I honestly think your hair is absolutely beautiful, and would love to know your weight maintenance secrets as well. For now, here's what I think MSM is doing for me:
Since I workout a lot and run, my knees haven't been in the best of shape. The MSM has improved this for me and supplies the relief. For the hair, the MSM I use is called CARLSON MSM with Sulfur. I actually purchased mine from a local health food store. Looks like the Vitamin Shoppe also carries this particular brand. Here's more information:
http://www.become.com/shop?q=carlson+sulfur+msm&utm_campaign=become&utm_source=yahoo&utm_medium=ssp&utm_term=carlson+sulfur+msm
http://www.msm-supplement.com/
For the hair, the MSM contains Sulfur which acts as a growth stimulant. As I lurked on these forums, many were saying that they were actually experiencing a change in the hair texture. MSM was making the new growth looser and were able to stretch relaxers longer as a result. See here on how sulfer promotes hair growth:
http://hairloss.about.com/od/preventinghairloss/a/Sulphur.htm
http://www.nutritionexpress.com/article_index/vitamins_supplements_a-z/msm/showarticle.aspx?articleid=121
I have successfully stretched my relaxer now for nearly 4 months with no breakage and very little shedding. This MUST be due to the MSM. It was the only thing that I added to my hair regimen.
Oh, and did I mention my nails? My nails grow twice the rate. The only nuisances are that people accuse me of having fake nails, and the fact that I have to get my nails done every two week rather than once a month. I think the combination of biotin and MSM must be at work here. The basic GNC biotin is what I use.
As for my Runner's Knee, the MSM is improving the pain and keeping inflammation down. My mother uses this for her arthritis and is doing well. We both run a lot.
With MSM, you must take Vitamin C and drink plenty of water. Some people report headaches, crazy dreams, and breakouts. I am convinced that most of this is because they weren't drinking enough water. These side effects disappeared after a few days.
Overall, I've gotten compliments on my hair. Though I wear it up 99% of the time, when I finally did wear it down for the last two days, compliments came from everywhere, including my boss, who told me that my hair looked thick and shiny.
Adding Henna treatments have worked tremendously. Everything you need to know is on the site Henna for Hair,
www.hennaforhair.com. And thanks to the lovely ladies here, you can do a search on "henna." The two main threads are "who henna's" and "is henna really worth it." I can say that I henna and YES, henna is so freakin' awesome and it's well worth it!!!!!
GOD luck!