Is Your Ponytail Getting Thinner? Here’s What Women Are Doing About It - VICE

We independently evaluate all of our recommendations. When you buy through our links, we may earn an affiliate commission. Learn more here.

Hair-loss treatment has come a long way from the bottle of liquid you vaguely remember seeing in someone’s medicine cabinet.

Take one look at Hers’ hair-loss lineup, and there are gummies, chews, pills, serums, foams, shampoos, conditioners, and a few options that blur the line between hair supplement and hair-loss treatment. Some require a prescription. Others don’t. And minoxidil, probably the most recognizable ingredient of the bunch, appears in both categories.

The number of choices can be a little overwhelming at first, but there is some logic to the lineup. A lot of it comes down to how you want to work a hair-loss treatment into your routine.

This was the product that made me stop scrolling. Hers has a once-daily Biotin + Minoxidil Gummy, and yes, it is actually meant for hair loss.

The green apple flavored gummy contains minoxidil and biotin. Minoxidil is the ingredient doing the heavy lifting here, and Hers says it’s an ingredient shown to regrow hair in three to six months. Biotin is included to support hair health.

Minoxidil has been used for hair growth for decades, although exactly how it works is still being figured out. Research suggests it helps move resting follicles back into their growth phase and may keep them growing longer.

The other thing worth knowing is that this isn’t the same as grabbing a bottle of hair vitamins off the shelf. The gummy is a compounded prescription treatment, so Hers requires an online intake and a review from a licensed healthcare provider before it can be prescribed.

What caught me off guard is mostly the format. Hair-loss treatment as a gummy just feels a lot more like something you’d already have sitting next to your daily vitamins than the topical products most people probably picture first.

Apparently, Hers wasn’t done with chewables. There’s also a Biotin + Minoxidil Chew, a citrus-flavored, once-daily prescription treatment with the same two headline ingredients as the gummy.

Then there’s Hair Vitamins + Minoxidil, which leans further into the vitamin side of things. Along with minoxidil and biotin, the daily pill includes vitamin C, vitamin B5, vitamin B6, and zinc.

Both are prescription options, so they require Hers’ online intake and review by a licensed healthcare provider before they can be prescribed.

Not every oral option comes dressed up with extra vitamins or a flavor. Hers also offers oral minoxidil as a once-daily prescription pill. It’s basically the stripped-down version of several products already on this list: minoxidil without the biotin gummy, citrus chew, or vitamin blend wrapped around it.

That also makes it a useful point of comparison for the rest of the lineup. Hers uses minoxidil in a bunch of different formats, but the format changes the routine quite a bit. With oral minoxidil, you’re taking a pill once a day rather than applying something directly to your scalp.

Like the gummy, chew, and vitamin blend, oral minoxidil is prescription-only through Hers. A licensed medical provider reviews the online intake and determines whether treatment is appropriate before it can be prescribed.

If pills and gummies aren’t your thing, Hers also has prescription treatments that go directly on the scalp. Hair Blends Serum combines minoxidil with ingredients including biotin, ketoconazole, and vitamin B5, and comes with a dropper for applying it where you need it.

There’s also Hair Blends Postmeno Serum, made specifically for postmenopausal women. That formula includes both minoxidil and finasteride.

So even within the prescription side of Hers, there isn’t one standard format. Depending on what a licensed healthcare provider determines is appropriate, treatment might be something you take by mouth or something you apply to your scalp. Hers emphasizes that its options come in different forms based on individual needs.

This is where the lineup gets a little confusing, because minoxidil isn’t always a prescription ingredient.

Hers sells 2% topical minoxidil solution and 5% minoxidil foam without a prescription, even though minoxidil also shows up throughout its Rx products. The foam is applied directly to the scalp once a day.

So the word “minoxidil” by itself doesn’t tell you which side of the prescription line a product falls on. The format and formulation matter.

There are also products that sit more firmly in the hair-care and supplement camp, including Hers’ Thickening Shampoo & Conditioner, Full Volume Shampoo & Conditioner, and standalone biotin gummies.

This was the part I had to untangle. Hers sells topical minoxidil without a prescription, but several of its other minoxidil treatments are prescription-only.

The distinction comes down to the specific treatment and how it’s formulated. Hers’ topical minoxidil foam and solution are non-prescription options, while oral minoxidil and its compounded treatments require a prescription.

That also means you can’t just scroll through the Rx lineup and pick whatever sounds best. You start with an online intake about your hair, routine, and treatment goals. A licensed healthcare provider reviews that information and determines whether treatment is appropriate and what option fits your needs.

If you’re prescribed a treatment, Hers ships it directly to you and provides ongoing access to providers for follow-ups, questions, and adjustments.

That’s what surprised me most after looking through the full Hers lineup. Hair-loss treatment isn’t just a bottle of topical minoxidil anymore.

Hers has gummies, chews, pills, prescription serums, non-prescription topical minoxidil, and more traditional hair-care products. Some are made around taking something once a day, while others are applied directly to the scalp.

Of course, having more formats doesn’t mean every option is right for every person. With Hers’ prescription treatments, a licensed healthcare provider reviews your information and determines whether a prescription is appropriate. But the sheer number of formats does make it easier to see how hair-loss treatment can fit into very different routines. And yes, one of those routines can involve a green apple gummy.

Just be mindful that individual results may vary.