My hair was falling out in clumps. After 3 months of Nutrafol, here's what changed.

Our tester's hair barely stood a chance. She's postmenopausal — a stage when more than half of women develop noticeable thinning. And she was on a GLP-1 drug , which has been linked to roughly triple the risk of hair loss compared with placebo. Two strikes before she even opened the Nutrafol Women's Balance bottle, though she didn't find out until after the fact.

"I didn't get any info about potential hair loss from the GLP-1 site I started with," she said. "And when I shifted care to my regular doctor, she didn't mention it either." So our tester went into hair-loss damage control largely on her own, ultimately landing on our testing panel.

For the first time in a long while, our tester — who called the bare patch of scalp at her crown "cringe" — had reason to be cautiously optimistic. Unlike a lot of hair growth supplements, Nutrafol has some noteworthy clinical evidence behind it . Yes, the studies were funded by the company, but they do include at least one randomized, placebo-controlled trial published in a peer-reviewed journal, so the results are worth a look — just not the final word.

"When patients ask me for hair supplement advice, Nutrafol is one I generally recommend," says Dr. Shauna Higgins , Clinical Director at Metropolis Dermatology in downtown Los Angeles and spokesperson for the Skin of Color Society . "It's well-rounded and researched and, at the very least, it's anti-inflammatory and good for your body and health overall."

None of that guaranteed anything for our tester, though. It simply meant that Nutrafol had stronger evidence than many of its competitors. She was "excited" to start her three-month experiment with Nutrafol, but she wasn't expecting the hair she had in her 20s. Her goal was less dramatic: to make that patch on her crown less visible and to feel a little less despair over the heap of hair she'd been scooping out of the shower drain.

Here's what three months of Nutrafol actually did.

📍 The baseline: where our tester started

Our tester was not happy with her hair. She rated her overall satisfaction, shedding severity and density all at a 2 out of 5. And she didn't mince words about what bothered her most before she started. "The bare patch of scalp at my crown makes me cringe," she said. "It's extra-noticeable when I wear a ponytail." Plus, her hair was "thinning overall" and landing in the shower drain daily. All told, her hair was making her "more self-conscious" — and she was ready to take her first step toward changing that.

To a certain degree, her hair loss could be tied to age. According to the American Academy of Dermatology , female pattern hair loss is more common after menopause . She was also on a GLP-1, a drug that's been associated with an increase in hair loss — a phenomenon that's "most often tied to the physiologic stress of rapid weight loss," Higgins says. "Though there may be additional medication-related mechanisms at play." Either way, our tester was experiencing it. "My hair thinning seems to have gotten more acute after I lost 57 pounds in 7 months, almost one-third of my body size."

🗓️The consult: What a subscription gets you 

When you sign up for a Nutrafol subscription , you save 10% to 20%, get access to the myNutrafol app, a free Headspace membership, and most notably, you get complimentary wellness coaching with a naturopathic doctor (ND). While NDs complete graduate training, they aren't medical doctors (MDs) or osteopathic physicians (DOs). For diagnosis and treatment of hair loss, you'll still want to see your primary care physician or a board-certified dermatologist.

You can also take advantage of free hair mineral analysis testing (HMAT) to "get to the root of your hair concerns," according to Nutrafol. Before you send in a sample, know that a 2025 pilot study comparing mineral levels in blood versus hair found no significant correlation between the two for zinc, iron or selenium — three of the nutrients Nutrafol's formula is built around. The study was small and looked at generally healthy older adults rather than people with hair loss specifically, so it's not the final word. But for now, a standard blood panel from your doctor remains the more established way to check for an actual deficiency, according to Dr. Kristen Lo Sicco , associate professor of dermatology at NYU Grossman School of Medicine.

Our tester opted out of the free consultation and HMAT.

🕐 The mid-point check-in: any early changes?

Every tester in this series checks back in around the six-week mark. It's not enough time for real growth, but it is enough time to see whether a product is tolerable day-to-day and whether any small changes are underway. For our Nutrafol tester, the first — and only — thing to shift was shedding .

"I only wash my hair once a week, but when I do, I definitely notice less hair in my hands when shampooing and conditioning," she said. "Also, there's less hair in the drain once I'm done showering."

Testers rate each category on a 1-to-5 scale, with 5 being the highest possible score. After six weeks of use, our tester reported:

The other areas she flagged at baseline — her hairline, crown, overall thinning, part, ponytail thickness and scalp visibility — remained unchanged.

Committing to the four-capsule daily regimen was relatively easy. "The pills are on the larger side and have a fishy odor, but I literally swallowed any unpleasant aspects for the sake of my poor hair," she said. "You're also supposed to take them with a meal, but that didn't really happen." Even so, she didn't report any stomach upset or other side effects during testing.

What less shedding tells us — and what it doesn't

These early results are not surprising to Higgins. "Patients generally notice a reduction in shedding before noticing an increased density," she says. "These results are consistent with what I'd expect from a nutraceutical like Nutrafol." But there may be other factors in play too.

GLP-1 hair loss "typically shows up as telogen effluvium , which is a temporary shift of hair follicles out of the growth phase," Higgins says. The keyword there: temporary.

"Acute telogen effluvium often resolves within six months of the trigger, so if an intervention is started within that time frame, it's difficult to determine definitively if the shedding resolved as a result of the natural process or from the intervention," says Lo Sicco.

"This association doesn't change how I recommend hair growth supplements," Higgins says. "I typically use these supplements as an adjunctive therapy in addition to evidence-based medications such as minoxidil , or in the early stages of hair loss while patients are considering use of additional medications." 

🪞 The results: what happened after 3 months of testing?

Three months in, the results were encouraging enough for our tester to remain on the regimen.

Before she started, "entire strands of hair, root to end," landed in the shower, with "clumps fully covering the drain." By the end of testing, she felt her shedding had dropped by at least half, possibly more,a change she attributes to Nutrafol.

Our tester wasn't just experiencing less hair in the drain — which she called a "significant win" — but more hair on her head. Her crown started to look fuller."Less scalp is showing, so there's some hair growth happening there," she said. "But I do wish I'd seen more growth."

That's not unusual this early on. "Modest thickness gains usually come later," says Higgins, noting that it might take around six months of use for more noticeable results. "It's always important to set realistic expectations. If you respond to a nutraceutical, the changes are generally gradual and modest rather than dramatic."

Still, our tester was "slightly happier." But don't get her wrong: "I'll take slightly happier! It's a much better feeling than being ever-anxious about fallout and baldness." 

🔬 The research: what's actually in Nutrafol Women's Balance — and what does the evidence say?

This formula includes a blend of over 20 ingredients , including ashwagandha, maca, saw palmetto and marine collagen peptides. That may sound like the recipe for a fringe wellness potion, but Nutrafol has something many hair supplements don't: published clinical research. The strongest evidence comes from a 2018 randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial in the Journal of Drugs in Dermatology . Women taking Nutrafol experienced about an 11% increase in total hair count over six months, compared with roughly 3% in the placebo group.

Another slightly larger, but not a double-blind study of 98 participants (47 men and 51 women) found significant increases in baseline hair growth, coverage, density and volume at weeks 12 and 24.

While undoubtedly impressive, there are two important caveats: The studies evaluated the original Nutrafol Women formula, not Women's Balance. And both were funded by Nutraceutical Wellness, the makers of Nutrafol. While that doesn't negate the finding, it does muddy the waters.

Still, an independent 2022 systematic review in JAMA Dermatology evaluated 30 studies of nutritional treatments for hair loss and identified Nutrafol among the supplements with the "highest-quality evidence," suggesting potential benefit. The authors also emphasized that larger randomized controlled trials are still needed before firm conclusions can be drawn.

Higgins agrees, noting that while the "evidence base is still relatively limited," some of the findings are "encouraging." Lo Sicco and her NYU Grossman School of Medicine colleague Dr. Jerry Shapiro , however, are more skeptical, noting that "not every ingredient in OTC hair supplements has strong evidence-based research behind it. And when they contain many ingredients, it can be more difficult to determine which of those are most beneficial."

With that, Shapiro notes that if a lab workup shows no nutritional deficiencies, "we often recommend taking a multivitamin daily." But Nutrafol isn't built like one. A standard multivitamin spreads modest doses across a wide range of nutrients. Nutrafol concentrates its dose in just a handful — 313% of the daily value for vitamin D , over 8,000% for biotin — while leaving out others a typical multi wouldn't skip, like B12 or magnesium . It's not more of everything. It's a lot more of a few things.

 🎯 The target audience: Who's Nutrafol Women's Balance actually for?

The company markets Nutrafol Women's Balance to women aged 45 and older who are experiencing thinning hair. The formulation itself is billed as a way to "support key root causes of hair thinning for women, such as stress, with optimized support for hormonal changes, such as menopause , that affect hair health." 

Hair supplements also aren't a one-size-fits-all solution. Nutritional deficiencies can contribute to certain types of hair loss, but they're not the underlying cause of every kind of thinning. That's why Higgins says she typically recommends Nutrafol as an adjunct to evidence-based treatments like minoxidil — or for patients with early hair loss who aren't yet ready to start medication — rather than as a replacement for them.

Before you begin, a few things are worth flagging with your health care provider:

• You're pregnant or breastfeeding.Nutrafol recommends not taking Women's Balance during pregnancy or while nursing, as the formula hasn't been evaluated for safety in these circumstances.

• Take a vitamin D supplement.Balance provides 313% of the daily value on its own. Stacking another supplement on top risks exceeding the tolerable upper limit.

• On anti-seizure medication.Biotin here is dosed at over 8,000% of the daily value, which can interfere with some seizure medications.

• Have a history of liver issues.Several of this formula's ingredients — ashwagandha, turmeric, horsetail, saw palmetto and kelp — are the exact compounds named in a 2025 case report of drug-induced liver injury linked to Nutrafol.

🤼‍♀️ The competition: other oral hair supplements we tested

• Viviscal Hair Growth Supplements :"I'm no longer pulling huge chunks of hair out of my head in the shower," said our tester. The hitch? Taking two large supplements a day proved to be a "challenge," so much so that she's hesitant to continue despite the encouraging growth. 

• Nutrafol Women :While our tester reported less shedding, everything else fell short. "I expected to see new growth and less thinness where you can see my scalp, but I don't think that really happened," she said. But hope is not lost. She said she's continuing to take the supplements.

🧪 How we test hair growth products

"Hair grows very slowly, so regardless of the treatment, we're not expecting to see meaningful changes for several months," says Higgins. That's exactly why Yahoo Health's testing program bypasses quick trial runs in favor of a roughly three-month protocol. The process starts with a detailed baseline: Each tester rates their shedding severity, hair thickness and specific areas of concern like the crown or hairline, and sends in a set of standardized "before" photos. From there, testers check back in twice — once around the six-week mark, once at the close of testing — with updated ratings and photos each time. Those real-world results get weighed alongside dermatologist interviews and ingredient research before we draw any conclusions.

We're not a white-coat lab, though, and we don't pretend otherwise. Testers occasionally miss a day of use, forget to check in, or neglect to send in all their photos — the kind of imperfection that comes with testing something in the middle of an actual life, not a controlled study. Still, every one of our participants is someone actively managing real shedding, thinning or a receding hairline — and every one of them is hoping for real change.

✅ The bottom line

Nutrafol Women's Balance earned a 3 out of 5from our tester — a solid if unspectacular showing, and one she's still keeping an open mind about. Three months in is still "too soon to tell how helpful this supplement will be," she said. "I'm really hoping to see the start of hair growth, not just less hair fallout. Though less fallout is still a win."

With that, she said she'd "definitely recommend these to a friend," noting that they "seem like a great option to try — especially before resorting to a prescription hair-loss med, which I might go on in the future. But I'd also tell them not to expect fast results or hair miracles."

Worth keeping in mind: right around the start of testing, she stopped taking GLP-1 medication — one of the two "strikes" against her hair from the start — making it difficult to know how much credit Nutrafol alone deserves for any improvement.

Still, her experience suggests Nutrafol can be a sensible, lower-risk starting point for postmenopausal women dealing with thinning hair, particularly for those who'd rather try a supplement before a prescription option — as long as expectations stay realistic and patience is part of the plan.

FAQs

Is Nutrafol FDA-approved?

No. Nutrafol is classified as a dietary supplement, not a pharmaceutical drug. That means the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) doesn't review or approve it for safety or effectiveness before it is sold.

Nutrafol is, however, third-party certified by NSF , meaning it has been independently tested for quality, contaminants and label accuracy. That certification doesn't speak to whether the supplement works, but it does provide an added layer of confidence in what's inside the bottle.

Can Nutrafol Women's Balance replace minoxidil?

Probably not. While Nutrafol has published encouraging research, the overall evidence remains relatively limited. By contrast, minoxidil is an FDA-approved treatment for pattern hair loss with decades of clinical research behind it . Higgins sees Nutrafol as a complement — not a substitute — typically recommending it alongside oral or topical minoxidil rather than as a substitute.

Can I take Nutrafol Women's Balance with a multivitamin?

It depends on what's in your multivitamin. Nutrafol products contain relatively high amounts of several nutrients , including 2,500 IU of vitamin D, along with biotin, iodine, zinc and selenium. If you're already taking a multivitamin or separate supplement, you could unintentionally end up with more than you need.

Before adding another supplement to your routine, talk with your health care provider. Better yet, follow the advice of Lo Sicco and Shapiro: If you're experiencing excessive hair shedding, ask about blood work first. If a nutritional deficiency is identified, your provider can recommend targeted supplementation rather than guessing which nutrients you may need.

Should you take Nutrafol in the morning or at night?

You can take Nutrafol any time you like, as long as you swallow all four capsules at once and with a meal, preferably one containing healthy fats, like a slice of avocado or a spoonful of nut butter. Healthy fats help your body absorb the nutrients and circulate them throughout your body.

Meet our experts

• Shauna Higgins ,MD, clinical director at Metropolis Dermatology in downtown Los Angeles and spokesperson for the Skin of Color Society

• Kristen Lo Sicco ,MD, associate professor of dermatology at NYU Grossman School of Medicine

• Jerry Shapiro ,MD, professor of dermatology at NYU Grossman School of Medicine

A note on supplements: The products included on this list are dietary supplements. Such supplements are regulated far less stringently by the FDA than medications, with little evaluation of safety or effectiveness before they go to market. Supplements may also interact with other medications and aren't appropriate for all populations or health conditions. While our health writers personally select and test products that are evidence-based, it's important to talk to your health care provider before adding a dietary supplement to your routine.

Our health content is for informational purposes only and is not intended as professional medical advice. Consult a medical professional on questions about your health.