A few months ago, I went to the doctors – the tingling in my face had returned with cluster headaches.

Initially, I thought it was a virus as the symptoms are similar, but this time, there were a few other things that I had kept a note.

After a few mobility tests, she sent me off to have an in-depth blood test.

My previous blood tests would include a white cell count, protein, etc. but this time they checked the thyroid and did a ferritin blood test (which measures the amount of iron stored in the body) and several others.

The test results came back with everything satisfactory, other than deficient vitamin D levels.

Vitamin D is essential for human beings and can lead to a wide range of health issues if it is low for an extended period. It’s a fat-soluble vitamin that contributes to muscle function, healthy bones, immune function as well as playing a role in cell division.

Vitamin D occurs in two forms: vitamin D2, which is in a small number of foods, and vitamin D3, which is formed in the skin when exposed to sunlight. Both D2 and D3 convert into an active form in the liver and kidneys.

Deficiency of the vitamin occurs mostly in people who have limited exposure to sunlight. Also, those with chronic kidney disease are at risk of a defect due to the kidney’s inability to convert Vitamin D into its active form.

It can be characterised by osteomalacia in adults and rickets in children. Those with osteomalacia may have the following symptoms:- pain in legs, ribs, hips, and muscles. Standing from a seated position or climbing stairs can, therefore, become difficult.

The vitamin can be found in animal fats and cod liver oil and regulates the use the body makes of calcium. The majority of vitamin D we need is from the sun and is manufactured in the skin when having exposure to sunlight.

Since I no longer eat animal products and use a high SPF daily, my vitamin D levels became very low. As a result, Dr put me on a course of 20,000ui Vitamin D to take three days a week for ten weeks, then a smaller dose of 800ui for the rest of my life.

The first few weeks, I felt no different. However, I noticed the hair on my eyebrows growing in quite fast. As an 80’s baby and 90’s teen, I had savagely over-plucked my sparse eyebrows. After many unforgiving years, the hair barely grew back. I could go around two months before needing to pluck a mere five stragglers.

My prescriptive course started on the 1st of May, and it has now got to the point where I felt I had to shape them up and remove the wild ones.

I counted (because I’m that sad) and I removed between 14-19 hairs each side in 4 WEEKS. Remember I was getting around 5-7 hairs per 2 months!

There are no apparent changes in my skin – but maybe that’s gradual. However, I did put a video up on my Instagram, showing how long my nails were without any acrylic. See here

One more thing I noticed is the muscular pain I had that would come and go, has, well, gone!

So in this generation of diligently caring for our skin and wearing SPF, I would highly recommend taking a vitamin D supplement. We get a few periods of sun in the UK anyway so we’re limiting that amount our bodies can process.

And because I’m a geek I wanted to see if Vitamin D was in hair vitamins, so I checked out these suppliers, and what’ d’ ya’ know…vitamin D.

HaloBeauty 

• Vitamin D3 (Vegan from Lichen)

SugarBear Hair

• Vitamin D Cholecalciferol (also known as D2)

Hairfinity

• Vitamin D – ergocalciferol (also known as D3)

One of the worst I saw was Hairburst. There few B vitamins, biotin then gelatine and carmine which means they are not suitable for vegetarians. Also, no vitamin D.

From all the ones I looked at Halo seems the best followed by hairfinity. Both contain horsetail, but Halo is suitable for vegans. There are quite a few anti-oxidant ingredients in Halo which looks, and there’s Vitamin A and folate in hairfinity.