This one goes out to the intrepid beauty / wellness explorers everywhere.

When heatless curls came back in vogue, you were in the bathroom at night, rolling your hair up and around tubes of fabric until you looked like a Star Wars extra. When Gua Sha swept the nation, you bought a sliver of jade and worked it into your weekend beauty regimen. When you heard matcha offered a healthy energy boost, you ordered a green drink instead of coffee…at least a few times.

What is Colostrum?

Let’s start with a closer look at colostrum. Colostrum is a fluid rich in nutrients like proteins, fats, vitamins, and minerals that is produced in female mammals’ mammary glands just after birth; according to the journal Nutrition Research, this substance is chock-full of immune, growth and tissue repair factors, and is meant to help kickstart the development of a newborn’s immune system.

So…what does that have to do with beauty routines? Well, like bovine (and marine) collagen, there are now multiple companies making cow’s colostrum available to the masses for supplementation. In the process of reporting this story, I started taking Cowboy Colostrum, a delicious vanilla-flavored powder that can be stirred into things like tea, coffee or yogurt. It’s also a hot seller at Erewhon and a starring ingredient in Sofia Richie Graigne’s Sweet Cherry smoothie at the organic food and wellness mecca.

While I haven’t yet personally noticed the hair growth benefits, I saw reporting on certain Reddit threads and preliminary research suggests that the benefit could be legit.

Colostrum and Hair Growth

A 2023 paper in the journal Nutrients explains one reason for this might be bovine colostrum’s anti-inflammatory peptides, such as lactoperoxidase and lactoferrin, as well as glycerophospholipids, lipids that not only support healthy cell membrane formation but also reduce levels of homocysteine, a toxic amino acid that can damage cells and tissues and is closely associated with inflammation and oxidative stress. A 2022 study in the journal Frontiers in Cell and Developmental Biology specifically looked at daily colostrum injections’ effects on hair regrowth in rats who had their fur partially shaved. The result? Colostrum supplementation significantly increased hair growth rates, giving rats denser fur after three weeks of treatment.

While we’ll need additional studies in humans to say that supplementing with colostrum is a sure, non-medicated bet to help spur hair growth for us, these results are definitely promising, and it can’t hurt to test it out yourself, unless you fall into one of these two categories: Memorial Sloan Kettering doctors warn against trying bovine colostrum powders if you are either allergic to dairy products, or have a hormone-sensitive cancer, due to trace amounts of estrogen in the supplement. 

What is Glutathione?

According to the journal Integrative Medicine, glutathione is a tripeptide that plays a key role in your body’s detoxifying and anti-inflammatory processes, including: chemical neutralization of free radicals, production of antioxidant enzymes, regenerating vitamins C and E, supporting liver function, regulating cell growth and death, and supporting proper mitochondrial function.

On the flipside, a lack of glutathione has been linked to a battery of illnesses, such as lung, autoimmune, cardiovascular, liver and chronic age-related diseases. Perhaps most relevant to our pursuit of beauty, a lack of glutathione is also associated with the aging process in general. 

Supplementing with oral or topical glutathione can have some serious health implications, according to Dr. Nayan Patel, an adjunct faculty member at the University of Southern California’s School of Pharmacy, who has focused his research on glutathione for more than two decades. “If you look at the culprit from the problem for almost any disease, any condition, that we are dealing with today, it starts with oxidative stress. And unless we can reduce oxidative stress from the top down, all we’re doing is going to different subspecialties to deal with the symptoms–they’re not dealing with the root cause of the problem,” he says. 

Though glutathione supplementation (along with healthier lifestyle choices) can be a part of the solution, there’s still one more little problem–your body can’t process glutathione when you take it in pill form. “It’s such a large molecule, so when you present it to the cell, the cell goes, ‘this is too big, I can’t take it,’ and it never enters the cell.” Intravenous injection of glutathione, on the other hand, is effective, but pretty costly: “If you go to the doctor’s office and get injections for glutathione, you’re paying $50 to $70 for something that your body is only going to benefit from for five to 23 minutes.”

Research Backed Glutathione Benefits

Fortunately, after several years of research (and several patents), Dr. Patel’s team came up with a topical spray, the Auro Wellness Glutaryl Spray, that delivers glutathione precursors to your skin’s surface that are small enough for your body’s cells to take in and leverage. “This product is actually getting into your cells, and it’s going to last in your body for four to six hours,” he explains. 

The results you’ll see, Dr. Patel says, depend on your body’s specific needs, but should include increased alertness, boosted energy and even better sleep. “You’re going to feel the difference, because when oxidative stress levels go down, your energy level goes up, your mental clarity gets better. Just ask Tony Robbins who is reportedly a fan of the spray and even gifts it to colleagues. “Oxidative stress can have a thousand different symptoms in your body–if you’ve been having sleep disturbances, once you release the oxidative stress, you can sleep better–and the list goes on,” adds Dr. Patel, who is also the author of The Glutathione Revolution.

As a review junkie, I combed the feedback on the Auro Wellness Glutaryl Spray and saw some pretty compelling stories, including one woman who swore as much by its anti-aging effects to her skin (faded dark pots, greater radiance), as she did its sleep and energy improvements.

The bottom line? If you can afford to try the spray for yourself (it’s about $110 for a monthly supply), it’s worth a whirl.