Bespoke hair supplement manufacturing

Your own hair formula, as gummies, capsules or drops

Gummies, capsules, tablets, drops, oils, shots, powders and sticks: in Leicester, we turn bespoke hair supplement formulas into each of these for premium beauty and wellness brands. Many brands start with private label hair vitamins: a stock biotin gummy with their logo on it. We build a formula of your own instead. Biotin, zinc, selenium and copper go in at a source level to carry the authorised hair claims, from micrograms of biotin and selenium to milligrams of zinc and copper, with other actives at the doses their studies used. Every batch ships with its certificate of analysis, and your launch file holds the specification and stability report.

Hair sits in our beauty supplement manufacturing range, and with our skincare and cosmetic manufacturing team we also make a hair supplement and a scalp serum sold as one routine.

Nutrients with authorised hair claims

• Biotin as D-biotin. At microgram doses it goes in as a 1% trituration on a carrier, so it spreads evenly through the blend.
• Zinc as citrate, gluconate or bisglycinate. Zinc salts taste metallic and astringent, which matters in gummies and drinks.
• Selenium as L-selenomethionine, sodium selenite or selenium-enriched yeast. The body handles the forms differently, and the dose is in micrograms.
• Copper as gluconate or bisglycinate, for its hair pigmentation claim. It is often paired with zinc, because high zinc intakes reduce copper absorption.

Formulas that also cover skin and nails add niacin, riboflavin, vitamin A or iodine for skin, and lean on zinc and selenium for nails.

Proteins and botanicals

Hair formulas often add hydrolysed keratin, marine proteins, collagen peptides, pumpkin seed oil, tocotrienols, horsetail and saw palmetto. None carries an authorised claim, so they sit beside the claimable nutrients, and we specify each by its marker: fatty acids for saw palmetto, silica for horsetail, tocotrienol content for palm or annatto extracts. Saw palmetto (Serenoa repens) needs particular care. As of October 2026, a saw palmetto extract is also registered in the UK as a traditional herbal medicine (MHRA, 2025), so we design saw palmetto formulas to sit clearly on the food supplement side of that line, with non-medicinal copy and no hair claim. Collagen adds protein and a beauty story; see collagen supplement manufacturing.

Claimable doses, upper levels and biotin's effect on lab tests

Hair nutrients work in micrograms and milligrams, and the gap between a claimable dose and a high dose is where safety and laboratory test issues start. The table sets out the design limits for adults as of October 2026.

EU maximum levels for vitamins and minerals in supplements are under review, so we set zinc and selenium doses with headroom below the upper levels in the table.

Mineral competition and selenium forms

Form and company decide how much of each nutrient the body takes up. Zinc competes with iron and copper for absorption, and phytates in plant-rich meals hold it back, so we balance minerals within the formula. Selenium as selenomethionine is built into body proteins in place of methionine, while selenite follows a direct metabolic route, which is why the form appears on the specification and the label.

Biotin and laboratory tests

Many laboratory immunoassays rely on the binding between biotin and streptavidin, so high blood biotin can push results falsely high or falsely low, depending on the test. FDA warns that many supplements promoted for hair, skin and nail benefits contain biotin at up to 650 times the recommended daily intake. Germany's risk assessment institute, the BfR, says most reports involve supplements with 150 µg or more per daily dose, and recommends a warning statement rather than a maximum level (BfR, 2026). We size biotin to the claim and the brand's positioning, not to the biggest number on the shelf, and draft warning wording for each market.

Overages, uniformity and stability

EU tolerance guidance lets measured vitamins in a supplement sit 20% below to 50% above the declared value, and minerals 20% below to 45% above (European Commission, 2012). We set overages so every batch stays inside those limits to the end of shelf life. Biotin holds up well in processing, so its overage is small, while vitamin C needs more. Microgram actives need proof of blend uniformity, because every capsule or gummy must carry its share. Copper and iron ions speed the breakdown of vitamin C, so mixed formulas use chelated minerals and are tested for stability across shelf life.

Hair claims the registers allow, and growth claims they don't

As of October 2026, a hair supplement in GB or the EU can use only the authorised claims on the GB nutrition and health claims register and the EU register, with each nutrient at a source level, at least 15% of its reference value in the daily dose. We use the registers' exact wording:

• "Biotin contributes to the maintenance of normal hair".
• "Zinc contributes to the maintenance of normal hair" and "Zinc contributes to the maintenance of normal nails".
• "Selenium contributes to the maintenance of normal hair" and "Selenium contributes to the maintenance of normal nails".
• "Copper contributes to normal hair pigmentation".
• Biotin, niacin, riboflavin, zinc, iodine and vitamin A each carry a claim for the maintenance of normal skin.

Keratin, marine proteins, collagen and botanicals carry no authorised claim. "Hair growth", "thicker hair" and "less shedding" are not authorised claims for a food supplement, and CAP's advice on hair and hair loss classes promises to end hair loss as likely medicinal claims. We write label and pack copy to these rules from the first draft and check every claim at artwork stage, before printing.

As of October 2026, US hair supplements make structure and function claims about normal hair, backed by competent and reliable scientific evidence, notified to FDA and carrying FDA's standard disclaimer. Claims about a named hair or scalp condition make a product a drug in US law. We prepare products and documents for the UK, the EU and the US, and write each label's claims separately.

Private label hair vitamins and the packs that protect them

• Gummies build the daily habit hair formulas depend on, and suit biotin, zinc, selenium and vitamins, with metallic notes masked by flavour and acid. They are GMP certified, and every batch gets an active assay as standard. See gummy manufacturing.
• Capsules carry botanicals, oils and proteins with no taste work, and are GMP certified. We make capsules and tablets in-house; see capsule and tablet manufacturing.
• Liquids pair hair nutrients with collagen or hyaluronic acid. We make drops, oils and shots in-house, and liquids are GMP certified. See liquid supplement manufacturing.
• Powders and sticks combine collagen with biotin and zinc, and are made in Leicester.

Zinc and iron bring metallic and astringent notes, which our flavour development and taste masking work resolves before launch.

Packs follow the format: bottles and jars with induction seals and desiccants, or resealable high-barrier pouches, for gummies; bottles or blisters for capsules; amber glass for drops and oils; and foil-laminate sticks for powders. We choose each pack for its moisture and light barrier against the shelf life you need.

Biotin and selenium premixes, then capsules or gummies

Development runs from your brief to a signed-off specification: bench samples for taste, colour and texture, a stability study on the chosen formula, and a pilot batch in your format before full production. R&D is a paid stage that can be included with an order of the right size. Production then follows six steps:

1. Specify. We agree the specification with you: actives and forms, overages, format, flavour and shelf life.
2. Supply. Every material comes from a supplier that has passed our approval process, and suppliers are reviewed every year.
3. Weigh and premix. Materials are weighed against the batch record under our allergen management plan, with its yellow colour coding. Microgram actives such as biotin and selenium go into a premix first.
4. Blend or cook. For capsules, the premix is blended to a uniform powder; for gummies, it goes into the cooled gummy mass with flavours and acid.
5. Fill or deposit. Capsules are filled and checked for weight; gummies are deposited, dried to their target moisture and water activity, and inspected.
6. Pack and label. Products are filled by count, sealed and labelled. Label verification on every batch is the critical control point in our HACCP plan.

Each product type has its own HACCP study, reviewed every year, and any non-conformance is closed with QA and Operations sign-off.

LC-MS for biotin, ICP for zinc, selenium and copper

Every batch is tested by accredited partner laboratories (ISO/IEC 17025) as part of every order, to a programme set for each product and market, and they issue certificates of analysis you can share with retailers and marketplaces. For hair supplements we build the plan from these tests, as our testing and batch release page explains:

• Active content: biotin by LC-MS or microbiological assay; zinc, selenium and copper by ICP-OES or ICP-MS.
• Heavy metals: lead, cadmium, mercury and arsenic by ICP-MS.
• Microbiology: total viable count, yeasts and moulds, and pathogens such as Salmonella.
• Physical checks: fill weight or piece weight, water activity for gummies, and appearance.
• Stability: accelerated and real-time studies, run by accredited partner laboratories, that track biotin, vitamin C and the minerals across shelf life.

Every batch is released by quality control against its specification, and nothing is dispatched without quality control sign-off. Each batch ships with its certificate of analysis and batch release confirmation, and your launch file holds the specification with its test methods, the stability report and the documents each market asks for. We keep three retained samples per batch for shelf life plus one year. We make every format in our Leicester facility, which is ISO 9001, HACCP and GMP certified by BSI, and FDA registered. Your formula is yours, including its specification and test plan, as our formula ownership commitment sets out. Start your project with your claims, format and markets.

References: ASA and CAP, advice on hair and hair loss (2026); EFSA, overview of tolerable upper intake levels (2025); EFSA, tolerable upper intake level for selenium (2023); Expert Group on Vitamins and Minerals, safe upper levels for vitamins and minerals (2003); US FDA, safety communication on biotin and laboratory tests (2017, updated 2019); BfR, biotin supplements and laboratory tests (2026); Commission Regulation (EU) No 432/2012 (2012); European Commission, guidance on tolerances for nutrient values on labels (2012).