A Dermatologist’s Take on Prose Root Source™ Hair Supplements
Question: What makes Root Source™ different from other hair supplements?
Dr. Dendy Engelman: There are a lot of different patterns of hair thinning. For some people, they’re not losing hair, but it’s thinning or breaking or they have oiliness or dryness. Your friend’s concerns may not be yours, so I love that Prose has an individual consultation to address your specific concerns. They also rely on legitimate, clinical testing to prove the efficacy of Root Source™. This is key because consumers need to be able to easily weed out the companies who are throwing claims on a box from the ones spending the time and resources to perform real clinical studies.
The results Prose showed are really significant. They included improved hair growth, decreased hair loss, increased shine, and decreased breakage. Decreased hair loss and increased shine have been specifically monitored in a double-blind clinical study versus a placebo. That’s the real scientific method for vetting whether something is just a marketing claim versus a scientifically backed product. And I love that Prose includes where the ingredients are sourced. It’s important to get them from reputable sources, that they’ve been vetted to be healthy, and they look for the purest versions.
Q: What’s going on at the physiological level when we start taking a hair supplement like Root Source™?
Dr. E: Hair and nails are non-vital—so are eyebrows, eyelashes, and the hair on our bodies. If we’re lower in micronutrients like zinc, biotin, or B12, our body is going to save those stores for essential organs like your cardiac muscle or your skeletal muscle. This leaves the non-vital organs, proteins, or substances starved, or not given their normal nutrients. You can live without hair, but you can’t live without your heart beating. So, hair supplements are boosting natural nutrient stores high enough to where your body doesn’t deem itself to be in a state of starvation.
Q: Looking at Root Source™‘s ingredient list, which are the most potent?
Dr. E: Good hair comes from within, so we need to make sure the garden in which it’s grown is as healthy as possible. We have to make sure it’s watered, fertilized, and weeded to ensure the best environment for the hair to be cultivated. If we fortify hair at the root, that helps us to not only grow more hair but better quality hair.
In my experience, a lot of the B complex vitamins in Root Source™ are important. Biotin, also known as vitamin B7, is in any hair supplement, and that’s important not so much for hair thickness, but for promoting hair growth. A lot of people take an overdose of biotin and then see they have to get their hair cut more often. They think their hair is growing in thicker but it’s really just growing faster. t To enhance hair growth, there’s a specific dosage of biotin you should take and you don’t want to take too much in order to avoid chances of an adverse reaction.
Riboflavin (vitamin B2) is really good for supporting hair growth. B5 helps with rebuilding the hair shaft. Lastly, turmeric is a great soothing ingredient. Plus, it’s been found that turmeric taken orally can reduce hair shedding.
Q: What results are we likely to see first with Root Source™?
Dr. E: In my experience in treating hair loss, most patients report what they find first is decreased shedding and then in the next 8-12 weeks new hair growth. People want their hair to look better pretty immediately, but in the world of hair growth, it’s like watching paint dry. Hair grows half an inch a month—it takes a while for us to see new hair growth. Even if you started growing out your hair tomorrow, the depth of where the hair bulb is in the dermis is pretty far down there. It’s going to take a while for that to pierce the surface.
But what’s more objective is to see how much hair you’re losing. Root Source™’s PureCatalyst complex helps to stimulate hair to grow faster and fall out less. We usually lose 100-150 hairs a day, but in people with accelerated signs of hair loss, it can be upwards of 200. With Root Source™, they start to see shedding is decreased, like we put the plug in the drain and the supplement is helping to turn the water on in the tub.
The topical products you use, such as shampoo, conditioner, hair oil, and hair masks may also affect the overall health of your hair.
Q: What else can we do to amplify the positive effects of Root Source™?
Dr. E: Stress plays a huge role in people’s overall health. We know that increased cortisol and adrenal overload is real and can permeate all aspects of health, in particular hair growth. In times of physical illness or mental anguish, you have increased cortisol released from your adrenal glands, which can switch your body over from the hair growth phase to the hair loss phase. Psychogenic hair loss is real. So if you can find ways to lower your stress levels, it stands to reason that your hair will benefit from that—whether it’s yoga, meditation, taking a long walk, or spending time with friends. Whatever is stress-relieving for you is going to be helpful in addition to a healthy lifestyle, exercise, and a balanced diet.
Diet-wise, taking cues from the Mediterranean diet can promote healthy hair growth. Eggs are a great source of protein, which is what makes up hair, plus they’re rich in biotin. Avocados are great because they have essential fatty acids and antioxidants. Salmon is awesome because it also has essential fatty acids. Fatty fish have omega-3’s. Flaxseed and sunflower seeds are great to incorporate into your diet because they contain a lot of the B vitamins I touched on earlier and zinc.
When we’re assessing hair loss in our clinic, we test for levels of the micronutrients of B12, iron, and zinc, make sure people’s hormones are okay, and ensure that people are not anemic. Evaluating hair health involves a total body health assessment.
Q: Should everyone take a hair supplement? Or only those with specific issues?
Dr. E: The reality is that by the time you’ve noticed hair is thinning you’ve actually lost 50 percent of total scalp hair. It’s crazy how much we have to lose before we deem it clinically relevant. It’s a slow change over time. Everyone can probably benefit from help with hair and scalp health. I’d look at relatives and see what your genetics show you. Even if you aren’t experiencing it yet, you may in the future. It’s never a bad idea to support hair health and growth with hair supplements, just like we take a multivitamin to support total body health.
*These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease.
