Ritual vitamins: the sexy looking vitamins brand that you’ve probably been seeing on your Instagram feed all the time this year.
Maybe I just follow too many Los Angeles based influencers, but I finally got curious about if these trendy multivitamins really are better than the generic brand sitting in my bathroom cupboard, so I tried them out for the next segment of my “Saw It On Social Series” where I give honest unsponsored reviews on all those social-media famous brands & products.
In this post, I’ll be sharing what I love and don’t love about Ritual vitamins after 30 days of use, along with a verdict on if it’s worth the price tag.
Ritual Vitamins Review: I Tried Ritual So You Don’t Have To (2023 Update)
Ritual's womens vitamins are pretty, taste nice and are "clinical-backed multivitamin for women 18-49 formulated to help fill nutrient gaps in their diet" but honestly, they are pricey and you can get the same AND more minerals & letter vitamins with a generic multivitamin.
- looks pretty
- easy on stomach
- good aftertaste
- transparent sourcing
- vegan
- non-GMO
- pricey
- not as many minerals as a generic multivitamin
These are delayed-release capsule designed to help reach the colon (not the stomach) and have 11b CFUs. They get 4 stars since they are more expensive compared to SEED with fewer CFUs but they are a really solid probiotic option.
- 11 billion CFUs
- high quality strains
- minty tasty
- can be taken without food
- pricey compared to similar probitoics
Look - I get it. When you're trying to get pregnant you want to make sure you have the best food and vitamins to help your goals. Rituals prenatal vitamins are designed to help you and are top shelf quality. But, they don't come with as many vitamins as cheaper products do (12 vs 18-24) and you'll still have to take vitamins for things like iron.
- vegan
- vetted ingredients
- supports pregnancy goals
- good taste
- easy on the tummy
- fewer vitamins compared to other prenatal multivitamins
What’s In Ritual Vitamins? What Makes Them Special?
Ritual is a subscription service that ships vitamins across the United States. I ordered the Ritual Essential for Women 18+. It’s $30 a jar, which contains enough capsules for 30 days of use. I’ve been taking Ritual for almost a month now to thoroughly write this post.
I swapped out daily generic vitamins from Target to try Rituals. I actually take prenatal vitamins, even though I’m not trying to get pregnant (bless up IUD).
I take these because they are the most affordable vitamin out there that also has iron, something I’m always low on without supplement support. (Womem multivitamin bottles seem to be priced lower if they are pregnancy ones but they have literally the same table letters??)
Rituals do have iron (woohoo!) and 9 total ingredients that the company deems to be essential women ages 18-49 to take for bone health, brain health, blood-building and antioxidant support. They pride themselves on having traceable ingredients. They are:
- Folate
- Omega-3 DHA
- Vitamin B12
- Vitamin D
- Iron
- Vitamin K2
- Boron
- Vitamin E
- Magnesium
There are other Ritual products but I am highlighting their Women’s Vitamins here. To skip right to the chase: I personally probably won’t be purchasing Ritual supplements again and honestly, you probably will be just fine with regular generic vitamins from your drugstore that’s a fraction of the price.
UNLESS you fall into a few certain categories. I think Rituals is really great for a few groups of people, and perhaps you are one of those people (in which case, you’ll love this vitamin brand.)
But before we go into why I don’t think the Ritual supplement company is the best for me, I’ll quickly chat pros and cons of Ritual Vitamins, starting with the stuff I do like.
What I Like About Ritual Vitamins
They Taste Minty Fresh (Easy for Swallowing)
I was so surprised the first time I took Rituals to experience a minty taste that lasts for a few minutes. Now I try to remember to take my Rituals last after all my other morning things (Ashwagandha, allergy meds, etc).
If you have a hard time swallowing pills in general, this minty taste actually makes it really easy to go down. I think that’s probably one of their biggest accomplishments with Rituals is making a product for people who have a hard time taking pills.
I’ve never had issues with swallowing so it just a nice little extra perk for me in the mornings. Many people say they love Ritual for this exact thing.
Totally Vegan
Secondly, Ritual is totally vegan (capsules included) and they are fairly transparent on their ingredient sourcing policy. Just click on any of the ingredients and they’ll tell you more info, or you can head to their map view to see where in the world things come from.
It’s pretty cool. For instance, their Vitamin D is a vegan-certified form from sustainably harvested lichen in the UK.
And beyond having vegan-certified capsules and ingredients, Ritual offers nutrients that are specially targeted for people on a vegan diet after research. For example: vegans tend to be low in Vitamin B12, so the woman’s multivitamin has B12 in it.
They’re also third party tested to ensure quality and vegan standards and are approved by the United States Pharmacopeia (USP) which is a medically reviewed biologics, pharmaceutical manufacturing company. This ensures they are also free of major allergens and are items that pass the right tests for consumption.
Good On An Empty Stomach
In the customer reviews section of Ritual’s website, I noticed a lot of people mentioning that they can take their Ritual vitamins on an empty stomach and not get a stomach ache.
Which sounds too good to be true, so I had to try it one morning and yes, I’m here to confirm: no tummy ache.
This usually isn’t a problem for me as I take multiple supplements and pills each morning, some that have to be taken with food so I’m never in a situation where I’m trying to take a vitamin on an empty stomach. But, if you are, this is a great bonus feature.
It’s A Cute Bottle
It’s a great design and matches home decor well. It doesn’t look like a normal vitamin. It looks amazing on my bathroom shelf.
Things I Don’t Like About Ritual Vitamins
And now, onto the cons of Ritual vitamins.
They’re Expensive
$30 a month for vitamins is really, really expensive compared to what you can find at a drugstore. I buy the Target Up & Up vitamins, which are $10 for a jar of 200 pills. You only take one per day, so that’s 200 days of vitamins breaking down to just 5 cents a day.
Ritual on the other hand is $30 for 60 capsules, but you take two a day, so that’s only a month, breaking down to $1 a day. That’s $360+ a year vs about $18 a year. Yikes.
Ritual Generates More Waste
YES – Ritual does use recycled materials for their bottles and plant fibers for packaging, which is awesome. But since a bottle only lasts a month and you get this on a subscription, you are generating 12x the amount of packaging waste compared to a bottle of vitamins that you can pick up every 200 days on your normal Target run.
Also, they ship these (you can’t buy them in-store.) So on top of all that packaging waste, there’s the carbon footprint of shipping pills to you each month to consider.
They’re not totally free of negative environmental impacts as their site will lead you to believe.
Slow Shipping
On the note of shipping, my first order took almost 3 weeks to arrive. Perhaps it was a one-off me problem, but I was disappointed they took so long. Especially since these vitamins are on a subscription and I almost had my order renew before I even got a chance to try them.
What I like about Care/of is it requires you to take a pretty lengthy quiz to get to know you, your body, your daily habits and even where you live to help determine if you may be low on a certain nutrient due to your climate. Everyone is unique and your vitamin/supplements should be too!
Not Personalized
Ritual vitamins are generic and not personalized to what your body needs specifically. I mention that they aren’t personalized because I’m also reviewing Care/Of vitamins and that brand is extremely tailored to what your body needs.
The pack I get from Care/Of is totally different than what you would get if you ordered, but it’s the same if we both ordered from Ritual.
Ritual Essential Prenatal, a kids vitamin and Essential Womans + Essential Men’s and also one for people over 50 years, but they don’t currently offer tailor-made to you services. Just general formulas made by healthcare professionals.
Most People Don’t Need To Take A Multivitamin
Yup, you heard me. I asked my doctor friend to give me her professional opinion on if people even need vitamins to begin with and the answer? No.
Most humans get all the nutrients they need from their food, so as long as you aren’t eating processed 90’s style Lunchables all 3 meals a day, you’re probably getting what you need already.
Of course, there are exceptions. I’m anemic (naturally low on iron) and I don’t always get enough from my diet so I take it daily to help my body out. If you’re on a vegan diet or other special needs diets, you may be low on something that a supplement like Ritual actually can help you with.
Rituals and other companies like to lock onto a table or letter vitamin – like B12 which does support blood cell formation and regulation for example – and make it seems like without their vitamin your body can’t make healthy blood.
Or, I’ve seen reddit posts about Ritual vitamins hair loss threads and how readers have seen messaging around how the pills can help prevent hair loss, but in reality, any multivitamin with biotin can help with that.
In short: the vitamin industry as a whole is a bit of a scam. Which is one that I totally fall for, too. I still take a daily multivitamin (hey, if I’m taking one for iron might as well sneak some extra stuff like magnesium in there, right?)
But opt for the 5 cents a day scam instead of a $1 day one. The jar is less pretty but I save a ton of money.
The ONLY time this isn’t true is for folks with special diets (like Vegans) or people like me who are low on Iron. Iron supports red blood cells and it’s important to take iron pills if your body can’t absorb it well enough from your food.
So, do Ritual vitamins really live up to the hype? Are they worth the price tag?
So, are ritual vitamins worth it?
As I mentioned at the start of this post, they aren’t worth $1 a day for me just to have a pretty jar sitting next to my toothpaste.
I’m not vegan (I grew up in Wisconsin, don’t make me give up my cheese) and I’ve never had issues swallowing pills. Those are the two value propositions I think Ritual vitamins does best.
But, if you are vegan or a serious vegetarian, taking Ritual daily could actually be really beneficial for you. of course, check with your doctor since I’m a blogger, I majored in Art not medicine, but my verdict is: buy it if you don’t eat animal products.
It’s sort of a godsend for vegans, as it really is hard to track down exactly what’s truly vegan out there and Rituals does a good job of being transparent.
- You are Vegan
- You have hard time swallowing pills
- You frequently find yourself taking pills on an empty stomach
- You are low on iron and want it in a multivitamin
- You have the budget
- You eat animal products (meat, dairy)
- You can swallow pills fine
- You take other pills that require food
The only last thing to cover is support. I haven’t had a reason to deal with Ritual Vitamins Customer Service team so I can’t comment on if they are fast or slow.
If you’re reading this and have had an encounter, I would love if you could write a quick note in the comment section of this post so we can learn what your experience was like!
Alrighty that’s it. I hope my vitamins review is helpful for you. I always try to come into these Saw It On Social review features with an open mind and really ask myself: do my readers actually need this, or does it just look cool on Instagram?
And to recap, unless you are vegan or really have a hard time swallowing pills, Rituals are just too overpriced per dosage to make sense for the average reader. They do look really really nice on my bathroom shelf though…
Don’t agree with my Ritual multivitamin review? I’d love to hear from you! Drop a comment below so everyone can see. Got questions? Comment or DM me on Instagram @thewhimsysoul and I’ll be happy to try and help.
They also have a men multivitamin and teens multivitamin that I have not tried. I do give the Ritual Probiotic Reviews 4 stars but they are a little pricey and have less CFUs compared to Seed.
The company offers now also a new protein powders for daily shakes that I guess has all the essential proteins and fatty acids you need, so if you have tried that, I would love to hear it.
36 comments
Thanks! I appreciated this 💯
Very helpful review, thanks!
This was great! Thank you. And love that you shared that you’re Type 3. I’m a Type 1! 🙂 Cheers – Sanaz Ebriani
Thank you!
This was a great breakdown, thank you.
Hi, I wanted to try Ritual as I have serious nut allergies, (anaphylaxis) and they are free of the top 8 allergens. Can you recommend another brand? I want to generate as little waste as possible too!
I reall like Care/of! You can read my full post here: https://whimsysoul.com/care-of-vitamins-review-50-off-discount-code/
When on the subscription there is not a lot of waste. The packaging it is shipped in recyclable. The first bottle packages is really nice the first shipment and becomes minimal packaging thereafter. I take the vitamin and have seen drastic improvement in my vitamin d levels. We each have unique body chemistry. Hope it works out for you.
I have dealt with Ritual’s customer service personally and they are very “on point”. I had a subscription with them and lost my job and needed to cancel, and they immediately responded and confirmed my cancellation. My very first bottle came rather quickly so your delay in shipping may have been more of a transit thing since everyone is ordering online right now. Definitely enjoyed your blog. Thanks for sharing!
Great review! I didn’t even think about the waste issue. I tried Ritual as well and while I did like the vitamins, their customer service is just awful. Long shipping delays (3+ weeks for some reason, with no expedited shipping option); they didn’t read any of my emails (safety seal was broken on the first bottle and they told me I shouldn’t be concerned with the color of the vitamins? I wasn’t concerned about that, I was concerned about the safety seal); and they never apologized for the shipping issues or the safety seal issue. They ended every email with “we’re happy to help,” but they didn’t actually help me, so I found that annoying.
Well, written! Kudos
I agree they’re pricey, but I’m one of those people who has a sensitive stomach when it comes to vitamins. The minty taste is also a plus. I’m normally bad about taking vitamins everyday, but I’ve been more successful and motivated with Ritual. I’d say that makes it worth it.
I found you missed one major point that was the total reason I chose ritual and I don’t agree with a few of your other points. Most multivitamins contain a lot of additives and fillers including things that are proven to be carcinogenic or damaging to health in a myriad of other ways. They also use primarily synthetic vitamins and minerals (which is why they’re so cheap) and these are proven to be absorbed less effectively by the body. So while it’s cheaper to take them, you’re not likely to be using much of what you take.
Your point about the industry being a scam however is definitely something I agree with.
As for the waste issue, ritual takes 3 days to arrive at my door every month in a fully recyclable paper package. The bottle is itself recyclable and made from recycled materials which is a more expensive way to produce however it is much less damaging than creating more plastic, even if you’re using more packaging. We should never be creating more plastic, there’s enough to last a lifetime in this world.
The omega 3 is also sourced from a sustainable source which is unlikely to be the case for a lot of these other vitamins.
As for the carbon emissions, having something delivered is going to create less carbon emissions than if every single person were to drive to a store to get what they need. The postman is already coming to your house that day to deliver your post, they aren’t adding an extra trip. Unless they are flown, it usually works out to be less damaging.
Rituals vitamins aren’t personalised, which can be considered a drawback but they’ve done extensive research as to what vitamins most women within the age range are lacking and tailored it to that. Your standard multivitamin gives you a ridiculous amount of vitamins as though you aren’t eating anything but white bread every day of your life and you’ll excrete most of that anyway because your body doesn’t need it, somewhat wasteful.
I love my Ritual vitamins, I only take them because I’m pregnant, when I’m not pregnant or lactating I opt for no vitamins. But knowing what’s in them, where it came from, that it’s not synthetic and not full of harmful additives is a big plus for me. Seriously, google some of the unknown words on your standard bottle and you’ll see what I’m talking about.
Anyway, thanks for your review and your opinion!
Thanks for your additional info! I was on the fence, but having your side of it in addition to the article was really helpful!
Yes!!! You said everything I was thinking!!!
Hello hello, I’ve been using Ritual women’s multi for a while now and I couldn’t be happier. The amount of time and money I’ve saved by not buying all these individual vitamins is astounding (not to mention it’s healthier and I feel noticeably better!). I actually look forward to taking my vitamins everyday now, they’re so fun and don’t smell like normal multi. Such a simple change! Where ingredients come from and how they are sourced really makes a big difference in how effective they are; also, diff ingredients work together and change how well our body is able to absorb them. Ritual has really done a great job taking all this into account.
I’ve been using Ritual prenatal vitamins (while trying and now while pregnant) and have been overall pretty happy. TBD if I’ll stay with Ritual after delivery honestly.
Pros:
-> Like you said – totally agree with the nice lemony (prenatal) taste that doesn’t upset my stomach
-> Also really love the transparency on what is in each vitamin and where it’s from. As an anxious person I was okay with paying more for something I was taking during pregnancy to have the transparency of the ingredients, but totally see where it may not make sense when I’m no longer pregnant.
Cons:
-> The shipping is atrocious – as you pointed out – and takes forever.
-> The site also makes zero sense to get the receipt/invoice to submit for medical FSA reimbursement. I had to ask customer service to send them to me. They just told me how to find them – it’s not obvious at all and takes multiple clicks where you think you’re changing your current subscription.
-> I never thought of all the extra negative environmental impact of the shipping and needing bottle+packaging every month – thank you so much for pointing that out!
Very helpful. Thank you! 😊
Very informative; this article as well as all the comments.
I have been in the fence about Ritual for so long now. With all the myriad of vitamins I currently am taking, taking but (2) a day would be terrific for me.
I have a sensitive tummy, serious issues swallowing as I have S’jogrens Syndrome, in which my mouth feels like nothing more than shriveled sandpaper.
I attempted trying Ritual once before and did have great difficulty. I wanted to try the vitamins as well as their protein powder. I believe it was during the height of Covid ( which is on-going!) but after at least two weeks in to my waiting a delivery I received an email from them stating the vitamins would be delayed. No reason was ever stated. No mention of the protein powder, which oddly enough, I received the next day.
And yes, it was to be a packaged deal with a great discount, only to find that they had charged me full price for the powder.
I could find no way other than email with which to contact them by.
Someone did get back to me immediately however, and refunded everything, which meant they gave me the protein powder for free.
With all this being said, I may very well “try” to try Ritual again; protein powder & vitamins.
I have spent a fortune on vitamins, as I’m sure most people have, so cost wise for me, Ritual would probably be a bit cheaper.
I have never been a fan of taking vitamins and prescription meds as it is hard for me to swallow…but , I can’t help it; I am still on the fence.
This was so helpful! I thought I was missing something with this Ritual craze, and wanted to check it out. Definitely will read your post about Care/Of to see if that might be a better fit. And if all else fails, I’ll just swing by Target because who can beat that price.
I loved my subscription and was completely happy to pay the price, until they were not able to fulfill my order this month. I really need these for my osteoporosis and I am vegan. I felt betrayed. So I just need to get a grip and figure something else out. Thanks for your review!
Tried to reach Ritual by phone, because of a credit card issue…so they’ll contact me if they can’t collect on my credit card because the bank chane exp date and sec. code..your company needs to be aware and customer service is awful
I might cancel because of the situation….osman Qualli
I didn’t want a subscription 🥴. I only ordered a one time only!!!
Please don’t send them anymore!! I’m not drinking whatever powder you sent
Very helpful! Thank you! I had vitamins in my cart and even created an account. But the price caused me to hesitate and I worried that cancellation might not be as easy as they claim. I eat a pretty healthy diet, and my doctor hasn’t identified any specific deficiencies, so I think I’ll pass. I appreciage your help in making that decision.
Hi,
Thanks for your review. I just ordered the prenatal version even though I am not trying to get pregnant (suggested by my GYN). I have severe food allergies to dairy, egg and mushroom. I am always on the look out for a vegan vitamin even though I am not vegan. I also have a very hard time swallowing pills. So I find it coincidental that you said if you are on a “vegan” diet and can’t swallow pills, then this is for you. I hope so! Thanks again!
I’ve tried their Protein. It doesn’t last a month! Who does a subscription like that? So I stopped!
But I do like their multivitamins and Synbiotic
Sometimes I buy in shein and another stores like carters,old navy ,marshals Walmart, target , kools, macys, Oshkosh , Ralph Lauren, North Pole , and others so let me tell you that clothes go ugly after a while depending
Of the texture and the way you wash them up in addition the type of laundry stuff that you use so even towels and bed liners will go bad and ugly after a while
I gave up many clothes nothing last I just decided to get the less and just the most that I need and keep taking away any clothes that turned wore out also try to wash in delicate but basically even good brand stores have products that suck just like shein.
Very detailed reviews. I love reviews like that. Above all, if you want to be entertained, you can visit me
You get what you pay for. I don’t like Shein simply because they are liars. I did a one-star review and when I checked, it was posted as five stars. I think that’s a common practice because I’ve seen people reviewing shoes saying that the shoes were too large, even showing pictures of how the shoes were laughably too big, yet those reviews had 5 stars. I thought that was odd and that people were only giving good reviews to get “points” and “discounts” which are FAKE, by the way!
But what I find strange is that you dislike Shein, but your post is plastered with ads for Shein. How ironic! You are encouraging readers to go there even though you say you don’t like them. Makes me think you’re affiliated somehow and are part of the Shein scam.
And also when you leave a comment with the word shein, it automatically links to the store. BIGGEST SCAM EVER!! How do you explain that, whimsysoul?
Your 30 year old body?!?!? PLEEZE. Wait40 years princess.
Hello Kara,
I read your review of Ritual vitamins and found it to be very informative. I appreciate your honest and unsponsored opinion on the product, and it’s great to see that you took the time to try it out for 30 days before sharing your thoughts.
I agree that the transparency of the sourcing and the vegan, non-GMO formula are definite positives, but the price point is a bit steep. It’s good to know that a generic multivitamin can provide the same nutrients and more minerals.
Thanks for sharing your experience with Ritual vitamins!
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