HTMA - How to cut and prepare a hair sample

HTMA - How to cut and prepare a hair sample

This may actually be the most daunting step in the whole process. Like anything new to us, we get nervous and imagine it to be harder than it truly is. Hey, I was one of those people!
I PROMISE once you get the hair sample process down once, you’ll be a pro! If you have questions that aren't answered on this page, refer to my HTMA - FAQs. There's a good chance those questions will be answered there!

Special note: To those of you who are experiencing hair thinning and loss. I SEE you, I WAS you. It’s actually a big reason I searched for help for many years before I found Mineral Balancing! I simply refused to accept the ol’ “hair loss runs in the family” excuse. (Let’s be real, hair loss runs in almost EVERYONE’S family. So if genetics were solely to blame, we’d all be losing our hair)
When you are losing your hair, even cutting the TINIEST amount feels like a big loss. We want to hang on to every.single.hair we have! You truly need a TINY amount of hair for the test (amounts to 1 heaping tablespoon. Keep reading to find out how to hide/minimize that cut hair within your whole head of hair)

One week BEFORE cutting the hair sample, this is VERY IMPORTANT:

Avoid any Epsom salt baths for 1 week prior to cutting a hair sample. Epsom salts contain magnesium sulfate which can give a false magnesium reading on the test.

If your home has a water softener:

Before sampling hair, please shampoo it TWICE with either unsoftened tap water or even better, reverse osmosis water

Step 1: Wash Your Hair

Wash your hair with regular shampoo. Do not use dandruff or other medicated shampoos as they often contain minerals which may alter the test results. Example:

Head and Shoulders Shampoo contains zinc which could elevate the zinc reading
Selsun Blue Shampoo contains selenium which can elevate the selenium reading

*Avoid using the following products before cutting the sample:

conditioners (if possible. Some clients have EXTREMELY tangly hair that needs to be conditioned at the time of washing)
leave-in conditioners
hair gels, creams, serums, oils, and other “treatments”
hair spray

Step 2: Dry Your Hair

After washing your hair, wait at least 4 hours to cut the sample but no longer than 24 hours. Again I repeat, your hair sample must be cut between 4 hours minimum to 24 hours maxiumum post hair dry.
This also means:

not sticking your newly washed hair in a hat, ponytail, braids, or any other style that delays your hair drying
Not sweating. Sweating may alter the test results

Step 3: Cut your hair

NOTE: If you’re nervous (and that’s normal!), have either a hairstylist or trusted friend/family cut the hair for you.

*I find it very helpful to separate the top 1/3 or so section of hair with a clip, and then take a couple small samples from the BACK of the head. This way, when you're done cutting the sample and you unclip that top 1/3 of hair, when it falls back down into place, you can't even see where you made those cuts!

*Particularly for thinning hair, cutting smaller samples in 2-3 different areas of the hair is preferable because it really does help to hide any appearance of cut hair. Remember, when it’s all said and done, the lab only needs 1.5 inches/3.8 cm of hair, which is about a tablespoon of hair (enough to tip the hair scale I’ll send you!)

a. Using clean scissors, cut HEAD hair as close to the scalp as possible. If head hair is not available, the next best is beard hair, then arm/chest hair. DO NOT MIX DIFFERENT HAIR TYPES.

b. Keep track of which end of the cut hair is from the scalp because we only want the inch or so of hair that was directly against your scalp!

Step 4: Prepare your sample to send to the lab:

a. Once you have cut the intial hair sample:

For short hair (1.5 in / 3.5 cm or less) keep the entire length of the hair.
For longer hair, trim away the hair that exceeds 1.5 in / 3.5 cm. Again, measure from the root end out. Only keep the portion from closest to your scalp.

Use a ruler to help you! After the ruler has helped you to keep, or cut any excess hair, it’s time to:

b. Use the paper hair scale provided to measure the weight of the hair. Follow the printed instructions provided.

Lay the hair scale on a flat, clean surface and fold the outer edges down as indicated, so that it forms a scale
As stated on the instructions, we want the collected hair to TIP the scale so that the weighted end of the scale moves down and lays FLAT against the flat surface it’s on. This is a MUST have, not an option. While ARL labs requires so little hair, one of the biggest reasons the lab will reject the sample is due to not enough hair being collected in the sample. That costs you, as the patient, time, money, and energy!

c. After the scale has tipped down and confirmed that you have the correct amount of hair to send to the lab:

Place the hair carefully in the small paper envelope provided. Do not place hair samples in plastic baggies, tin foil, or stapled or taped to forms.
Write your name, sex, and age where indicated on the same small envelope.
Seal the envelope and place into the bigger ORDER FORM FOR Tissue Mineral Analysis envelope.
Mail to Analytical Research Labs (ARL address is preprinted on envelope).
Depending on volume at ARL, please expect a 3 week average turnaround time from sending in the sample, to me receiving your report. I will contact you via email when I have the report.

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