I jumped into this with both feet. I began taking 10000 mcg NOW brand Biotin daily, religiously, 30 days ago. To my utter delight, my hair has literally grown just over a full inch in 30 days! My hair is lustrous and full of body.


My weak sparse eye brows have almost entirely filled in! This is exciting because they are normally very brittle and I have had to fill them in with pencil for years. I don't know if it has made a difference in my lashes. I haven't worn mascara for over a month. My lashes are naturally stick straight, sparse, fine and very pale. They look like they may not have changed.


My nails have improved dramatically. my nails are normally soft, peel easily, and full of ridges. The ridges are entirely gone on my left hand, and 50% less on my right hand, and they no longer peel!


Thankfully, no acne breakouts.


UPDATE: 2 months on Biotin and taking 10000mcg daily religiously. My hair has grown at least 2 inches in 2 months. My hair has stopped shedding. The loose barely there natural wave in my hair seems to be wavier. My nails are smooth. They are still soft, but flexible instead of brittle. My sparse eyebrows are filling in. My lashes appear less sparse but are still short and pale. Can't complain about some improvement though. :0) No side effects. No acne. Will continue taking it since I'm benefiting from it.


UPDATE: 3 months on Biotin 10000 mcg/daily, religiously. My hair is growing at a rate of 1 inch per month. Shedding very little. My eyebrows have filled in. Fingernails are strong and flexible with significantly less ridges. Eyelashes less sparse, little longer (50%?)they remain pale. I'm just happy they're less sparse. No side effects. No acne. This is a keeper!


UPDATE: 5 months on Biotin 10000mcg/daily. My hair looks great. It's growing twice as fast as the normal rate making it challenging to adjust to for styling, lol. Minimal shedding which had always been a major problem prior to starting biotin. No side effects. Too happy!


UPDATE - May 14, 2012: After growing my hair out for a year it was shoulder length and very thick. In a moment of insanity, I had it chopped off to a pixie. It was the first time in my life I had shoulder length hair. It grew so quickly. I couldn't manage it! I must confess the pixie was liberating. I'm still taking biotin because I want to grow a short inverted bob. My hair is still growing one inch per month and still no side effects. That's my picture of my nails. They used to be thin, brittle, very ridged and peeled like all get out. That pic is of two weeks growth. continued >>

been using this for like 3 or 4 months now and I have seen results in my nails, which is why i started taking it. I was taking 2,500 mcg but am now taking 5,000mcg. i am not acne prone and have not seen any pimples. I would def buy again.

My aim: I'm trying to grow back "proper" hair where I have weakened, flyaway sections at the sides, left over from moderate hair loss due to depression 3-4 years ago. My hair overall is fine in texture but I have a good amount of it.

I recently took 1000mcg daily for about 3 months, had a break of a couple of months, and have just started taking the same dose again. I believe it sped up my hair growth quite a bit, and it definitely helped me to grow out my brows. It's inexpensive, widely available and effective; there were no side effects for me and I did not break out. In fact, my skin looks very good when I take biotin. (However, I'm not acne prone.)

Be warned - if this works for your hair and nails, it will work for *all* your hair. I am blonde with fine hair, so not exactly a "slave to the shave" by any means and a slight increase does not bother me. If you already feel you have to depilate constantly, you might not appreciate any extra body hairy-ness so bear that side effect in mind before trying biotin.

That said, the most dramatic difference it made was in the condition of my nails. They were strengthened and faster growing within a couple of weeks. I cut my nails down every week, and by the following weekend, they're long again. It's actually somewhat annoying to have nails that grow this fast, but I love the resilience of them.

While biotin has given me good results, it isn't a miracle worker, and if you are suffering hair loss for hormonal reasons or because of severe stress, I don't believe it would do much to counter that. I will continue to take it because it's cheap and simple - but only in conjunction with a healthy balanced lifestyle & diet. continued >>

I am one of the unfortunate souls who had a horrible outbreak of pimples from biotin. I chose to take biotin to help my peely, flimsy, slow growing nails grow out more. Unfortunately, I didn't do my homework here first, or else I would have perhaps chosen a different brand or even skipped taking biotin all together. I used the Spring Valley brand (available at Wal Mart) in the 5000 mcg dose.

My previously dry, sensitive skin that had only occasional outbreaks of one or two zits a month turned into an oily, pimply, white head riddled landscape. I even got zits on my scalp. It was horrible. I had never suffered such horrible breakouts, even as a teenager (I'm 37).

Did my nails grow? You bet. Biotin certainly works and lives up to it's reputation in that area. If you choose to take biotin, I would say buyer beware, and read all the reviews here first. Do your research, see what brands aren't breaking people out and which ones are. Biotin definitely works and will make your nails and hair grow, however it can have unwanted side effects. Use with caution.

So unfortuantely my hair for the past 5 years has been one of those "never grows past a certain length" cases. I was so frustrated because I avoided ever cutting my hair, but due to colouring and styling, the ends constantly broke off so it appeared to never grow.

I did my research and found Biotin. I've been using it for just over a month now (about 2000-4000mcgs a day), and I am ELATED with the results. My hair has definitely grown, but the BIGGEST improvement I've noticed is the overall health of it. My hair is so much thicker and shinier than it was, and I've gotten so many compliments about it. My nails are also noticably stronger, and I have not had any skin problems. (Although I am not acne prone to begin with.)

As an esthetician, I would recommend this product in a heartbeat to clients that do not have sensitive or acne-prone skin. It is a miracle pill for sure. =) And how great is it that's it's a natual vitamin so we aren't polluting our bodies with artificial junk!!

My mom took Biotin when her hair began to thin after menopause. It really helped her hair grow back and made it very shiny. Her nails also started growing like crazy! It's a great product.

Biotin is a seriously a wonder pill for hair growth. If you want your hair to grow, purchase Biotin 5000mcg. I actually take a total 10,000mcg daily, one pill at lunch and one a dinnertime and my hair has grown A LOT. I visited a dermatologist because I couldn't tell if my hair was shedding or breaking at the root, and he recommended that I take 5000mcgs of Biotin. I told him that I had just started taking 10,000mcg and he was a little surprised but told me that was okay because I would flush out (you know what i mean ladies) whatever my body didn't use. I thought my hair had hit its growth point a little past my shoulders, but it has grown so much since starting the Biotin. And my nails are growing way too fast!

My hair is the slowest growing in the world. It maybe grows an inch per year. That being said, I have very long hair (to my waist) and believe me it took years to grow out. I usually take good care of the ends because I dont want to cut my hair, knowing how long it will take to get back, but this summer I was in the woods at a camp and was not able to properly take care of it so it got pretty damaged. My glorious plan to save my hair was to start taking Biotin to grow it out a little so I could cut the damaged ends off without losing alot of length.
Now at the same time I have extremely sensitive, very acne-prone skin. I had just gotten off a year cycle of retin-a, benzaclin, and antibiotics that just tore up sensitive skin. About 3 months after going off that and using ACV and 10% bp spot treatment I had clear skin for the first time in 8 years and boy did that make a huge difference in my life- I didnt wear makeup for 2 months for the first time since I was 15 (I'm now 22). It was amazing. But then all of the sudden I had a bad breakout of small pimples that just persisted forever- I was devastated. I thought my acne was back for good and I would have to go on medication again and there was no hope after all. I tried really hard to find out what the source could be, but none of my experiments pinpointed anything until I thought of when I started taking Biotin, the same time I broke out. I immediately jumped here on MUA and found these reviews, and everything seemed to point to Biotin as the culprit. I am so relieved that I know that now, and I regret not checking MUA before i purchased it, its strange because I almost always check here before I buy anything. So i'll never take biotin again as far as I know and hopefully I will clear up soon. Will Update!

I took a multivitamin with biotin, plus a separate supplement. It is absolutely true that my hair grew more quickly and so did my nails. My nails were harder...but brittle, so they would break just as they grew past my fingertips. Not a big deal, because they grew back quickly, but it was still inconvenient. My hair still broke, just as it always has. I did get a few nasty huge pimples, but I can't blame that entirely on the biotin because my skin was starting to have issues when I began taking the supplement, and it takes a while to have an effect.

I did not connect my increased acne with biotin until I started reading these reviews. Biotin is of the B-vitamin family and who would think it could influence acne but apparently it can. Biotin did improve my nails and helped my frequently shedding hair but I am going to stop it to see if my skin improves. I will update on this. So I may or may not purchase again. It is worth a try for hair and nails if your skin is not affected negatively.
Update: it has been 12 days since I stopped biotin and my acne is better. Too soon to give a definitive opinion, though. I will update at a later time with more informaton.
EDIT II: I went back on biotin (months later) and my acne flared up again so I am definitely leaning toward biotin being the cause.