Can a $139 hair serum actually transform your hair in 90 days? We found out

Remember when Gen Z tried to shame the side part? While many millennials and Gen Xers quietly moved to the center (or rolled their eyes), our Vegamour GRO Hair Serum tester held strong. For her, a middle part simply wasn't an option: She'd been noticing more and more of her scalp becoming visible. "While my hair has always been thin, recently I've been noticing that when I part it, more and more of my scalp is showing," she said. She was already struggling to style her hair in a ponytail because of the thinning. Now, even wearing it down was tricky. "It became difficult to style without feeling self-conscious," she said.

That self-consciousness was taking a toll, leaving our tester thinking and worrying about her hair "constantly." And that stress may only make matters worse: A 2025 review in Cureus found that psychological stress can trigger or worsen shedding and thinning, which can, in turn, chip away at confidence and fuel anxiety. It's a cycle our tester was hoping to break.

Could Vegamour GRO, a plant-based, prescription-free serum that promises " visible results in as little as 90 days ," actually help? At $139 for a three-month supply, our tester was game to find out. We followed her through months of use and asked a dermatologist and a cosmetic chemist to break down what the science does and doesn't support. Here's what we learned.

📍The baseline: where our tester started

About a year ago, our tester began showing classic signs of female pattern baldness, including a widening center part and hair thinning on either side. This type of hair loss will eventually affect about one-third of all women , usually after menopause , but our tester is in her 30s — and the loss took her by surprise. Before testing, she rated her hair's thickness and density at 1 out of 5 and her overall satisfaction with her hair at 2 out of 5.

The GRO Hair Serum was our tester's first try at bolstering growth. Her hope by the end of month three? To see "thicker, fuller hair" around her part and crown.

🧴The routine: what it's actually like to use

GRO Hair Serum is a lightweight water-based formula designed to be applied directly to the scalp and gently massaged in once a day. Our tester described the whole process as "super simple." She applied about a third of the dropper to her center part, a third along her hairline and the rest on the sides of her head. "I massaged it in with my fingers for about 30 seconds," she said.

While Vegamour notes that users can apply it to wet or dry hair, our tester found that only partly true. "When I apply it to dry hair, it makes my hair look greasy," she said. "I don't have the issue when I apply it to wet hair." Once she settled into the wet-hair application, the serum became a low-effort addition to her regimen. She only missed "a few days" while traveling when she forgot to pack it. She had no complaints about the scent, either. "I have super sensitive skin, so I'm wary of products that have overly perfumey scents," she said. This one "smelled clean, but not in an overbearing Tide and Febreze laundry soap kind of way."

Vegamour also encourages using a dermaroller for "even better results," but our tester opted out.

🕐The midpoint check-in: any early changes?

Six weeks in, our tester filled out another survey and sent in a second round of photos. The short version: nothing yet.

That flat six-week check-in isn't a red flag on its own, according to Dr. Sejal Shah , a board-certified dermatologist at SmarterSkin Dermatology in New York City. "The most realistic expectation is gradual improvement rather than dramatic regrowth," she says. "Hair grows slowly, so successful treatments tend to produce subtle, cumulative changes over time."

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

By three months in, our tester's hair had begun to show meaningful progress — especially along her part. We ask testers to rate each category on a 1-to-5 scale, with 5 being the highest possible score. When testing wrapped, here's where she landed:

Our tester's part was the real test, and it's the one metric that moved. "I definitely saw results by the end," she said. "It took some time, but my part is thicker. And while I didn't notice any new hairs, existing baby hairs on my crown that don't really grow got longer." That's the kind of change Shah looks for. "Over time, subtle improvements in scalp coverage, such as a less noticeable part or an overall fuller appearance, may suggest that more follicles are remaining in the active growth phase," she says.

While shedding didn't change, our tester wasn't concerned, noting that hers was "minimal" before and throughout testing. She didn't have much room for improvement there, but Shah says less shedding is "one of the earliest and most meaningful signs that a treatment may be working and, importantly, stabilizing hair loss."

In the end, her results were modest, but they mattered. Vegamour GRO Hair Serum "completely" met our tester's expectations — and it's a product she'd keep using. "It made me feel more confident wearing my hair down, which was my goal with the testing!" she said. "I'm more comfortable." So much so that she's nearly given up wearing a hat to cover her thinning hair. She says she'd "definitely" recommend trying the serum out, "but take photos! I didn't notice a big change until I looked back at my before photos," she said.

🎯The target audience: who's this actually for?

Vegamour casts a wide net, describing GRO Hair Serum as "ideal" for all hair types and textures and for anyone looking to support fuller, healthier-looking hair by reducing shedding and breakage. But based on evidence and what our experts say a cosmetic hair serum can realistically deliver, its sweet spot is narrower: someone noticing increased shedding or mild thinning who wants to try a non-drug topical before moving on to a proven hair-growth treatment like minoxidil .

Vegamour doesn't actually promise outright regrowth, which Kelly A. Dobos , an adjunct professor of cosmetic science at the University of Cincinnati, sees as a plus. The expectations, then, should be fairly modest. If you're hoping to curb shedding or make thinning hair look a little fuller, Vegamour's goals line up reasonably well with yours. If you're looking to regrow significant lost hair, this probably isn't the product to bet on.

🔬The research: what's actually in GRO Hair Serum — and what does the evidence say?

Vegamour skips the single-hero-ingredient approach and instead stacks a number of actives often talked about for their role in preventing hair shedding, which, in a way, makes sense to Dobos. "Hair growth is a complex biological process, and there isn't a single pathway responsible for hair loss," she says. "So I can see how Vegamour might have reasoned through using all those ingredients." But how well does this multi-ingredient approach actually work? We asked Dobos and Shah to highlight some of Vegamour's hits and misses:

• Caffeine:Out of GRO Hair Serum's ingredients, caffeine has the most going for it. "Lab studies suggest that topical caffeine may help slow hair loss and promote growth through several potential mechanisms, including stimulating follicular activity, improving scalp microcirculation and prolonging the hair's active growth phase," Shah says — though she's careful to add that the clinical evidence in humans remains "limited and is considerably less robust than the evidence supporting topical minoxidil ."

• Peptides:These amino acid chains show hair-growth potential, but there's little clinical evidence they actually work. "Peptides may be promising, but most of the data I've seen is from the manufacturers themselves, so there's still a high bar of evidence to hit," Dobos says. Plus, of the 30 peptides cataloged in a 2026 review of peptide-based hair treatments , only four had been tested on actual people. For now, Shah says that they "may help support overall hair health and complement treatments with stronger clinical evidence" — but cautions that people need "realistic expectations about their ability to stimulate significant hair regrowth on their own."

• Turmeric:While it's true that curcumin, from the spice turmeric, has anti-inflammatory properties that could help tame inflammation around the hair follicles, the reality is that "there's really little evidence in application," Dobos says. That said, combining curcumin with minoxidil may yield some hair growth improvement, according to the National Alopecia Areata Foundation .

• Red clover:This legume is full of isoflavones , or plant estrogens, that are thought to potentially block DHT, the hormone that shrinks hair follicles and drives pattern hair loss. The problem? "Marketing often gets ahead of the science," Dobos says. "The evidence for isoflavones in promoting hair growth is extremely limited. It's even more limited for red clover extracts specifically."

• Biotin:While biotin deficiency may cause hair loss , taking biotin if you're not deficient is unlikely to help. Also, there's almost no independent research behind topical biotin. ( Find out if a popular non-biotin supplement works for hair loss .)

Zoom out from the ingredient list, and the picture doesn't get any sturdier. Vegamour GRO Hair Serum claims rest on an unpublished survey of 40 users who tried it daily for 120 days — no placebo group, nothing peer-reviewed. And yet, thin evidence didn't stop our tester from landing on a real result: her confidence was fairly high (rated a 4 out of 5) that the product caused her fuller part.

🤼‍♀️The competition: other topical hair growth treatments we tested

• Hårklinikken Hair Gain Extract :A $348 customized regimen that delivered real but modest results — less shedding by week six, new baby hairs by month two, but improved thickness "didn't really happen" by our tester's own account. Read the full review.

• Mielle Rosemary Mint Scalp & Hair Strengthening Oil :Our tester saw a small amount of new baby hair growth and felt fully confident (5/5) that the rosemary oil caused it, but rated her overall results as about the same as when she started. Read the full review.

• Advanced Trichology NutraM Scalp Serum :Initially felt like a dud, but our tester's own before-and-after photos told a different story — a bit fuller at the temples and part. Full review to come.

• Women's Rogaine 5% Minoxidil Aerosol :The only FDA-approved OTC option in the panel came with the highest confidence score (5/5), thanks to new baby hairs at the temples and hairline, even though thickening at the center part hadn't caught up yet. Full review to come.

🧪How we test hair growth products

Every product in Yahoo Health's testing program gets reviewed by someone actually dealing with shedding , thinning or a receding hairline . Each of our testers fills out a detailed baseline survey covering shedding, density and specific problem areas, then submits before photos. We ask them to check back in around the six-week mark and again at the end, rate their results and upload updated photos each time. We weigh that real-world feedback against interviews with dermatologists and cosmetic chemists and published research on each ingredient before drawing any conclusions. Testing happens in everyday life, not a lab, so the occasional missed application or skipped check-in is part of the picture, not an outlier.

✅The bottom line

"I sometimes recommend natural products for hair regrowth, but with an important distinction," Shah says. "The ingredients need credible clinical evidence to support them. They can't simply be plant-derived." Unfortunately, most of Vegamour GRO Hair Serum's headlining ingredients don't have strong clinical receipts. But our tester's real-world experience offers a glimpse into balanced expectations: a modest, cosmetic-level win, not a regrowth transformation. Dobos, meanwhile, notes that she appreciates that Vegamour "appears to focus on reducing shedding and supporting fuller-looking hair rather than making aggressive regrowth claims. Those are more realistic cosmetic benefits for a topical serum."

Vegamour GRO Hair Serum FAQs

Is Vegamour GRO Hair Serum backed by clinical research?

Not on the finished product. Vegamour's own reported data comes from an unpublished, non-placebo-controlled usage study, and there's no independent, peer-reviewed research on GRO Hair Serum as a whole. Caffeine, the formula's best-supported single ingredient, has some human research behind it; red clover and turmeric largely don't.

How long before I'd see results?

Our tester noticed her first changes around two months in, which is on the faster end. Vegamour puts expectations closer to three to four months, while Shah generally recommends giving any hair-growth product six to twelve months before judging it fairly, since visible density changes lag behind what's happening at the follicle level.

Can I use it every day, and does it matter if my hair is wet or dry?

Vegamour's label allows both, but our tester's experience says wet hair is the way to go — dry-hair application left her hair looking greasy, while wet application didn't cause the same issue.

Does hair return to normal if I stop using it?

Yes. According to Vegamour, your hair will likely return to its natural state within a few months of discontinuing use. That's consistent with how most topical treatments work: benefits are tied to continued use, not a one-time fix.

Meet our experts

• Kelly A. Dobos ,adjunct professor of cosmetic science at the University of Cincinnati

• Sejal Shah , MD, board-certified dermatologist at SmarterSkin Dermatology in New York City

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.