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Liver problems can easily become life-threatening in some cases. If you have liver problems, the last thing you want to do is use a product for your hair growth that might make it worse. Since liver health is so important, you may not care about the other side effects as long as the ingredients are safe for your liver.
After looking up many of Viviscal’s ingredients specifically to see how they interact with your liver, I wasn’t able to find much. Some ingredients offer no indication of their possible effects. However, let’s examine the ingredients that might have a negative effect of some kind.
The Viviscal Hair Supplements
The three hair loss supplements Viviscal offers shares many of the same ingredients. There are less than ten of these if you discount the section of “other ingredients” at the bottom that makes up the capsule, are for the flavor, etc. Most of these have no effect on your liver.
AminoMar
The first of the ingredients that did mention liver problems was shark cartilage which is in the AminoMar complex. This is in addition to some unspecified concerns about taking it with calcium and the mention that immune suppressants should not be taken with it.
On the other hand, the oyster extract that is also in the AminoMar complex is known as a liver cleanser. It also supports the liver both directly and by supporting your thyroid, which has been medically proven to assist your liver health.
Calcium
The only other vitamin in all three supplements is calcium, which is bad for your liver. However, that is only in excessive amounts causing it to build up. The 5% of your daily recommended amount that Viviscal supplements have is not likely to be enough to do that.
Zinc
This one is only in Viviscal Man and the Viviscal Woman supplement. Like the calcium, an excess amount of it is filtered through your liver and kidneys. Unlike calcium, Viviscal has over 70% of your daily requirement. As long as you aren’t getting zinc from other sources, though, this should be fine for your liver.
Biotin
Biotin is only in the Viviscal Women and Viviscal Pro supplements, and it can affect your liver indirectly in a unique way. When having your liver tested for any reason, a certain type of blood test is used. Excess biotin in your blood while taking this test can alter the results.
This can cause you to pass a liver test even if you have a liver problem or to be diagnosed with a liver problem that you don’t actually have. Though this is not technically a liver problem, it can still cause a whole host of health problems related to your liver if you start taking liver medication you don’t need.
Niacin
Niacin is both only found in Viviscal Woman and the only vitamin that is definitely linked to liver damage in high doses. However, 75% of your daily amount may not be a high enough dose to do any damage unless you already have liver problems.
Iron
Viviscal has only 55% of the daily recommended amount of iron in it, so iron toxicity is unlikely. However, some medical conditions mean you absorb far more iron than what you need. In this case, even 55% is far too much iron and can cause a buildup of it around your liver and other organs.
The Viviscal Shampoos
While Viviscal’s supplements only have a few things that only tend to affect your liver in small amounts, the Viviscal shampoos aren’t as good. There are four of these, most of which share at least a few ingredients.
As shampoos are used externally, it is highly unlikely that any of the ingredients could affect your liver. Sodium chloride, for example, can affect your liver, but that is if your diet is high in it, not if you use it on your hair.
Likewise, coriander can have a negative effect on your liver, causing excessive bile secretion. However, that is with excessive and/or prolonged use, usually internally. Eucalyptus and rosemary can be toxic if too much is absorbed into the skin.
Besides the ones that are only worth noting if you are taking them internally, camphor bark oil is one that requires care even if you are only using it on your scalp. Camphor is absorbed so easily into the skin that using it too much or too often can lead to camphor toxicity.
Patchouli is toxic if any of it gets into your bloodstream. It also holds onto and carries any pesticides that were sprayed on the plant, both of which are obviously bad for your liver. Though Hydroxycitronellal doesn’t specifically mention liver problems, it is quite toxic for many people.
The Viviscal Conditioners
As the conditioners share the same ingredients as the shampoos, this means they are likely to have the same effects on your liver. Besides the concerning ingredients in the shampoo, the Viviscal conditioners have one or two others that may affect your liver.
These include certeareth-25, which is considered a fairly toxic ingredient. This chemical is proven to cause kidney damage if its molecules get into your bloodstream through a cut on your scalp. As your kidneys and liver both remove toxins and waste from your body, any damage your kidneys take can also affect your liver.
Of the Conditioner ingredients that aren’t also in the shampoo, that is the only one that is truly concerning. A few other chemicals are so little known that there is some concern they may have effects on your liver that aren’t documented yet.
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Why Liver Side Effects Are Important To Know
The American Liver Foundation lists over twenty-five different possible liver conditions and diseases. With that many different problems your liver can have, it is likely you or someone you know will struggle with one of them at some point.
A person’s liver is vital for flushing out toxins and other things that would otherwise build up in your body. Those with a compromised liver must be extremely careful of anything that could give their liver more work to do.
Your liver affects your whole body in numerous ways. If it fails, all the other systems of your body can be overloaded or poisoned by toxins that were meant to be removed.
The average daily supplement has 2x up to 5x of some of the vitamins you need. Some of this excess is supposed to be purged from your system by your liver. For this reason, most supplements are out of the question for people with liver problems.
The Viviscal hair supplements are one of the few hair growth supplements that may not have a problem in this area. The Viviscal Man supplement doesn’t contain one vitamin or mineral at 100% or more of the recommended daily allowance.
Though the Viviscal Women supplement does have two vitamins over this amount, according to the National Library of Medicine, men are twice as likely to die from chronic liver disease and cirrhosis. There are, however, some liver problems that women are more likely to have.
Final Thoughts
Though some of the ingredients Viviscal uses may not be good for your liver, there are a few that are beneficial for your liver to counteract these. The millet seed oil from the women’s hair loss supplement is an example. It potentially helps your liver purge itself from extra fats.
There are also benefits to your liver from flax seeds (in the Viviscal Man supplement) and L-Cysteine and L-Methionine (in the Viviscal Pro supplement). As many of the ingredients in this Viviscal review are only bad for your liver if used in excess, the chances of your liver being damaged are very low.
If you already have liver problems, one or two might be a concern. If your liver is currently healthy, the Viviscal hair growth products should be perfectly safe for most people to use to grow healthy hair.
