Your Guide to the Essential Beauty Supplements

Heres why: If youre not getting certain nutrients via your usual meals, you could be missing out on some major benefits. Thankfully, these beauty vitamins and supplements offer a range of beneficial vitamins that can improve hair, skin, nails, and beyond from the inside-outwhich you might not otherwise be getting. Still, supplements are in addition to an otherwise healthy and balanced diet, says Beth Warren, a registered dietician and founder of Beth Warren Nutrition. Here, the experts break down which ingredients you should look for to get the best possible results.

Not yet a Birchbox Subscriber? Join Here

BIOTIN

Known as the end-all, be-all for strengthening hair and nails, biotin does a lot more than that. Biotin acts as a coenzyme in the body thats needed for the metabolism of fatty acids, amino acids, and glucose, Warren says. Those wholl see the most benefit are those with a biotin deficiency, which is rare but can happen during pregnancy, according to the NIH. Still, proceed with caution. Recently, however, it has come to light that supplemental biotin may interfere with the accuracy of other lab values, notes Nava Greenfield, MD, a dermatologist at Schweiger Dermatology Group in New York City. So if you are taking a biotin supplement (were fans of HUM Nutrition Killer Nails Supplements)be sure to mention it to your doctor and suspend usage prior to any lab tests.

FOLIC ACID

Growing out that lob is tough without folic acid. Folic acid has many important functions in the body including DNA repair, red blood cell production, and cell growth, which makes it important for hair growth as well, says Greenfield. Hair growth requires a high cell multiplication rate and without folic acid, cells cannot properly replicate. The takeaway: If you take a multivitamin and want healthy hair growth, make sure it contains folic acid. Try hers Multivitamin Gummies, which combines it with important B vitamins, vitamin D, and biotin.

HYALURONIC ACID

You may know hyaluronic acid as one of the best humectants out there. Because it draws and retains moisture, holding up to 1000 times its weight in water, its loved for its ability to hydrate skin fast. It can help from the inside out, too. One study in Clinical, Cosmetic, and Investigational Dermatology found that hyaluronic acid in a supplement, such as HUM Nutrition Glow Sweet Glow Gummies, can even create smoother, softer skin over time.

COLLAGEN

Though collagen is present throughout the entire body, it has a special role in skin. It acts like the scaffolding, keeping skin plump and firmand, unfortunately, collagen production slows down with age. Not surprisingly, collagen has made its way into beauty supplements these days. Thats for good reason: Evidence shows that collagen in a supplement is promising for improvements in skin hydration, elasticity, and collagen density. Find it in HUM Nutrition Collagen Love Supplements, which pairs it with hyaluronic acid.