Hair Analysis

A hair tissue mineral analysis (HTMA) is a screening test that measures the mineral content of your hair. However, a hair tissue mineral analysis is much more than a test for minerals.

According to the Analytical Research Labs website, a hair tissue mineral analysis can provide a mineral blueprint of your biochemistry, with pertinent information about your metabolic rate, energy levels, and stage of stress.

Hair, like all other body tissues, contains minerals that are deposited as the hair grows. Although the hair is dead, the minerals remain as the hair continues to grow out. A sample of hair cut close to the scalp provides information about the mineral activity in the hair that took place over the past three to four months, depending on the rate of hair growth.

A hair tissue mineral analysis is considered a standard test used around the world for the biological monitoring of trace elements and toxic metals in humans and animal species. The same technology is used for soil and rock testing to detect mineral levels.

The analysis performed by the Analytical Research Labs laboratory is a screening test for the level of 20 minerals and toxic metals in a sample of hair. It is a tissue mineral biopsy that is non-invasive, relatively inexpensive, and extremely accurate.You can go to the Analytical Research Labs website to get more information about their testing and interpretation processes and standards, such as not washing the hair at the laboratory, including known controls, and automatically retesting any readings that are out of the normal expected range.  They also provide easy-to-read reports and graphs.  They also offer complete individualized test interpretation, which includes information related to one’s metabolic rate, energy levels, autonomic balance, a personal dietary supplement program, basic diet recommendations and other information that can be inferred from the test results. Their site also says they offer personalized transition dietary plan based entirely upon the results of one’s hair tissue mineral analysis. This report includes three transition diets, menu plans and a wealth of information covering food preparation, eating habits, changing one’s habits, cooking, shopping and other valuable information.

I had my first hair analysis done on September 18, 2012. This was between kicking my husband out of the house and our divorce being finalized. I was definitely under stress. And this test was the only one that picked up on my body’s stress level. All other tests said I was in great shape.

This test said I was in an exhaustive state of stress. Now, I will admit that I was stressed. But an “exhaustive state of stress”? A subsequent test on June 30, 2017, also showed that I was in an exhaustive state of stress. A test on May 28, 2019, approximately 6 months after my gut calmed down, I had changed to the resistance stage of stress, a step in the right direction. I recently sent off another hair sample for testing (early 2021). For reference, I have copied the Stress newsletter from the hair analysis website (https://arltma.com/newsletters/stress/) into a separate page.  In my opinion, this is very interesting information.

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