hair quality improvement, mostly due to the inclusion of saw palmetto extract and EvNolMax.
We don’t currently recommend this supplement because we don’t recommend taking daily vitamin supplements (especially fat-soluble vitamins like vitamin A) without proof of a vitamin deficiency. That being said, we don’t consider any ingredients in this supplement to be harmful and it’s a good thing that it’s free of questionable inactive ingredients like added sugar or artificial colors.
Real, Unsponsored Hair La Vie User Review
A YouTube creator named Indya Ajai explained why she stopped taking Hair La Vie supplements in a video with over 100,000 views:
Hair La Vie vs. Nutrafol
Nutrafol is another popular hair care brand that sells supplements, so consumers are often curious about which brand is more likely to be effective.
We would recommend Nutrafol to women over Hair La Vie because their hair supplement for women was proven in a clinical trial to increase hair thickness.
For men, we would consider the supplements functionally equivalent and potentially even recommend Hair La Vie over Nutrafol. Hair La Vie likely contains a higher dose of saw palmetto extract than Nutrafol, and this is the anti-androgenic ingredient that’s clinically shown to help prevent hair loss.
The EvNolMax blend is also more compelling in regard to potential hair growth than any of the active ingredients in Nutrafol Men in our opinion.
Questionable Health Claims on Hair La Vie Website
There are a number of questionable health claims on the Hair La Vie website that we disagree with.
The brand claims that reishi mushroom extract is “known to promote healthy hair growth and support follicle health.” However, we are unable to identify a single clinical trial with human participants proving that oral intake of reishi mushroom improves hair quality or promotes hair growth.
The asterisk to the right of this health claim suggests that it’s medically cited, but at the time of publishing this article there is no matching asterisk with a citation, and no proof provided of this claim.
Hair La Vie describes amla fruit extract as having the potential to “benefit those with greying hair.” This suggests that it has natural coloring effects, however we can find no evidence of this in clinical research and again the claim has an asterisk suggesting a citation but there is no matching citation or proof provided.
We recommend that consumers be wary of brands making health claims without providing proof of those claims. According to a Truth in Advertising (TINA) article, Hair La Vie used to have even more aggressive health claims until they were called out by TINA.
Real Customer Reviews of Hair La Vie
Hair La Vie is sold on Amazon, which is a more objective resource for customer reviews than a brand’s website in our opinion. Their most-reviewed product is the Hair Growth Vitamins supplement we reviewed above.
This supplement has been reviewed over 3,400 times on Amazon and has an average review rating of 4.1 out of 5 stars.
The top positive review from a verified purchaser is written by a user named “MaryAnn Kuespert” who gives the supplement a 5-star rating and claims it stopped their hair loss:
“After taking this for about 2 months I have noticed I'm not loosing any hair like I was. I believe I am seeing an increase in my hair thickness and optimistic this will help as I keep taking it.”
The top negative review from a verified purchaser comes from a user named “Terri Mastrorocco” who claims the supplement had no effect:
“I’ve been using this product for a month and a half and followed instructions. I have not noticed any new hair growth nor has it stopped my hair from falling out. I’m sure it will take longer for the ingredients to work effectively but there is an aftertaste and the capsules often get caught in my throat.”
Our Clean Hair Growth Picks
Happy Head Topical is our top hair growth solution.
This formulation uses FDA-approved hair loss ingredients like minoxidil which is clinically shown to increase hair count by 11%.
The brand also publishes the percentage concentration of each active ingredient, which is a sign of quality and transparency.
Interested consumers can check out Happy Head Topical Finasteride & Minoxidil at this link to the product page on the brand's official website.
Nutrafol Hair Serum is our top over-the-counter (OTC) hair growth and hair quality promoter.
This product contains Lactobacillus probiotics which were shown to promote hair growth in a medical review published in the Molecules journal.
Niacinamide is included, and a 2021 clinical trial concluded that "Our data demonstrate that niacinamide could enhance hair growth."
Interested consumers can check out Nutrafol Hair Serum at this link to the product page on the brand's official website.
