Prenatal vitamins recommended for damaged nails, is that weird?

[CrunchyChips]

Hi everybody I belong to another nails support group that has been extremely helpful however I often see a lot of confusion regarding nail damage and some of the technicians are really promoting and pushing on their clients taking prenatal vitamins whereas when I see nail damage on my clients , I would recommend a keratin treatment or IBX.
I have a friend that went to school for a year and fully believes in recommending taking prenatals rather than anything else and tonight i witnessed A very aggressive conversation between a few technicians that had opposing opinions on whether or not it was a good idea and I'm honestly very curious myself.. what does anybody think

 

[AcidPerm]

Surely, you're only supposed to take supplements if you're deficient in a particular mineral/vitamin? It sounds a bit like routinely suggesting taking antibiotics for every cough and sniffle.
Pointless if the illness is viral and not bacterial.

 

[user 111574]

If someone is eating a sensible diet then they do not need vitamin supplements unless they have a medical condition that requires it.
If a person does have a very restricted diet and might be at risk of not getting enough vitamins and minerals then the best thing to take is a daily multi vitamin supplement as you have no way of telling which vitamin or mineral they are deficient in. Your body will take what it needs.

There are fat soluble vitamins which the body will store but the water soluble ones such as vitamin C will pass through the body once it has absorbed enough. Therefore there is no benefit in taking over the required daily amount of vitamin C - you will just wee it away! In fact if you take very large amounts of some vitamins it can make you ill - technically an overdose medically.

 

[asteropi]

The basic ingredients for prenatal vitamins are folic acid and iron. That said, that's just the general rule
When I was in beauty school my teacher had told us that natural nail weakness mostly comes from iron deficiency. Again that being the most common case scenario and not the only case.
So taking prenatal vitamins to treat weak -not damaged- nails certainly has some sense, but as the others have said it's not a cure and if your body has any sort of deficiency it would come up in other areas too. So the best course would be to have some blood tests done and then take the proper medication for the elements you lack

 

[Fisou]

That to me is too close to prescription. I'd feel extremely uncomfortable with doing anything other than what I am trained for and specialise in and that does not include prescribing a treatment. Be it over the counter medicine or something even more inconspicuous. If clients have issues with their nails and it is not due to poor application /removal they should get checked out by a gp. It can be a symptom of a vitamin deficiency and without knowing the client's medical history you shouldn't even recommend vitamins. This, in my opinion is just all kinds of wrong. That and guessing nail plate illnesses.

 

[Fisou]

Correction not just without knowing their medical history. Just never ever.