What is Hair Tissue Mineral Analysis (HTMA)?

HTMA is a lab test that measures the mineral content of hair. Because hair stores minerals and toxins over time, it offers a unique window into your body's long-term metabolic trends — such as how you're managing stress, producing energy, detoxifying, and balancing hormones.

We use the information from the test to make diet, supplement, and lifestyle recommendations.

Hair Tissue Mineral Analysis (HTMA) is a screening test that uses a small sample of recent hair growth to provide information about a person’s average mineral balance and heavy metal accumulation in the tissues over the past 8-12 weeks.

HTMA gives us an overall picture of information about your digestion, blood sugar, thyroid, adrenals, hormones, and detoxification.

Blood shows a snapshot of what's happening right now, while hair reflects what’s been happening over the past 1–3 months. Minerals fluctuate less in hair than in blood, making HTMA a more stable measure of chronic imbalances, especially for stress, thyroid, and adrenal issues.

It cannot be used to ‘diagnose’ a specific condition, but it can show potential pathways towards a disease state, help you to understand your symptoms, and ultimately give you a holistic approach to remedy deficiencies and/or toxicities.

When we test the blood for minerals, the result is reflective of what is being transported at that exact moment in time. Blood needs to maintain homeostasis, so mineral levels in blood tests will generally appear normal (within range) at the expense of tissue storage. This means minerals will be taken from the tissue stores in order to maintain homeostasis in the blood, leading to depletion that is often unseen in the blood. And excess minerals are deposited into the tissues to get them out of the blood.

It’s simple and painless! You’ll receive step-by-step instructions with your kit. You’ll cut a small amount of hair (about 1 tablespoon total) from the back of your head, close to the scalp. No worries — it won’t leave a noticeable gap.

Note: Dyed or chemically-treated hair may slightly alter results, but we can often still interpret your patterns accurately.

No problem! We can test body hair (e.g., underarm or leg hair) as a backup. It’s not ideal, but still provides usable data.

The HTMA Health Insight Consultation is £250. The cost of the HTMA test is £70, you will be sent the link to order and receive your home hair sample kit.

Once your sample reaches the lab, it usually takes 10–14 business days. After that, we’ll book your consultation to go over your results in detail.

HTMA can uncover patterns related to:

• Chronic fatigue or burnout

• Blood sugar dysregulation

• Adrenal and thyroid dysfunction

• Hormonal imbalances (e.g., PMS, estrogen dominance)

• Mood issues like anxiety or depression

• Poor detoxification or hidden toxicity

• Inflammation and immune imbalances

Even if your bloodwork looks “normal,” HTMA may reveal deeper functional imbalances.

Yes! HTMA screens for toxic metals such as mercury, aluminum, lead, cadmium, and arsenic — often missed in routine blood tests. Identifying and supporting detox from these is a key part of many client protocols.

Your package includes a 1:1 consultation with a certified nutritional therapist trained in HTMA where we’ll:

• The 1 Hour HTMA Interpretation Consultation explaining the significance of your results and how it may be driving your symptoms.

• Written report of your HTMA Interpretation with general guide of dietary and lifestyle recommendations.

A supplement protocol is not included. You will need to work with me on a 1:1 three month programme where I can monitor your progress using supplements.

This HTMA package is suitable for everyone! It can be used to help address the following conditions:

• Adrenal fatigue

• Unexplained fatigue

• Thyroid conditions

• Insomnia

• Infertility

• Post-partum depletion

• Headaches/migraines

• Weight gain/loss, appetite issues and blood sugar imbalances

• Hormonal dysregulation including: oestrogen dominance, unexplained menopausal symptoms, PMS, PCOS, endometriosis

• Mental health issues: Pyrrole disorder, anxiety, depression, bi-polar depression, OCD, ADHD, etc

• Cardiovascular disorders

• Immune disorders including long term infections such as Epstein Barr virus (glandular fever), hayfever and allergies, histamine

  dysregulation

• Children’s immune disorders: asthma, eczema, allergies, intolerances

• Children’s developmental disorders: anxiety, ADHD, violent behaviour, tantrums/temper outbursts, dyslexia, poor school performance

• Anyone who has occupational or environmental exposure to toxins, eg: mechanics, painters, metal workers, glass workers, farmers, etc

Absolutely! Should your HTMA report show areas of mineral imbalances and you want a more personalised approach which includes nutrition, lifestyle and targeted supplement protocol then we can work together on a 1:1 3 month programme. The cost of the programme will be reduced because you have already paid for the initial HTMA package consultation.