HOW TO PRIORITIZE ALL THE MANY HAIR ANALYSIS PATTERNS

by Dr. Lawrence Wilson

All information in this article is for educational purposes only. It is not for the diagnosis, treatment, prescription or cure of any disease or health condition.

As a person learns more of the possible hair analysis patterns that show up on most tests, a logical question is how to weight them or prioritize them. If one does not know this, then they simply become “information overload” and cause confusion. Here are some ideas about how to handle this problem on an initial or single hair test:

1. The oxidation type and rate, or stage of stress are always important. These are used to determine the diet, and they give basic information about symptoms because the oxidation type and rate is a very basic piece of information about the body. This was Dr. Paul Eck’s discovery, and it holds true in most cases.

2. The sodium/potassium ratio and the calcium/magnesium ratio are always very important. The sodium/potassium ratio tells us about acute and chronic stress, the direction of movement of the oxidation rate, liver, kidney and cardiovascular stress, trauma, malignancy, infections, blood sugar problems and more. It also gives some basic psychological information such as telling us about anger when it is high, or frustration, resentment and hostility if the ratio is low.

3. Four lows pattern, four highs pattern, the bowl and the hill patterns are always of great importance. Four lows is a special situation that requires a special program. Four highs is a particular type of stress and inflammation pattern. A hill pattern is a celebration and joy pattern, while a bowl pattern is a yin and blood deficiency pattern in acupuncture and usually related to nutritional deficiencies. I am just summarizing the meaning of these important patterns, and you can read about all of them on this site and in the textbook, Nutritional Balancing And Hair Mineral Analysis (2010 or 2014 editions).

4. The number of poor eliminator and very poor eliminator patterns that are present is always important. Poor eliminators and very poor eliminators indicate an impaired ability to remove toxic substances from the body. As a result, these toxic metals build up inside the body, even if they are not revealed on any test at all. This is an extremely useful pattern for detecting hidden toxic metals, and a critical concept for understanding human health and disease.

Usually, the combination of the above patterns can orient the practitioner and the client to some of the basic metabolic imbalances that are present. I could certainly add to this list other important patterns such as a calcium shell, sympathetic dominance, and patterns on the second four numbers (iron, copper, manganese and zinc). However, for learning purposes at this time, the four basic patterns above are usually the most important. Also, for program design, these are the most important, along with sympathetic dominance and trauma indicators. For more on program design, read Program Design on this website.

As for the many other interesting hair test patterns, their importance will vary depending upon:

1. The immediate concerns, questions and symptoms of the client.

2. The needs of the practitioner, such as the goal of the interpretation. For example, if one wants to do a psychological or personality interpretation, some patterns will be more important. If one wants to look closely at lifestyle problems, perhaps, then the calcium shell and sympathetic dominance patterns are critical. If one wants to decipher movement patterns, then other patterns will be important, and so on.

3. The need to “fill in the gaps” in the interpretation. This is usually a need of the practitioner, but it could be a need of the client. For example, if the interpretation does not make sense, or more information is needed to fully assess the person, then these patterns may be more important.

4. Love and the time factor. This means that if one cares a lot about the client and wants to take the time, the extra information can be helpful, even if it is not as critical.

5. Tags or indicators from the test itself. A common example is the degree of the pattern, or how extreme it is. For example, a calcium level of 600 mg% is very extreme, and the practitioner must pay attention to it in most cases, as it is “screaming” to us about its presence.

Other tags or indicators on the hair test may be the combination of patterns, or the sheer number of patterns, or an unusual juxtaposition of patterns, or something else. For example, sympathetic dominance plus a calcium and magnesium shell, usually has more importance than just the presence of sympathetic dominance. A pattern of burned out sympathetic dominance is usually more important than just sympathetic dominance, and so forth.

PRIORITIZING PATTERNS ON A HAIR ANALYSIS RETEST OR PROGRESSIONS ON SEVERAL TESTS

This is usually more work, as one must compare the mineral levels, ratios, patterns and perhaps progressions on two or more tests. However, the same basic principles apply as with initial tests.

Patterns that tend to be more important include a rise in phosphorus of more than one mg%.

To be continued ….

Courses | About Dr. Wilson | The Free Basic Program