Succumbing to Social Advertising

While I’m getting pretty good at reciting Kimberly Clark's anti-haul mantra to myself (“I don’t need it, and I’m not gonna buy it”), I still succumb to the occasional social media marketing. This was the case with the Sugar Bear Hair vitamins. These gummy-bear shaped hair vitamins have been all over my Facebook and Instagram marketing for some time now and I finally decided to check them out. On their website, the company boasts a lot of claims – they tout that the vitamins aide in:

Growing longer and stronger hair

Nourishing your hair from within

Improving overall health

Increasing hair strength

Improving hair elasticity

Stopping hair breakage

Wow. If a supplement can do all that, I will gladly shell out the $39.70 Canadian dollars that they’re asking. None of these claims are FDA approved, of course. After carefully looking over the ingredients, I decided to give them a go. They contain a variety of vitamins, folic acid, biotin, and coconut oil, which I can see contributing to the overall health of your hair. The gummies are also gelatin-free, and while I’m not vegan or even vegetarian (I had organic, free-run sausage for dinner), its an ingredient that squiks me out a little when I think about it.

I have previously taken a drugstore hair and nail vitamin by Nature’s Bounty and been happy with the results. I didn’t think they made my hair noticeably longer, but my nails definitely grew more quickly. I’m looking forward to finishing this round and being able to compare.

When the package arrived in the mail and my roommate informed me that it “sounded broken”, I pretty quickly guessed what it contained. The pleasing turquoise package contains 60 gummies, a month’s supply, and as an added bonus the company included one of those ribbon hair ties and a slightly confusing sticker depicting a personified donut, riding a skateboard, with a teal gummy bear resting in its hole. Enough said. I stuck it on my notebook.

My first impression is that the gummies taste delicious – kind of like lemon-berry. I would keep them far away from children, because even as an adult I have to very consciously use my self-control to only eat two. I actually had to put them in my desk drawer so I’m not looking at them all day. I can’t wait to see if Sugar Bear hair actually produces noticeable results. For good measure, I took a “before” picture and I will take an “after” in February. Hair grows a little over a centimeter a month on average, so we’ll see if I notice an increase in length or if it feels different in other ways, like thickness. I’m cautiously optimistic. If nothing else, I’ll enjoy having an excuse to eat candy for a month.