Despite the hype, it’s a bit of an elusive umbrella term—what makes a product so beneficial for beauty-minded folk? Sure, you can find many of the same ingredients formulated into topicals, but ingesting them can help your body enhance its natural antioxidant power.* Beauty from the inside out, as they say… Join us as we walk through how to find the right beauty supplement for your skin and hair goals and the options we believe are the very best.* Let’s break down some of those vetted ingredients, shall we? Biotin also plays a key role in supporting healthy, strong nails: Biotin has been shown to support thickness and firmness of nails1 in several human studies; one, in particular, found that those who took biotin supplements had 25% thicker nail beds2 than the placebo group.* Especially type I, as this type is especially abundant in the skin, where it’s “responsible for keeping it pliable and young-looking,”* says Gretchen Frieling, M.D., a board-certified dermatopathologist. In fact, one small study showed that when people took an oral supplement containing mainly hydrolyzed type I collagen3, after 60 days their facial lines and wrinkles appeared smoother, and the skin maintained healthy moisture levels.* Collagen supplements also provide many of the amino acids and nutrients needed for hair growth.* In fact, research has shown that people who took 120 milligrams of hyaluronic acid a day for 12 weeks had help maintaining healthy skin aging4 compared with those who took a placebo.* In fact, research suggests5 that omega-3 fatty acids can support your skin and hair health when they’re taken along with other antioxidant supplements.* Specifically for skin, healthy fats—namely, alpha-linolenic acid (ALA) and gamma-linolenic acid (GLA)6—help seal in moisture, keeping your skin barrier strong. Board-certified dermatologist Joshua Zeichner, M.D., agrees: “Natural fats maintain the integrity of the outer skin layer,” he once told us about vitamin F in skin care. Ceramides are naturally present in your skin cells7, and they act like the glue that helps keep said skin cells together, keeping moisture in and environmental aggressors out. They decline with age (and, thus, your skin barrier becomes weaker), which is why experts point to phytoceramide supplements (or ceramides derived from plants) to help your body promote its natural levels.* In fact, a comprehensive review has found probiotics to be a useful tool in supporting a balanced inflammatory response in the skin8; one of the studies reviewed even documents that a probiotic supplement improved skin appearance in 80% of the 300 participants. Below, find the best beauty supplements to buy, depending on how you want to approach your hair, skin, and nails.* cellular beauty+ ($76) mindbodygreen.com Nutrafol Women ($79) Red Carpet, HUM Nutrition ($26) Glow Inner Beauty Essential, The Beauty Chef ($69)
Biotin Gummies, Sports Research ($17)
Hair/Skin/Nails Liquid Softgels, Nature Made ($9)
The Super Elixir, WelleCo ($135)
Clarity Beauty Dose, 111Skin ($150)
Revolve.com, 111skin.com
Personalized vitamins, Nurish by Naturemade (varies, depending on results)
Nurish.com
Skin Hydration Ade, Golde ($15)
Revolve.com
Skin Hydration Boost, Vital Proteins ($30)
Full-Spectrum Hemp CBD Capsules, populum ($79)
Populum.com
H-S-N Complete, Designs for Health ($50)
designsforhealth.com
Those are additional, incremental nutrients or bioactives, and we support those thoughtful multi-ingredient formulas. That’s not what we mean here: On the quest to find the cleanest formulas, we suggest looking out for excipients (aka, the “Other ingredients” list) like gums, fillers, corn syrup, synthetic dyes, and sugar alcohols—if you’d like to use a supplement that has them, that’s fine; just know that truly premium formulas tend to skip these additives.
Additionally, quality testing—from the raw material to the finished product—should be rigorous and transparent to ensure purity and potency (and ultimately, peace of mind).
Some brands employ third-party lab testing, in which an organization not affiliated with the brand or manufacturer analyzes the products and their benefits; that way, you can have a better sense of their testing results with minimal biases.
Our team ensures that each supplement product is thoughtfully formulated–from the active ingredients to those “Other ingredient” excipients too. We are highly preferential towards clean formulas that are plant-centric (and oftentimes vegan or vegetarian) as well as free of GMOs, gluten, soy, dairy, major food allergens, high-fructose corn syrup, artificial sweeteners, synthetic dyes, and more.
Overall, we recommend products with clean ingredients at efficacious doses in bioactive forms. Whenever possible, we celebrate and elevate plant-origin (i.e., plant-sourced) ingredients from a variety of botanicals.
Ingredient source and innovation are top of mind for our critical reviews and selection of supplement products. We prioritize forward-thinking formulations and delivery formats that are genuinely helpful in transforming your health.
We include supplement brands and products that prioritize quality. This includes robust manufaturing practices and comprehensive purity and potency testing.
You can learn more about mindbodygreen supplements+ manufacturing and quality testing practices here.
At the end of the day, though, let’s not forget: “While some indigestible beauty supplements can be beneficial, none replace whole food nutrition,” says Shamban.
