The Best Vitamins and Supplements for Healthy Skin and Hair

5,810 Views

Dr. Michael A. Smith, M.D. Posted on February 27, 2025

Many factors affect the health and appearance of your skin and hair. UV exposure, toxins like smoke and air pollution, and your skin and hair care routines are big ones—but these are external.

Internal factors like your genes, the natural aging process, and your lifestyle (“beauty sleep” is a real thing) play a big role as well. So, too, does your nutrition. This includes foods you eat as well as supplements.

Which nutrients will give you glowing skin and healthy hair? Let’s dive in!

Best Skincare Vitamins and Supplements

A good skin and hair care routine with moisturizing creams and serums can do wonders for your appearance, but they only go skin deep. Quality oral skincare supplements give your body the nutrients it needs to build beauty from the inside out.

Ceramides

Ceramides are nourishing oils that help your skin retain moisture, which is key to healthy, supple, youthful-looking skin.¹ Ceramides also play an important role in your skin’s protective barrier, helping to bind together the cells at the surface.^2,3 But ceramide levels naturally decrease as we age, making it hard to maintain smooth, healthy skin as we get older.⁴ Revitalize skin from the inside out with a ceramide supplement that promotes skin hydration and encourages healthy ceramide levels.

Collagen

Seeking healthy, beautiful skin that resists the appearance of wrinkles? Collagen is key for smooth and healthy skin, but the collagen in your diet may be hard to absorb because of its large molecule size. Hydrolyzed collagen consists of smaller pieces of collagen (called collagen peptides) that are easier for your body to use, and studies show it contributes to elastin synthesis and collagen production.^5,6 In fact, a study among women ages 35 to 55 showed significant improvement in skin elasticity after eight weeks of daily hydrolyzed collagen supplementation.⁷

Vitamin C

Your skin protects you from the elements. But those protective efforts take their toll. Vitamin C can help maintain healthy skin structure and function, keep your skin looking smooth and beautiful, and protect you from the oxidative stress around you. Keep your skin at its best with this vitamin C formula, which encourages collagen production and provides cell protection. It includes a blend of rosemary, olive leaf, lemon verbena, and Japanese sophora to help improve skin radiance and reduce the appearance of wrinkles, along with highly concentrated rice ceramides that help retain moisture in your skin.^15-17

Vegan Collagen

Vegetarian? Vegan? Just making an effort to consume fewer animal-derived products? You don’t have to choose between beauty and a plant-based diet. Support radiant skin, and reduce the appearance of wrinkles, with a vegan collagen alternative that promotes your natural collagen production. This vegan formula for healthy skin combines the same amino acid profile as type I collagen (the most common type of collagen found in skin) with clinically studied vitamin C, gotu kola, and ginseng root extracts. Research has shown that it encourages healthy collagen density and skin hydration and improves the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles.¹⁸

Vitamin B3 (niacinamide)

We may love clear, beautiful days, but even moderate ultraviolet exposure can impact skin health. Safeguard your skin from the inside out with an oral supplement that promotes healthy DNA before, during, and after UV exposure. Vitamin B3 niacinamide supports the body’s natural immune response to UV exposure, encourages protective ATP production, and boosts cellular energy.^19-21 This helps protect against the age-related effects of ultraviolet exposure and encourages healthy skin.^22,23

Best Haircare Vitamins and Supplements

Strong, healthy hair begins from within. Nourish your locks from root to tip with these vital nutrients for optimal hair strength.

Collagen with solubilized keratin

Healthy hair needs more than collagen to maintain its structure and function. Keratin also promotes skin health and strong hair. This collagen and solubilized keratin formula includes several clinically studied nutrients that promote beauty from within. Its bioactive collagen peptides stimulate collagen and elastin formation, support skin growth and repair, and encourage resilience to UV exposure.^8-10 Other ingredients promote skin elasticity, support healthy nails, promote keratin formation, and encourage hair brightness and luster.^11-14

Biotin

As we get older, our bodies produce less of the structural proteins that we need to maintain healthy hair, skin, and nails. Help maintain the healthy radiance and strength of your hair and nails with biotin, a water-soluble B7 vitamin. Biotin is essential to the production of keratin, a key protein that makes up your hair, nails, and skin.^24-27 Biotin has other roles as well: It is needed for cellular energy production, and it promotes healthy gene expression.

Takeaway

Your beauty routine shouldn’t stop at serums and creams. Beauty-supporting vitamins and nutrients can encourage hair and skin moisture and strength by helping to maintain healthy levels of collagen and keratin over time. Key nutrients also help protect your skin from oxidative stress, environmental factors, and UV exposure.

So keep your skin and hair healthy and radiant with smart lifestyle choices and targeted nutrition.

References: