HAIR SAMPLING, HAIR PRODUCTS

AND RELATED PROCEDURES

by Lawrence Wilson, MD

© April 2010, The Center For Development

HAIR SAMPLING

* Please DO NOT send samples of hair to the laboratory that are dirty, sweaty or greasy. Ask the person to wash the hair before sampling. Ideally, hair should be washed within 24 hours of sampling it, and at the most 48 hours before sampling. In older people whose hair is less oily, this is less critical, however.

* The sample should be cut from as close to the scalp as possible and should be a maximum of 1 to 1.5 inches long. Do not send long hair, especially not the ends of long hair. Long hair or hair cut from the ends of long hair will give old and less accurate readings. Short hair is excellent, and the shorter the better, in fact.

* Please send enough hair. The paper scale must tilt to provide enough hair. The new mass spectrometer requires much less hair, only 125 mg or so. Even less may be sent, but this is less advisable and only to be done in an emergency. If one is using Analytical Research Labs, as we recommend, the lab will retest any mineral levels reported far out of the ideal range at no extra charge, but only if they have extra hair to work with.

* DO NOT place hair samples in plastic baggies, tin foil, or stapled to the scale or to the envelope. If you do not have a small white envelope from the lab, use a small, clean paper envelope.

* DO NOT mix types of hair such as pubic hair, beard hair and head hair in the same envelope. We strongly recommend using only head hair. Second best is beard hair. Third best is fingernails or toenails. Pubic hair will not give as accurate readings and should be used only as a last resort.

HAIR PRODUCTS

* Wash your hair within 24-48 hours before sampling it. You may use a mild shampoo and conditioner or rinse.

If you have a water softener with either salt or potassium added to your bathing water, please wash the hair twice with distilled or reverse osmosis water only, before sampling the hair. Otherwise, the salt or potassium will alter the readings of the test, making them much less accurate.

* If possible, sample hair that has no hair products added to it. Do not put hair spray, mouse, styling gel or foam, lotions, hair creams or other things on it once it is washed and dried. Most of these products do not contain metals, but they could and they may alter the weight of the sample.

For example, we recently found that Phomollient Styling Foam made by Aveda may contain a lot of manganese that will alter the manganese reading on a hair test.

* Tints and dyes. Most of these do not affect the test because they do not contain any minerals. Therefore, one may cut the sample at any time. It would be best to wash the hair once or twice after applying tint or dye.

A few dyes contain lead, which will show up as an elevated lead reading. Lead-containing dyes should never be used. We recommend using only natural hair dyes, as the others contain toxic chemicals that are absorbed into the body.

* Permanents or Bleach Treatments. These can alter the structure of the hair. Sample the hair before a treatment or wash the hair five times after a bleach or permanent treatment before sampling the hair.

* Shampoos, Rinses and Conditioners. Most do not contain metals and will not affect the test. It is not necessary to wash with any special shampoo before sampling hair. However, washing with just soap may leave a film on the hair.

Selsun Blue Shampoo contains selenium and significant absorption of selenium may occur with its use. It should be used at most twice a week. Head and Shoulders Shampoo contains zinc. It should be used at most three times a week.

* Hair Salons. If hair will be sampled by one's hair stylist, make sure to tell the stylist to cut the hair from underneath, as close to the scalp as possible, and anywhere on the head is okay. Be sure to then cut off and throw away the long ends of the hair if they are over about 1 inch long. To avoid leaving bald spots, one can take several small samples from different areas and combine them to form the sample. A lot of hair stylists do not like to do this, and will not cut the sample correctly unless reminded.

* Please put your name, age and sex on the hair sampling envelope to avoid confusion.

OTHER PROCEDURES

* The Symptom Checklist. Check only current symptoms. Do not include symptoms or illnesses from years ago or even months ago if they are not current.

* Children. When sending children's hair samples, make sure you include the weight and height of the child. This is the only way it is possible to design a supplement program appropriate for a child.

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