© gitusik
Okay, confession time. I’m not very diligent in taking my vitamins and supplements. It’s mostly laziness on my part and thankfully, I’m slightly better now. Previously, I would probably remember to take a fish oil capsule once a week or something.
I know. Terrible.
As I browsing the shelves of Chemist Warehouse the other day, I came across a number of sections that had supplements other than the usual fish oil, glucosamine, etc. These were beauty supplements and the ones that I came across were for hair, skin and nails. I’ve walked past them many times but for some reason, this time they caught my attention.
It made me wonder. Do you take beauty supplements?
Years ago, I gave something similar a go. I can’t even remember the brand of the vitamins now but I know it was meant to strengthen my hair and nails. I didn’t have any issues with my hair and nails but hey, I was intrigued because I had never seen anything like that before.
It did nothing for me. I didn’t know what I was expecting, to be honest, because there really wasn’t anything wrong with my hair or nails back then. There wasn’t any improvement to my hair or nails. Thankfully, there weren’t any negative side effects and once that bottle was finished, I didn’t repurchase nor did I take them anymore.
Fast forward back to the other day when I was back at the beauty supplements section. It really made me wonder if I was asking for too much when I tried that hair and nails supplement all those years ago. I mean, I take fish oil and vitamin D. It’s helping my body, I’m sure of it, even though I can’t technically see what they’re doing. So maybe it was helping my hair and nails back then, even though I couldn’t actually see it.
I know. My argument is weak. But guess whose wallet is even weaker and now has a bottle of hair, skin and nails supplements to try out? Erm, it’s not going to kill me, right? Right? 😛
I have a bottle of hair skin and nails. I took them for about a month and then forgot about them… haha
Kat Ness recently posted..Mini Priceline Haul
Er since you forgot about them, I’m guessing they didn’t work? 😛
Haha…. not sure if a month was long enough to know but my nails were in bad shape. I think the best remedy was to stop applying polish and let the bad parts grow out.
Kat Ness recently posted..Out From Under a Rock
I’m for the argument that if you eat healthily (eat greens, carbs, fruit, protein, lipids etc.) you don’t need to take vitamins or supplements for general health, and that you shouldn’t bother as it’s a waste of money. I can understand if you’re allergic to something e.g. milk and want to get calcium without eating a crap ton of spinach (although i like spinach so . . . ) but i just don’t see the point in eating little pills or gummies or whatever when I could just go peel an orange (eeh peeling . . . effort . . . :P).
In terms of beauty supplements unless you actually have any problems e.g. brittle nails/hair, hair loss etc. i wouldn’t eat them either because any benefit they’d potentially give would be minimal in comparison to all the healthy and yummy food you could be eating.
i can see your point but fish oil is supposed to be good for your brain/nerves and vitamin D aids in calcium absorption for strong bones (among other things) and neither of those is easily visible (unless you break a bone?), whereas beauty supplements are supposed to affect things you can actually monitor relatively easily (e.g. nail brittleness, hair breakage), and they also tend to have pretty big claims e.g. see results in 6 weeks etc. so if you don’t see results I would chuck it out.
or maybe see if i can fertillise plants with them or something.
Love your comment, Hexia! Especially about the part about chucking them out to feed the plants. I reckon that would work better. I haven’t started taking mine yet and now I’m thinking maybe I shouldn’t. STUPID ADVERTISEMENTS THAT SUCK ME IN.
Many years ago, I took one of those weight loss pills that suppress appetite? Possibly one of the stupidest things I’ve done. Gave me diarrhea instead. Oh wait, maybe that’s how my appetite went down; I was too sick to eat. >.<
If you eat a relatively balanced diet full of vegetables and some animal proteins (for enzymes not found in plants to break down vitamins), then you shouldn’t need vitamins. If you can physically eat enough food for you to get the vitamin levels you need, even more reason not to bother.
For people like me, I should really go back to them. Food is crazy-expensive in the States compared to our wages (seriously, minimum wage is $8/hr before taxes, and a pound of beef is $7). Add food costs to housing costs, and it’s even more extreme. I was working 100+ hour weeks to keep a tiny one bedroom apartment in a bad part of town for two people. I probably could have bought better food than eat out, but really, I didn’t have any strength left to cook. That’s the trade-off on the grocery budget, I guess. (At least soup and salad at work was free!) And even then, I can’t eat enough to get the iron or protein I need. And I run through salts and metals (copper, zinc) like crazy. Vitamins, it is.
Vitamins here are really, really cheap! Way cheaper than actual food. $6-10 a bottle for a decent brand, depending on what you’re buying, and drug stores here always have buy-one-get-one-free on a brand. So if you want just B-complex and vitamin C, you can get a bottle of each under the deal. What you worry about after that is enzymes and amino acids to break them down, so I ended up figuring out what to eat in conjunction with the vitamin complex I was taking. You have to know not to mix iron and calcium, since they fight for the same receptors, but calcium, zinc, and magnesium together are ideal if you figure out the ratio. Pre-made complexes like ‘hair/skin/nails’ formulas are often more expensive, but those go on sale frequently too.
Except for iron and a few others, your body just flushes out the excess, so there’s little harm in taking extra. Look at what’s in your diet and see what you could use if you want to try something new.
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Oh my goodness, 100+ hours a week? God, you must be exhausted! 🙁 Food is far more expensive here compared to the States but wages are higher so it works out to be about the same I think.
It’s funny how vitamins are far cheaper than food and it’s no wonder people go for supplements instead of proper food. When my parents go to the US to visit my auntie, they always return with heaps of vitamins. It’s still far better to get your vitamins from food though compared to supplements unless you have a certain defficiency in something (for me, it’s Vitamin D. Ironic, given that I live in Australia).
I am so totally against any kind of supplements taken without a doctor’s advise and I do believe most of them do nothing. you know what, interestingly I went to a doc today and he said that neither the vitamin D sachets or the tablets do anything to fulfill the deficiency one has so it is basically waste of money!!
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That’s funny because my GP said I’m to take Vitamin D tablets because I have Vitamin D deficiency and I’m not allowed to sun-bathe because of the strong UV radiation (I won’t regardless but still). It does work though because after taking them, my blood test results show a rise in Vitamin D.
I haven’t taken any vitamins or supplements for years since I was convinced they did nothing! That was until my doctor told me to start taking Vitamin D and Iron 😛
My chinese housemate once tried to convince me to take this hair, nails, skin that came in a liquid form. I was not convinced and it looked disgusting
Mel recently posted..First World Problems for Makeup Wearers
Euuww I don’t think I could take that in liquid form either. I saw that at Chemist Warehouse and I was like, NOPE. I once took liquid chlorophyll and it was possibly the most disgusting thing I’ve ever put in my mouth.
I have to take Vitamin D tablets too because of my deficiency. Meh.
I like to try beauty supplements too but never quite remember to take them haha! I can’t even really remember to take regular ones lol 🙂
Joyce (bronzerbunny) recently posted..Bioderma, Finally (+ Koh Gen Do Comparison)
Safest bet would be to forget the beauty supplements and just stick to the important, regular ones instead. That’s what I keep telling myself. 😛
If you’d count cocoa powder as a beauty supplement, then yes. :p Just kidding.
I do when in the spur of a moment. Usually stop after I finish the bottle.
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Hahahahaha in that case, I’d count Milo as my beauty supplement too. Kakakak!