Beauty Tips For Body Care
I've been taking H/S/N supplements for almost 15 years with very few breaks because I quickly lose the effects. I love them and below are my main takeaways. I would LOVE feedback from others.First: Supplements are not regulated (thanks Orrin Hatch! /s) in the USA and are notoriously bad at including all or any of advertised ingredients but including unlisted ingredients. If you have nut or other allergies be particularly careful for this reason. Don't become yet another oblivious consumer spending tons of $$ on snake oil that might harm. FDA's website has decent resources on effective research.Second: Also, as is the case for topical skincare products, claims about various ingredients have anywhere from zero scientific backing, a few promising studies, to tons of evidence. There are some reputable sites that research either or both (1) Contents of a particular supplement, (2) Science behind a specific ingredient. They generally provide some free info and some info for a charge. Even if they don't offer research on HSN vitamins, it's possible to determine which brands consistently pass testing and then buy from those brands with relative confidence. Below are the main organizations, IMHO, that test. Below that I share my personal experience and supplements' effects.I just discovered LabDoor which tests and rates/ranks vitamins according to contents for free (detailed info on each test for a subscription cost). My guess is they are trying to provide free rankings for consumers to supplant organizations w/much less free info. They reviewed Pre-Natal but not HSNs yet. You can vote for which supplements you want tested next. I upvoted Coenzyme Q10, collagen, and Resveratrol. I don't know how to submit a new supplement for voting but I want to add HSN supplements.Examine.com is popular on reddit because they moderate the /r/supplements subreddit and because people are generally happy with them. They sell guides (aka "stacks") that demonstrate which supplements/ingredients have scientific backing in order to put all research in one place. The stack for Hair & Skin Quality I immediately found online in a cashed version if you, like me, are unencumbered by many morals.ConsumerLab does lots of testing but they told me (May 2015) the only H/S/N supplement they tested is included in their B-vitamin review (appears to be Nature's Life Biotin Hair, Skin & Nails) but I don't know the outcome since I don't subscribe. I believe ConsumerLab also provides summations of consumer reviews but I'm personally wary due to the placebo effect or from first-time users that haven't yet tried better brands.United States Pharmacopeial Convention or USP is well-regarded and offers a verification process to companies who can use their label to demonstrate their product contains advertised ingredients, lack contaminants, etc. They appear to offer a compendium of info but at a considerable cost. Their free info includes 4 brands they verify and companies that participate in verification program, although I'm unsure what the distinction is. Products can display their logo but w/o a subscription it's impossible to verify if they actually deserve the logo although it may be reasonable to guess that USP would go after mis-labled products.NSF International offers what appears to be a complete list of their tested supplements for free. I Ctrl+F Searched "skin" and found a couple.Some important info:Prices and ingredients vary widely. Price and quality do not necessarily correlate. The very high-cost HSN supplements I'm further unconvinced are worth it. I think the high-price is mostly because the vendors have captive audiences that are willing to pay. The ingredients appear equivalent to any found elsewhere for lower prices. If someone feels I'm incorrect, please let me know! For example, a consumer may feel more confident that the higher-priced version come from reputable brands and therefore can have more confidence in the ingredients.My personal experience:I've tried any number of brands from the drugstore and on Amazon. In my experience, there's some variation among brands but sometimes it's hard to tell and I'm not sure I'd remember my impression or brand of every one I've tried. Most have been decent but there are some that definitely suck. Lately I've stuck with Costco/Kirkland brand since USP verified it and it's relatively affordable. I've been on auto-pilot and just re-purchasing via amazon and drugstores but I want to further research brands and ingredient-effectiveness so after I post this maybe I'll go do a deeper dive into the sites I listed. I'm about to start Martha Stewart's HSN since they are NSF certified. I can update on my experience. My personal goal is to find a supplement with the most verified ingredients for a price point I can live with. I want to research additional 1-ingredient supplements I can also take.Below are the results I've consistently experienced. Since I've taken them so long w/few short-lived breaks I may be forgetting some.Skin all over my body gets stupid-soft. Like my bf can also tell the difference.Fewer breakouts.My nails are stronger so they grow longer w/o breaking. My nails also shine. I think they grow faster, too.Shiny hair that appears generally healthier, grows faster and breaks less. I believe this faster growth also affects eyelashes but maybe also body hair. I'm convinced the hair on my face grows much faster which I have to then remove.Finally:Lots of folks take Prenatal vitamins with apparently good results but I've never tried them. I figure why not buy the supplements specifically targeted to HSN? Biotin can apparently cause breakouts so beware. I'd love to hear about specific ingredients that people love and that have scientific backing.Disclaimer/caution: In addition to awareness of lack of regulation be wary of mega-dosing. More =/= better w/supplements. Compare ingredients in your HSN supplements against other daily supplements to ensure you don't get sick. IIRC, water soluble vitamins like Vit C are fine since you pee out the excess but fat-soluble do have a limit.I hope someone found this write-up helpful! I think HSN supplements are totally worth it and an easy way to noticeably improve skin, hair and nails without any additional effort. I'm looking forward to hearing from other SCA redditors!Edit: formatting
Girls Blog 2015
Submitted by goopy-goo
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